Thursday, September 15, 2011

Criticism of new harbour float plane terminal continues. Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre.

The concrete docks at the new Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre are eight inches too high to accommodate the float planes using them, according to commercial seaplane companies deadlocked in meditation with the owners of the new facility.

Greg McDougall, president of the two largest companies operating in the harbour, Harbour Air and West Coast Air, said Thursday that the height of the docks coupled with the wave action at the new terminal, have him wondering whether it is suitable at all for float planes.

“An airplane has been damaged over there,” McDougall said in an interview. “It was a Beaver aircraft that was at the dock there and it has triggered a whole bunch of concerns we have about moving over there wholesale.”

The two key float plane companies have refused to move into the new facility and have been unable to agree with the flight centre over the terms of their lease. The damage to aircraft is the latest problem to be raised.

Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister Pat Bell confirmed Thursday that there are design issues with the new terminal.

“There are some issues with the floats right now and that is the reason for the delay in moving over to the new flight centre,” he said. “I am told there is some risk of damage to aircraft as a result of the design of the floats.

“We are having some professionals look at that to provide advice as to whether or not that is the case.”

Another issue — McDougall said fuel lines had been contaminated — is being addressed, Bell said.

He said the city has extended its lease to Harbour Air and West Coast Air for another month as a result of the concerns. McDougall said according to the terms of their lease with the city, they can remain at the temporary site until September 2012.

Bell also said mediated talks between the float plane operators, who account for 90 per cent of the float plane traffic in the harbour, and the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre, are at a deadlock. He has asked mediator Dan Doyle to re-engage the two parties in an attempt to resolve the stalemate.

He expressed frustration over the delay in resolving the dispute between the airlines and the terminal operator, saying he originally wanted it settled by summer.

“Obviously we have not accomplished that.”

The main issue between the float plane operators and the centre is the cost of leasing float plane space. The floats at the temporary facility are owned by the two airlines and any cost of operating them is built into passenger rates. The new fight centre intends to charge a rental rate amounting to $9.50 per passenger for the 300,000 people who fly in and out of the harbour every year. That amounts to almost $3 million a year, McDougall said.

McDougall said the new facility cost B.C. Pavilion Corp., owners of the convention centre, $22 million.

In contrast, the temporary float where his two companies operate has a $2 million cost.

“We have always said it makes no sense to pay these high rates,” he said.

The airline companies are considering a terminal of their own near the helijet terminal east of Canada Place, but Port Metro Vancouver is resisting.

The float plane terminal has been a long-simmering issue after the two largest float-plane companies refused to move in when it opened May 25. Doyle was called in to mediate talks held over the summer.

NDP MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert re-ignited the issue Thursday by calling a press conference at Harbour Green, overlooking the temporary floats used by Harbour Air and West Coast Air, and the new terminal 200 metres to the East at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Chandra Herbert, MLA for Vancouver-Centre, blamed the stalemate on the government for entering into a “boondoggle” of a public-private partnership (P3) with Ledcor and the Clarke Group, who formed a joint venture to develop and operate the flight centre.

“How did this issue go so horribly wrong?” he said.

Chandra Herbert said the Liberal government “created the mess” by making it a P3 project rather than a not-for-profit operation, something the two float plane companies are calling for.

Bell said there is “plenty of responsibility to float around” over the failure to have the flight centre fully operational.

“I don’t think the responsibility rests with any one party in this, but it is a very challenging file.”

He also said if mediation fails, the government has other options but he would not specify what the next step might be.

“My preferred outcome is a mediated solution, “ he said.

Representatives for the flight centre had no comment by press time.

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