Terminal, engine plant just a start: airport boss

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/11/2011 (5061 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BARRY Rempel hopes cutting ribbons becomes a regular part of his job.

The president of the Winnipeg Airports Authority was part of a group of dignitaries wielding a giant pair of scissors Sunday when the new air terminal building at the James Armstrong Richardson International Airport was christened.

And he’ll be at it again next month when GE Canada opens its new $50-million engine-testing plant between the airport’s two runways. The final pour of concrete on the 22,000-square-foot facility was done Monday, just a month before the plant will be completed and two months before its staff will start developing next-generation engines.

“(The plant) can handle 150,000 pounds-feet of thrust and 15-feet-in-diameter engines,” he said. “There’s no such animal today.”

Brent Ostermann, program director of test facilities at StandardAero, which will run the engine plant, said the decision to build it at the Winnipeg airport was due to its strengthening relationship with GE Canada over the past several years, the proximity of StandardAero’s workforce and favourable conditions for icing tests.

StandardAero has a long history of servicing GE engines. It recently built a 27,000-square-foot building in Winnipeg to conduct maintenance, repair and overhaul of the engines used on WestJet’s fleet of Boeing 737s. And it also works on GE CF34 engines used on regional jets and GE’s LM16900 engines that power high-speed ferries and yachts.

Rempel said he is optimistic companies dealing with hydraulic valves and engine parts will want to set up shop close to GE. Companies that work with turbines could also help diversify the economic base of the airport because in addition to engines, turbines are also used at power plants and with gas pipelines.

“The more that these hot-end type of functions are performed in Manitoba, the greater our awareness will be around the world for centres of excellence,” he said.

But that’s not all. With more than 20,000 people working at the airport, either directly or indirectly, Rempel said it only makes sense for the campus to expand to include offices for doctors, dentists, accountants and lawyers. He said the airport has 800 acres of developable land and another 3,000 acres that could be made suitable for development. It’s all part of leveraging the nearly $600-million air terminal building for maximum economic growth in the community, he said.

“The creation of employment and opportunities is at the heart of what we’ve been saying all along. We want to use the terminal redevelopment as the base for further development of the airport campus and inland port such that Winnipeg becomes recognized as an airport city,” he said.

“Winnipeg is on a little bit of a roll. We need to determine what role we can play and we’ll play it.”

The net result of all the current and future activity will be more airplanes landing in Winnipeg.

“They’ll be coming here to pick up an engine or have work done here,” Rempel said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca