The two-year boom in Comox following introduction of direct WestJet flights to Calgary has had eyes popping, but with the addition of a new $12-million terminal, international flights and cargo service in early 2004, it’s safe to say they ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

“Our (initial) 15-year growth plan is down to five years,” says Chuck Fast, president and general manager of the Comox Valley Airport Commission.

In 2000, the year before WestJet came to Comox, the airport served 72,641 passengers; by 2002 the passenger count rose to 147,426, supported by 10 non-stop WestJet Calgary flights and 115 weekly flights to Vancouver by Pacific Coastal and Central Mountain air.

Construction has begun on a new 3,000-square-metre air terminal building, with 18,000-square-metre aircraft apron. This expansion is expected to spur a four-per-cent annual growth in passengers – to 185,000 by 2007 and 221,000 by 2012 – as more and larger WestJet flights serve the growing market in central and eastern Canada.

Courtesy CVAC
Comox Valley Airport has seen a boom in passenger traffic since a new terminal, international flights and cargo service followed direct WestJet flights to Calgary.

Opening up eastern markets will also attract Vancouver Islanders who now must ferry to the mainland to access eastern flights.

But what will take this little airport into the big leagues is access to the second longest runway in the province – at 10,000 feet, it can accommodate Boeing 747s. A new terminal and apron – and addition of customs facilities – will provide room enough for the big birds and their bigger loads and could boost passenger counts an additional 70,000.

Suddenly, direct daily passenger and cargo flights to Seattle are possible. International travel capabilities make sunspots more accessible to Island vacationers, and U.S. markets more accessible to central Vancouver Island business.

The expansion spells an injection of jobs at three levels – at the airport serving passengers and handling cargo; in the tourism sector providing accommodation, transportation, food and recreation for travellers; and in local businesses where service-sector employees spend their wages on groceries, cars, clothing, entertainment and purchasing or improving their homes.

Airport expansion is projected to add 818 jobs worth $17 million in wages to the 10,110 jobs and $242 million in wages now generated by the airport and regional tourism industry.

“It’s hard to measure the trickle-down (effect) says Fast. “But I know we’ve had an increase in car rentals this year” to about $1.2 million from $360,000.

The Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community reports increases both in numbers of guests and sales of resort villas.

“WestJet increased our client base in Alberta,” says Carla Coulson, Crown Isle marketing and account manager.

“The impact of working with WestJet has been huge,” says Don Sharpe, of Mount Washington Alpine Resort. In WestJet’s first year of operation, the ski hill offered free lift tickets to anyone with a WestJet boarding pass. Visits to Mount Washington Alpine Resort increased to 400,000 from 300,000 visits – and the growth is continuing.

The real estate market has also caught fire.

“I haven’t seen anything like it in my 26 years,” says Dave Procter, co-owner of the Re/Max Dave Procter Realty in Comox. “The market has exploded.”

Both sales and prices have skyrocketed. “Waterfront values are up 25 per cent in the last 12 months.” And sale prices for single-family homes have increased too, to about $167,000 from about $143,000 between 2001 and 2003.

“Alberta buyers are up dramatically,” he says. Retiring oilpatch baby boomers and younger career couples buying recreation homes in anticipation of retirement form the bulk of new buyers. It’s so lucrative, Procter runs ads five days a week in Calgary newspapers.

“When I started this business, it was my dream to have 40 realtors working here before I retire,” says Procter. “There are 42 now – and I’m about 10 years away.”

Non-tourism businesses are also sharing in the boom, says Comox Mayor Jim Brass. “I’m a dentist,” he says, “and I’ve seen an increase.”

In the near future, he sees the seafood industry growing because of airport expansion. Now producers truck their fish or live oysters to Vancouver for air shipment to the U.S. Shipment costs will go down and delivery frequency will go up, opening up new markets.

“The valley is booming right now,” says Brass. “We’ve been discovered.”

(Sharon Adams can be reached at sharon@businessedge.ca)