News - Stephenville International Airport

Mayor Tom O’Brien feels there could be some possibilities for Stephenville airport with KAZ Aviation.

Town council met with Steve Bowlin, vice-president of operations for the company earlier this week.

KAZ Aviation is a U.S. company looking to strike a deal to take over the operations of Stephenville airport.

O’Brien said any type of agreement with the KAZ Aviation would have to wait until the current business plan being worked on is completed.

“We first want to see if we can get finances from the provincial and federal governments to implement the plan,” O’Brien said. “It’s hard to put a time frame on its completion as it’s a work in progress.”

O’Brien feels the people at KAZ Aviation has certainly got their heads wrapped around the airport’s issues. He said it’s encouraging to hear a company wants to invest in the airport to make it a viable and sustainable enterprise.

“It’s encouraging to hear them say the type of things that need to be done to accomplish that goal ... are the same types of things we’ve been saying for some time,” O’Brien said.

One of the great assets KAZ brings to the table is its experience in the aviation industry. O’Brien said if a deal were met, a reversion clause would have to be in place.

“If this ends up being the way we go with the airport, one of the main things in an agreement with KAZ Aviation would have to be a reversion clause, which would turn the airport back over to a local entity if their operation didn’t work,” he said.

Shawn Tilley, chairman of the Stephenville Airport Corporation, felt the meeting with Bowlin went well, but said there are still a lot of things to be ironed out before a deal could be reached.

“While we’re making some positive progress, these things take time and could be a long ways from being finalized,” he said.

Tilley was encouraged by the positive feedback from council. He said if the will is there, then a deal could be expedited if things were to fall into place. Tilley believes within the next couple of weeks, the board will learn if a deal would be possible. Asked what stage the uncompleted business plan is currently in, Tilley said it’s a slow process.

“The auditors are working on the financial statements, but the amount of work required on them is much more than originally anticipated,” he said.