News - Stephenville International Airport

Local officials with the Town of Stephenville and Stephenville Airport Corporation breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday with the announcement of an extension to the corporation’s line of credit.

“The bottom line is the provincial government did grant the amount the airport and the community was looking for,” Mayor Tom O’Brien said.

O’Brien said the airport asked for the money, the town supported the airport in its request and now they can hopefully move ahead.

Shawn Skinner, minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, announced the provincial government has agreed to a request to increase its guarantee of a bank line of credit from $350,000 to $600,000.

He said the $250,000 increase reflects the long-standing support the provincial government has provided to ensuring the airport corporation’s competitiveness.

“With the increase of the provincial government’s guarantee, the Stephenville Airport Corporation will be able to take the necessary steps to secure investments from private sources,” Skinner said.

But he had a warning.

“It is important for the Stephenville Airport Corporation and the Town of Stephenville to understand that this is our final investment under the airport’s current model,” he said. “Any future support will only occur if the airport can secure long-term financing that ensures the sustained viability of the airport.”

Joan Burke, legislature member for St. George’s-Stephenville East, said this line of credit guarantee buys the airport corporation time to have its negotiations with KAZ Aviation, the U.S. company looking at taking over the operations of Stephenville airport.

She said the town and the airport corporation felt that amount of money would give them the time to carry out their negotiations. She feels the airport’s future now hinges on whether this or some other deal works out for them.

“The way I look at it is we (local conservative MHAs) always worked well with the airport and the town, and government has come through with this financing at a delicate time for the airport. I’d love to see the airport remain here in Stephenville and hope things work out for the airport corporation,” she said.

Shawn Tilley, chairman of the airport corporation, said it takes pressure off in terms of its day-to-day operations at the airport and gives a better opportunity to look at the KAZ Aviation deal, as that’s the only company it is negotiating with at this time.

He said KAZ is preparing to send its business plan to the provincial government and that will help the airport corporation and the Town of Stephenville make a decision about the company.

In the meantime, the airport is looking at changing the management structure of its operations along with tightening up its operations, which he said are normal things that a corporation would do to operate efficiently.

“We’re hopeful of doing this deal with KAZ Aviation, but have to be ready in the event some unforeseen circumstance prevents that deal from happening,” he said.