Transport Canada demands quick fixes after Nunavik airport inspections

Air passengers walk to the Kuujjuaraapik airport terminal in 2011. A federal airport inspection over the summer has prompted a quick response from the regional government, in order to maintain the airport’s screening station. (FILE PHOTO)

KUUJJUAQ — Nunavik’s transport department has its work cut out for it, following inspections this past summer that threatened to close screening stations in two of its major airports.

Transport Canada inspectors visited the airports in Kuujjuaq and Kuujjuaraapik this past July, flagging non-compliance issues that they wanted addressed right away, the Kativik Regional Government’s transport department told the regional council meeting Sept. 16.

The two airports are the only ones in the region that have screening stations, managed by the Canadian Air Transportation Security Authority, which allow passengers to travel directly to Montreal.

The July inspections highlighted a need for fence repairs, upgrades to procedures that provide access to certain areas of the airports and new on-site security staff.

But obtaining those things is much easier said than done, said Ron Erlandson, director of the KRG’s transport department.

The department has had to order chain-link fencing and quickly hire four certified security staff to work in both Kuujjuaq and Kuujjuaraapik airports.

The administrative side of processing Transport Canada’s demands means that the KRG has hired a staffer on contract to help out at the transport department in the short-term.

“This is what we’re up against this summer,” Erlandson told KRG councillors. “We’ve got employees in short supply, with a whole lot of work to do.

“We’re doing the best we can.”

By acting quickly on some of the inspection issues, the KRG managed to avoid a major potential disruption to air travel in the region, when following those inspections, Transport Canada threatened to close security screening at Kuujjuaq and Kuujjuaraapik over the summer.

That would have forced those flights to land in either Iqaluit or La Grande to off-load and screen before they could fly to Montreal, Erlandson said.

Jet passengers flying from Puvirnituq to Montreal, for example, must now de-plane in La Grande for screening.

Transport Canada declined the regional government’s 2013 request to install a CATSA screening station in that community’s airport.

Next, Erlandson said his department is working towards installing security locking gates in Nunavik’s largest airports to monitor people coming and going in certain areas of the airport.

Once those are installed, Kuujjuaq and Kuujjuaraapik will each require only a single security guard.

The transport department has until October to address the other issues.

Kuujjuaq and Kuujjuaraapik are two of only three class 3 airports in northern Quebec, the third being La Grande.

Those airports require a higher level of security than the community airports elsewhere in Nunavik, including CATSA screening, required for flights that go directly to Montreal.

The airport in Iqaluit is considered a class 2, which has slightly higher security requirements, while international airports in Canada are class 1.