Officials inaugurate Qikiqtarjuaq’s new airport

Premier Eva Aariak helped to inaugurate the new Qikiqtarjuaq airport terminal Jan. 10 along with Canadian Rangers, Economic Development & Transportation minister Peter Taptuna, Qikiqtarjuaq MLA and CLEY minister James Arreak, the community’s Mayor Loasie Audlakiak and Levi Nutaralak, a local elder. The new energy-efficient facility provides an enlarged waiting area, baggage handling area and more office space for travellers and staff. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GN)

Nunavut government officials and residents celebrated the opening of a new airport terminal in Qikiqtarjuaq Jan. 10.

The new energy-efficient facility, which recently opened in the Baffin community, provides an enlarged waiting area, baggage handling area and more office space for travellers and staff.

There’s also equipped new observer/communicator equipment, which will help improve air-ground communications, flight planning, weather observation and emergency response, said a joint Canada-Nunavut news release Jan. 10.

“The airport terminal building is an asset that Qikiqtarjuaq will use for many years to come,” said Peter Taptuna, Nunavut’s minister of Economic Development and Transportation in the release. “Qikiqtarjuaq’s new airport terminal will greatly improve air travel into and out of the community.”

Taptuna joined Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq and Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak in marking the airport’s official opening Jan. 10.

Aariak called airports the “year-round lifelines connecting all Nunavut communities.”

“This vital infrastructure will effectively serve this growing community well into the future,” Aariak said in the release.

The $4-million tab for the new terminal was picked up through Infrastructure Canada’s Provincial-Territorial Base Fund, part of the $182 million Nunavut will receive for its core infrastructure priorities which include water treatment facilities, roads and airports.

“By working with our territorial partners to invest in infrastructure, we are building strong, prosperous communities that will flourish now and in years to come,” said Aglukkaq in the release. “Replacing aging infrastructure like the terminal building in Qikiqtarjuaq supports the needs of this growing community and contributes to the territory’s transportation network.”