New airport terminal opens in Rankin Inlet
Ministers and community members celebrate new addition to Rankin Inlet airport
Community members and politicians gathered to celebrate the opening of Rankin Inlet’s new airport terminal on Monday. (Photo by Corey Larocque)
Community members and politicians gathered at the Rankin Inlet airport Monday morning to celebrate the opening of its new terminal.
The event featured a qulliq lighting, prayer, ribbon-cutting and a barbecue, wrote Department of Transportation and Infrastructure spokesperson Greg Belanger in a public service announcement.
“The new larger air terminal building is a key transportation hub for the community of Rankin Inlet and the Kivalliq region, connecting people, goods and communities across Nunavut and the rest of Canada,” he wrote.
Transportation Minister George Hickes, Rankin Inlet South MLA Annie Tattuinee, Nunavut MP Lori Idlout, and Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand attended the ceremony.
Nunatsiaq News requested an interview with Hickes, but he was unavailable.
Chartrand was set to make a funding announcement on behalf of federal Transportation Minister Steven MacKinnon, according to the release.
Belanger did not respond to questions about the announcement.
Glad you finally got a picture of the new terminal Corey, remember back in June when you ran a story about the actual opening and showed a pic of the old terminal? That was pretty funny dude..
The front of the building looks a lot nicer than the back facing the runway, the back from the distance looks like stacked seacans when walking up to it. It’s a big improvement from the last terminal but still lacking enough seating and there’s no windows to look out from towards the runway, hopefully the second phase of the building will have windows, kinda odd this one doesn’t have any and it seems smaller than what it actually is.
The security staff member I spoke with did mention that there would be a window facing the runway in the second phase, which would be nice. They also said there wouldn’t be airport security screening (like CATSA), which I find to be disappointing if true, considering they’re a major regional hub and have flights down south.
I hope they got better financing terms than the insane 7% the GN agreed to with the Iqaluit “airport expansion” that turned into an almost billion dollar new airport boondoggle.
It’s ridiculous how the GN works on any projects, it’s like they try and do it as expensive as possible while getting little back as possible.
A lot of times I shake my head wondering why the GN is doing it this way when they are working on a project like this. It’s no wonder it’s so difficult to get nice things here, must be another way of doing things, this can’t be the only way.
90 Million does not build much in Nunavut today, but its only money.
Interesting! ))))))