Aircraft company cancels cold weather testing in Yellowknife due to hotel shortage

Yellowknife lost an estimated $2 million that could have gone into the local economy, all because two companies couldn't find hotel space for their teams.

Mitsubishi and Embraer — an aerospace company from Brazil — had planned to do cold weather testing on aircraft at the Yellowknife airport this past winter; at the last minute, they cancelled because the companies couldn't find enough accommodations for staff, according to a presentation by the territory's Department of Infrastructure at a city Municipal Services Committee meeting Monday.

Mitsubishi had tried to find 54 hotel rooms for 30 days in January, and Embraer had similar needs. Both companies ended up going through Yellowknife's airport to try and co-ordinate places for their teams to stay.

While airports don't usually help companies with finding accommodations, airport manager Lee Stroman says in Yellowknife, it's becoming more common.

"Right now it's us [they contact] kind of by default, because that's who the industry knows to contact," he explained to city council, adding the airport tries to connect companies with local organizations.

The Yellowknife airport has been offering a space for cold weather testing for a couple of years, according to Stroman.

In 2016, Airbus and Sikorsky Aircraft helicopters successfully conducted cold weather testing at the airport. The Department of Infrastructure estimates each company's teams contributed about $700,000 a month to the local economy.

"Airbus was here for almost three months," said Stroman. "Sikorsky was here for almost four months. The benefit is clearly very significant."

Stroman told CBC there isn't a specific contact in the city for companies to co-ordinate with when looking for a place to stay, so they often contact the airport.

The presentation Monday was to start the discussion on what can be done to fix this.

"Cold weather testing has … no real benefit to airport operations," he told council. The testing takes place at the airport, but it is not run by them.

"It would have a significant benefit to many, many businesses within the community, and we really want to advance those kinds of projects."

'What can we do to help you?'

He said the infrastructure department wants to form and strengthen relationships with other levels of government, local businesses, and the city to make this a reality.

Stroman said he'd like the city to get involved in these projects, something several councillors appeared to be on board with.

Coun. Julian Morse asked Stroman, "What can we do to help you?"

"We want to have a ... more effective working relationship so that we can get together and say, you know 'Mitsubishi called and wants 54 rooms, what are our resources?'" Stroman said.

The infrastructure department is currently working on a master plan for the airport. It's looking at things like who should be responsible for marketing cold weather testing in Yellowknife.

Another part of the plan is conducting a hotel feasibility study to see whether more hotels are needed in the city.