Thank you.

Air service in the Arctic is the Trans-Canada Highway for Arctic locations.

The 737-200 provides most of the jet service to communities in the Arctic. In 2014, I attended a meeting with Boeing where they said that the 737-200 would no longer be supported for its gravel kit operations, and they would no longer be producing aircraft that would replace the 737-200.

In 2017, we formed the alternate runway materials committee to investigate suitable wearing surfaces that would work as efficiently as asphalt or concrete. The reason for that is asphalt and concrete are suffering seriously due to permafrost implications in the Arctic.

Today, numerous aircraft are being manufactured with composite materials, and many of these aircraft are not going to be certified for gravel runway operations, yet there are well in excess of 90 gravel runways servicing communities in the Arctic.

The reason composites are becoming materials of choice is that they improve fuel efficiency, they increase the cargo that can be carried in the aircraft, they lower operational costs and they increase the capability to lower prices to communities themselves. However, debris from gravel runways can puncture these composite materials and cause very serious damage; it punches holes right through the aircraft and is very expensive to repair, and it is a serious safety issue.

We've been working with Transport Canada, and they're in the process of developing a new category of hard surface. For materials to be recognized as a new hard surface, they have to demonstrate that they're capable of the same level of safety as traditional hard-surface runway materials, which would be asphalt, asphaltic concrete and concrete. Testing is going on to verify that the structural integrity, durability and friction characteristics, as well as their behavioural characteristics for working in Arctic conditions, are approved.

Upgrading to the new category of hard surface improves safety for all aircraft. It doesn't matter whether it's a turboprop or a jet; as the future rolls on and these new carbon fibre aircraft are brought into service, they'll all end up with problems from gravel.

Without reliable, large capacity air service to Arctic airports, communities will continue to experience high prices for goods and services and reduced levels of service.

The current materials being considered for these new categories are thin bituminous, which is being used extensively throughout the northern Saskatchewan area right now. Aluminum is a military-based product that has been in use for over 50 years in military applications. There is a facility in California that has been running an aluminum airport for 48 years.

The aluminum links together in panels and is laid over the gravel surface. It takes some time to lay the surface, but it does not affect the service at the airport itself because they can be transitioned on a daily basis from where they've laid to where they're about to lay surface.

The next product is a high-density polyethylene matting. It links basically the same way as the aluminum panels do and goes over the existing gravel surface. Again, aircraft servicing is not interrupted.

Both of these materials can be easily removed if there's a problem with permafrost in the centre of the runway or if there are drainage issues. The problem can be repaired and the matting put back in place, and it can all be done by the airport staff. If you had asphalt or concrete, you'd have to have specialists with specialized machinery coming in to make some of those repairs.

There are two other substances we're working with. One is called EK35, and the other one is called Dust/Blokr. They're both soil stabilization products. EK35 has been in use in the Arctic now for 20 years at several airports, primarily at mining operations and what have you. They have reduced the gravel problems at these airports, but they do have to be looked after on a regular basis and consistently upgraded.

Aluminum, HD matting and soil stabilizers are also considered to be environmentally friendly products.

The main advantage of upgrading these airports to non-gravel surfaces is to improve the safety for all types of aircraft and return jet service back to the Arctic communities.

Right now, Canadian North, Air North and very soon Air Inuit will be retiring their 737-200s. The only ones operating will be a charter group, Nolinor, and, I believe, Chrono, so it's important to get the runways that require repair done. For example, there is Cambridge Bay, which used to receive jet service. Kugluktuk and Old Crow receive services 12 months of the year.

I'm done.