Court rejects City Centre Airport appeal

A court appeal aimed at stopping the closure of the City Centre Airport was dismissed Thursday by the province's highest court.

Airco, a small commuter airline based at the airport, claimed the closure of one of two runways at the airport was a breach of the Edmonton Regional Airport Authority's responsibility as the leaseholder.

Edmonton city council decided in July 2009 to close the airport in phases, with one of the airport's two runwaysclosing last August. The city plans to redevelop the land for residential and commercial use

Airco wanted the runway to reopen and asked the court to issue an injunction forcing theairports authority to keep the facility open until 2052.

That argument was rejected by a lower court earlier this year.

In its ruling, the three appeal court judges upheld the lower court judge's finding that Airco could move its operations to Edmonton International Airport, and failed to prove that it would be driven out of business by that move.

The judges also upheld the lower court judge's finding that it was premature to declare Edmonton Airports in breach of the lease because the breach hadn't yet occurred, nor was it certain if it would ever occur, because it is hard to predict what could happen five years from now when the airport is scheduled to completely close down.

For example, Airco could negotiate a surrender of the sublease with Edmonton Airportsor change the focus of its business before the closure in 2015, the ruling stated.