Whitehorse airport's secondary runway to get extended and upgraded

The secondary runway at the Eric Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport will be extended and get some upgrades next year.

The improvements will allow the secondary runway to have large passenger planes use it when maintenance, such as paving, snow removal or de-icing, is being done on the main 2,900-metre runway "without interruption of service."

The upgrades are scheduled to start in March 2022 and be completed by the following September, according to a government of Yukon news release. It also stated construction at the secondary runway will not cause delays for passengers at the airport.

The 1,620-metre runway is not "currently long enough or strong enough and it doesn't have the proper lighting either [for the larger passenger planes],"said Clint Ireland, director of aviation land development with the Yukon government.

He said the runway, which was built in 1941 and is used mostly for small planes now, will be extended 390 metres and get new pavement, modern airfield lighting and a precision approach path indicator system.

Ireland said being able to get 737-size jets into Whitehorse, along with the types of servicesthey can provide, including medical is "really important."

"This runway will allow us to do that even if there is something going wrong on the main runway," said Ireland.

The contract to do the work is currently out to tender.