As of today, November 17, 5 Wing Goose Bay has reopened the second runway that has been closed since Nov. 7.
“The efforts of my team and the remediation crews have been nothing short of amazing,” said Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wedgwood, Wing Commander, 5 Wing Goose Bay. “The continued outstanding teamwork has allowed 5 Wing to hit a huge milestone, and I am happy to announce that 5 Wing Goose Bay has reopened the main runway, 08/26. I understand the challenges of travel in Labrador, including along the North Coast. I thank you all for your patience during this extraordinary time.”
With both runways now open the airport can return to full operations. The remediation work that has been done will continue to be monitored, and ongoing remediation efforts will continue in non-essential, low priority areas of the airfield over the coming days.
The airport has been mostly or partially shut down since November 7, when a problem with the sealant used on the runways was discovered.
The Department of Defense shut down the runways at that time and brought in experts to find a solution.
The experts arrived in happy Valley-Goose Bay on November 8 and two days later allowed a runway to be active for four hours while the rest of the runways were still being cleaned up. The following day one of the smaller runways was opened for 24-hour use to alleviate the backlog of commercial traffic at the airport. Passengers were stranded at airports for days in some cases, with no other option but to wait.
Perry Trimper, MHA for Lake Melville, was one of those waiting, and said DND has been very proactive in keeping government appraised of the situation and how it’s being dealt with.
“As soon as they know anything they convey it to me and all others involved,” he said. “They’re working hard on solving this issue. It’s a big inconvenience for a lot of people. I don’t think people realize how many flights go through Goose Bay until something like this happens.”
Trimper said the financial implications of this shutdown is huge, ranging from stranded passengers to all the transatlantic flights that had to be diverted to longer routes.
“There are 300 to 600 flights a day that are being diverted and have to take a longer route to get to the same destination. I couldn’t even guess at a dollar figure.”
New equipment was brought in on November 13 to accelerate and expand the cleanup of the remainder of the airfield.
The root cause of the sealant issue is still being investigated.
