Kneehill County council is considering the potential economic benefits of entering into an equal partnership with the Town of Three Hills and Prairie College to trial a marketing project in an effort to draw more traffic to the Three Hills Airport.
The item was first brought before the May 16 Committee of the Whole meeting to gauge council’s potential interest in the project, and then was brought back for a formal decision during the regular Tuesday, May 30 council meeting.
“What has been worked on in the background has been discussions between the County, the Town (of Three Hills), and Prairie College around the future of the Three Hills Airport in terms of best ways to manage it, best ways to develop additional revenues for the airport that can be then used to make upgrades to the airport and maybe provide additional services, provide cost recovery,” explained Kneehill County Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Mike Haugen during the May 30 council meeting presentation.
An opportunity identified during discussions was to run a trial program which would bolster more traffic and activity at the airport. This would involve hiring an individual who would not only take on regular airport management duties, but would also plan various fly-in and other events at the airport.
Each of the three partners would equally contribute $10,000 to help support the project.
While it was initially intended to hire an individual for the 2023 season, it was determined there was not enough time to properly plan and coordinate events and make the appropriate business connections. It was recommended to postpone hiring until the fall to allow the individual to create business connections and develop event plans for the 2024 spring and summer seasons over the winter months.
This type of approach has been used, with success, at other airports within the region. CAO Haugen explained during the presentation these successes were based on a multi-year project, some upwards of five or more years.
A pilot project could help the partners determine whether increased traffic can be achieved at the airport, and gauge interest of the business community-particularly the agri-tourism and local food production sectors.
CAO Haugen noted the county already contributes $25,000 annually to support airport operations; the $10,000 would be in addition to this contribution and would be taken from the Strategic Initiatives budget and would not require any amendments to the existing budget.
Council unanimously approved the request to allocate $10,000 from its Strategic Initiatives budget to initiate the airport marketing pilot project.
