Vancouver's float-plane fight gets personal

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They may be the lightweights of the aviation world, but float planes are causing a major ruckus on Vancouver's waterfront.

On Friday, a long-simmering dispute between float-plane companies and the developers of a $22-million private terminal being built at the Vancouver Convention Centre hit a boiling point, with the float-plane companies suggesting the backers of the new terminal want to force them out of business.

That suggestion - outlined in a letter from the float-plane operators to BC Pavilion Corp. (PavCo), the Crown corporation that operates the convention centre where the new terminal is being built - was rejected by Graham Clarke, who heads the consortium that is building the new facility.

"I think that is Mr. McDougall trying to protect his monopoly," said Mr. Clarke. He was referring to Greg McDougall, president of the Vancouver Commercial Seaplane Operators' Association, which has dug in its heels over fee negotiations with Mr. Clarke and wants to build its own, non-profit base on a different site.

Mr. Clarke said he does not plan to get into the seaplane business and in fact has a provision written into his lease with PavCo that restricts him from doing so. But if negotiations with the float-plane group stall, he may ask PavCo to change those terms, he conceded.

"If nobody was to come and we are stuck there with an investment, then what are we going to do - just sit there and lose money?"

At issue are the hundreds of daily float-plane flights to and from Vancouver harbour that make it the fourth-busiest airport in the province, as well as a complex web of government agencies, corporate interests and prime waterfront space.

Currently, float-plane companies operate from a site in Coal Harbour, where they moved to make room for construction of the convention centre.

But that site was supposed to be temporary: The float planes are suppose to move from there by 2012 or when a new facility is built, whichever comes first.

The two sides, though, have not been able to agree on rent to use the new facility. The VCSOA says costs of using the facility would result in a $12 hike to every trip to and from the terminal. The developers of the new terminal say the rent is in line with the expenses associated with a new facility and could go down if ridership increases.

On Friday, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson convened a gathering of mayors, including those from Nanaimo and Victoria, to hear the float-plane operators' pitch for a rival facility. The VCSOA says it can build a non-profit facility east of the convention centre for $11-million.

In its letter to PavCo, the float-plane operators ask for reassurance that provisions in the lease that prohibit the developers from going into the float-plane business will be maintained.

"If however the provincial government or PavCo, as one of its agencies, now decides to provide the developer with the opportunity to extend its monopoly terminal ownership to become a direct or indirect participant in the commercial seaplane industry itself, we will have no choice but to take the position, publicly and legally, that the provincial government has knowingly taken a series of actions to fundamentally interfere with the private sector marketplace and attempt to take us out of business," says the letter, dated Feb. 16 and signed by Mr. McDougall.

Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre is a partnership between the Clarke Group of Companies, chaired by Mr. Clarke, former chair of the Vancouver Airport Authority, and the Ledcor Group of Companies. Ledcor runs Summit Air - which provides specialized remote service in Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut - and also operates Opus Aviation, a charter private jet business.

The VCSOA has lined up several supporters for its pitch, including B.C.'s Council of Tourism Associations.