Transport committee  On the dirigible airship side, they will likely be short-haul. Mining companies might operate them, that sort of thing. They're slow, at this point, 70 knots. You're not going to have one coming up from the south to the north, but perhaps it will be from a hub centre where they would take supplies a short distance, 70 to 100 miles, whatever.

Transport committee  I can't talk at length about that. All I can tell you is that my experiences in talking with the people who are operating up there is that, with the distances you have to fly and the distance the aircraft is able to fly with a full load of fuel, it sometimes causes layovers, which causes crews to not be able to go to the next stop.

Transport committee  On the same questions?

Transport committee  For the north side of it, again, air service is basically the Trans-Canada Highway for the north, for the Arctic. You have to have it. Everywhere in the Arctic relies on it. Goods and services are going 12 months of the year. The pandemic did not affect any of the operations at the airports.

Transport committee  I cannot comment on that because I don't know the situation.

Transport committee  I've been out of aviation flying skills for too long.

Transport committee  I am not aware of that. I don't believe that airports are closing. They require those air services for 12 months of the year, so they're not going to shut down.

Transport committee  At this point, there are certainly enough.... I won't say “enough”, but there are runways that have asphalt, and they will operate aircraft that do not have gravel kits. So, Iqaluit, Inuvik, Whitehorse, Yellowknife, places of that nature.... Cargo will come in there. It will be off-loaded onto aircraft that can go to gravel runways.

Transport committee  If you're running with an aircraft that carries one-quarter of the load of a jet, then you need four aircraft.

Transport committee  The aluminum runway is a system that has been used primarily by the American military and NATO partners, as I said, for over 50 years. They land everything on it from jets through to heavy transport carrying up to 850,000 pounds. The company that developed an aluminum runway for military use has now developed one for commercial use, which is twice as strong as the military version and has been designed ideally for locations where there are going to be limited maintenance capabilities.

Transport committee  It's not so much hurdles as it is informing Transport Canada of the product, and then setting down some standards that would have to be put in place in order to test it to ensure that it has the safety aspects that are necessary and equal to or better than the asphalt or concrete runways in place today.

Transport committee  Right now, they're reviewing the technical data for the aluminum surfaces. There will be some final tests that are needed at the university level to verify the tests. The HD matting is in the process of being tested now. We should have the results from that within the next four to six months to determine whether or not it will be suitable for runways.

Transport committee  Thank you. Air service in the Arctic is the Trans-Canada Highway for Arctic locations. The 737-200 provides most of the jet service to communities in the Arctic. In 2014, I attended a meeting with Boeing where they said that the 737-200 would no longer be supported for its gravel kit operations, and they would no longer be producing aircraft that would replace the 737-200.