Stephenville councillor 'confused' about status of airport sale, as town approves $50K grant

A Stephenville councillor expressed confusionabout who owns the airport in the town, as he and his colleagues voted to approve a $50,000 contribution to keep the facility running.

"I'm just a little bit confused at this point," Coun. Lenny Tiller said at Thursday night's public town council meeting.

Tiller pointed to multiple online references that indicate the Dymond Group of Companies owns the operation, and it's been renamed Stephenville Dymond International Airport.

He said there are Twitter and LinkedIn accounts using the rechristened name. Tiller noted that the airport's own website steers inquiries to the Dymond Group's LinkedIn page.

However, the Stephenville Airport Corporation issued a statement in January saying it still owns the facility. There has since been no official announcement that any deal has been signed.

"There's a flaw here where the public domain says the airport has been bought and is renamed," Tiller said.

"And it's on multiple things, it's on the website, it's on the airport's website itself, and that's a pretty scary thing."

Tiller said it's no fault of the airport or the Dymond Group, but does make it difficult to vote on handing out taxpayers' money.

Mayor Tom Rose stressed that the cash is going to the Stephenville Airport Corporation to keep the facility running.

"That's 100 per cent. The bank accounts and the operation is still with the airport authority, until the terms are met," Rose said in reply to Tiller.

"Very good comment. It's a big file. Big issue. And fingers crossed that it's all going to work out to everybody's best interests."

The vote on the $50,000 grant passed unanimously. Some $30,000 of that total is allocated to operations, with the remaining $20,000 going to a Winnipeg company as part of a long-standing contract to provide airport management and safety management services.

Ambitious plans announced last September

A recent CBC News investigation raised questions about some of the Ottawa-based Dymond Group's past public comments about its business plans.

• Mystery man, mystery plan: Questions abound on Stephenville airport acquisition

Last September, president and CEO Carl Dymondannounced ambitious proposals to reinvigorate the struggling airport on Newfoundland's west coast.

That included an investment of $200 million in private-sector cash, the manufacturing of massive cargo drones, the return of scheduled passenger service, and the creation of thousands of jobs.

A due diligence period wrapped up at the end of December. But the deal still isn't done.

• Stephenville mayor confident airport deal will get done, bringing big benefits

At Thursday's council meeting, the mayor stressed that the intent of the binding agreement signed last year is to see the airport sold to the Dymond Group.

He said lawyers are doing the final work to close it out.

"It's not like buying a car or buying a home or buying a convenience store, it's a significant file," Rose said.

Council has no direct role in that process. But the mayor said there would be benefits if it comes through.

"Our goal is to get somebody else running that airport so that they can create more jobs than what we've been able to do, maybe attract more business, do some aerospace, and start paying taxes to the taxpayers of Stephenville," Rose told the council meeting.