On Wednesday, May 1, 1996, the Member for Iqaluit submitted a written question to the Minister of Transportation consisting of three separate questions relating to the limited availability of aviation gasoline at the airports in the Nunavut area.

1. Will the Minister investigate the possibility of a more even spread of locations that would have AV fuel available?

There is a limited and declining demand for AVGAS because it is used exclusively by piston engine aircraft at a time when more and more of the aircraft flying in the North, privately or commercially, have turbo-prop or jet engines.

Over and above the limited demand for the product, the distribution and storage of AVGAS presents special technical difficulties. Turbo fuel that has fallen off specification for aviation purposes can still be sold and used as fuel in diesel engines or heating furnaces. There is no alternative use as a fuel for high octane AVGAS once it has gone "off-spec" for aviation purposes. Stocks of AVGAS that have exceeded their shelf life and deteriorated in quality must be shipped, at the distributor's expense, to southern Canada for disposal. More so than for other fuels, the distributor's inventory of AVGAS must closely match sales volumes. This is particularly difficult to manage economically with a specialized product for which there is a small and irregular demand. In recent years, the petroleum products division and the Department of Public Works and Services has written off inventories of AVGAS worth $300,000 that it could not sell before it went "off-spec" in storage.

For these reasons, stocks of AVGAS for retail sale are maintained only at the larger airports in the Nunavut area of Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet. The petroleum products division has no plans to extend the distribution, storage and sale of AVGAS to the smaller airports in Nunavut.

2. Has the Department of Transportation been made aware of possible safety concerns of the lack of AV fuel specifically in the Baffin and generally in the NWT?

The Department is Transportation is aware that the limited availability of AVGAS at northern airports can present a logistical inconvenience for private or commercial operators of piston engine aircraft. This is not a matter of air safety. The federal air regulations pursuant to the Aeronautics Act require that pilots carry enough fuel to reach their planned destination plus maintain a reserve of fuel to continue flying for another 45 minutes.

As part of routine flight planning, pilots determine in advance the points along their route where they can refuel. Pilots on itinerant flights in the Arctic regularly make arrangements, weeks or months ahead of time, to have fuel stored and ready for them along their route. Through poor or inadequate flight planning, the pilot of a piston engine aircraft might stop as a northern airport where no AVGAS is available. Becoming stranded at a remote northern airport may prove an expensive and time-consuming mistake but it presents no threat, risk or hazard to air safety.

3. Will the Minister commit to having AV fuel made more easily available and that the required supply structure be in place by the fall of 1997 to meet sealift requirements?

The Government of the Northwest Territories is currently preparing plans to privatize the fuel distribution system maintained and operated by the petroleum products division. Imposing new obligations on the petroleum products division to increase the number of outlets for the sale of AVGAS is likely to make the purchase of the fuel distribution system a less attractive investment for prospective private interests.

The new owner/operator of the fuel distribution system could evaluate the commercial potential of expanded AVGAS distribution, storage and sales as a business decision.