Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Member indicates, I think this is our third year to have seen the 802s operate under full forest fire operating conditions, under extreme forest fire operating conditions, especially last summer. They have performed admirably. The 802s would equal the impact of the four 215s that we do currently have. The four 215s, which I point out are probably 60 years old, roughly, burn fuel that is going to become obsolete in the not-too-distant future. There’s three years left on the current contract. We have at least two instances and one near incident where we actually ran out of avgas in communities, in Norman Wells and Inuvik to be specific, where the 215s were stranded on the
runway and we had to work to find other aircraft to come in and assist.
The cost of operating the new units would be considerably less than the existing fleet. It’s around $4 million a year right now to keep the 215s in the air and operational.
The fuel consumption is probably one-third and it’s Jet B versus lead-filled avgas, and the operating costs, because they’re newer planes, would be considerably less. But I’d ask the deputy if he wants to add any further detail to the Member’s concerns, or Mr. Mawdsley. Let’s start with the deputy, Madam Chair.