WINNIPEG — People in south Winnipeg will sleep a bit better starting Thursday.
More air traffic than normal has been flying over St.Vital, Fort Richmond, River Heights and other areas since April, when the Richardson International Airport shut down one of its two runways for rehabilitation work. That means planes were forced to use only one runway.
“They would have seen typically 12 to 15 per cent of the air traffic volume that we would have at the airport but they have seen 100 per cent of the traffic volume just in the last month or so,” said Barry Rempel, the president of the Winnipeg Airports Authority.
“Every time I turn my head there is a plane,” said Adele Standil, who lives in River Heights. “I would rather see birds.”
The Winnipeg Airports Authority showed off the smooth surface of the newly refurbished 3,350-metre runway on Thursday.
Planes are expected to start using the runway Thursday afternoon.
That means planes will return to flying over Charleswood. That neighbourhood, notorious for being under a flight path, had a break from air traffic.
“There have been no airplanes at all,” said Todd Cutts, who lives in Charleswood. “It has been great.”
The project cost the WAA $8.2 million.
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