On her trip to Red Deer Premier Rachel Notley also made sure to check out the new Runway Expansion Project at the Red Deer Airport.
 
Notley was scheduled to visit the runway when the project got completed in November, but had to cancel due to weather conditions.
 
CEO of the Red Deer Airport, Graham Ingham said it was an honour to show off the new runway to the premier.
 
"It's fantastic. Anytime you can get the premier out to the airport is certainly encouraging and we're so happy that we were able to get the funding."
 
The project involved a 2000-foot extension of the main runway, for a total length of 7500 feet.
 
Ingham said the new addition was crucial to the airport. The new expansion is now able to accommodate larger aircraft which means increased opportunities for advanced tourism, economic power, attracting new commercial businesses and services, said Ingham.
 
"There was a couple of things we need to do in order to position ourselves well for growth in future. One was to extend the runway and the second, that we just started having discussions about no, is expanding the terminal so we can process more people." 
 
The new expansion is now able to accommodate larger aircraft which means increased opportunities for advanced tourism, economic power, attracting new commercial businesses and services, said Ingham.