Common Council has given its support to the Saint John Airport for an application to the federal government for funding for various upgrades.
Airport President & CEO Derrick Stanford says the federal government just released a new program for transportation related initiatives.
Standford says the federal government called out the six small national airport systems, including Saint John, to be official recipients of this funding.
Because the airport is located on federal land, it was unable to apply for funding in the past.
The upgrades include repaving and extending one of the runways and replacing the airfield lights with more energy efficient LED lighting at a cost of roughly $34.1 million.
Stanford says the support of council is very important because the first thing the province looks for is city support and the first thing the federal government looks for is provincial support.
The airport has the fire trucks dating back from 1999 and Stanford hopes the federal funding will lead to extra funds so the airport can upgrade the trucks.
The airport hopes to submit its application by August 15th.