Heavy aircraft are being told to stay away from the Goose Bay airport due to the deteriorating condition of its runways.

"All airfields need ongoing maintenance so deterioration is to be expected, but given our conditions here in Labrador, it's been faster than we expected," said base commander Lt.-Col. Stephane Racle.

Lt.-Col. Stephane Racle is the base commander at 5 Wing Goose Bay base. (Jacob Barker/CBC)

While the restrictions will not affect smaller planes such as Dash 8s and Twin Otters that service regularly scheduled flights in Labrador, large passenger jets such as Boeing 747s and 777s looking for a place to stop for fuel on their way across the Atlantic should look elsewhere for now.

"We've imposed some restrictions to ensure some aircraft that could cause some damage to the runway don't land," Racle said, adding that in the case of an emergency any plane can land on either of the airport's two runways.

He said a Norwegian Air jet that has been stuck at the Goose Bay airport awaiting a new engine for more than a week will be allowed to take off once it's fixed.

A Norwegian Air flight that was diverted after one of its engines blew out just over a week ago will be able to take off once it's fixed. (Jacob Barker/CBC)

Added stress

Racle said the warming temperatures and thawing that come in the spring put a lot of added stress on the airfield.

The concerns have to do with the surface of the airfield as well as the underlying concrete. He says there is cracking, which is in turn causing some pieces of the runway and sealant to come loose.

Racle says the changing of the seasons does add stress to the runways. (Jacob Barker/CBC)

"We must be very vigilant and we ensure that we look at the condition of the airfield on a regular basis, multiple times a day, to ensure that we catch any loose debris that could cause problems," Racle said. "There have been some [pieces] that have been picked up, definitely."

No connection

This issue has nothing to do with issues that shut down the airport completely for several days in November 2017, according to Racle. He said that issue was due to a bad batch of sealant, adding that all of the bad sealant has been removed.

This batch of defective sealant shut the airport down for several days in November 2017 but Racle says there's no connection to the current problem. (CBC)

The restrictions, which were put in place Friday, are scheduled to last until mid-August. Racle would not speculate on whether the issue would be resolved by then but did say that the Department of Defence has a plan to make the airfield safe again for the larger planes.

"That's going to come in the future but it's, again, looking at the viability of ensuring that we can safely operate out of Goose Bay," Racle said.

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