The Swift Current Airport has purchased a new piece of equipment that is expected to make the runway better to land on in the winter months.

A custom built towable spray trailer arrived a few weeks ago and will be used to apply a de-icer product in the winter and in the summertime too for their weed control program.

Todd Schultz, the manager at the Swift Current Airport, said with the purchase of the sprayer they will be switching from a granular mixture of urea to a liquid one.

"We found that the granular product wasn't as effective because often the particulars would be blown away in the wind," he said. "We're anticipating the liquid will be much easier to apply, and it will take a lot less product to be effective is what we're expecting."

The trailer was budgeted for $30,000 in the City of Swift Current's 2018 capital budget, but Schultz said the machine was under budget and was around $20,000.

"Many people probably don't know that we can't use the same products on the runway as are utilized on the streets," he explained. "Any salt compound containing chlorides is highly corrosive to aircraft aluminum and other components."

The airport normally only applies the de-icer application to the runway after they've been hit with freezing rain and when a Chinook is rolling through the area if they have a corporate jet or air ambulance scheduled to land.