Quote:
Originally Posted by Bad Grizzly
Not to sound negative here, but If Winnipeg has a tremendous advantage over Calgary and Edmonton, then why isn't it already the hub of the prairies? This is more of a curiousty thing. I know Calgary has much higher number of international tourists due to the Rockies, as well as a bigger business sector, but as you pointed ouit, cities like Salt Lake have become hub cities.
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Interestingly, Winnipeg was the original headquarters of Trans-Canada Airlines -- the forerunner to Air Canada. From 1937 to 1949, our airport was also the site of their national maintenance base. In 1949, federal policy dictated the headquarters move to Montreal. Later the maintenance base also moved east which was a significant blow to western Canada. However, Air Canada still retains a significant maintenance operation in the city. In fact, Northwest Airlines has been known to send their Airbus aircraft to YWG for overhaul.
Winnipeg is also Canada's third largest airport by cargo tonnage, with approximately 150,000 metric tonnes of air cargo moving through the airport in 2005. Two of Canada's largest air cargo companies use Winnipeg as a major domestic hub: Purolator and Cargojet.
Winnipeg International Airport, which opened in 1928 as Stevenson Aerodrome, was also Canada's first international airport.
In regards to Salt Lake City, it is a hub only because it was the former HQ of Western Airlines, which was purchased by Delta Airlines following deregulation. Although it qualifies as a "hub," SLC is largely a regional aircraft base staffed with CRJ's outsourced by Delta.
Calgary is highly analogous to SLC's hub. Calgary was the former HQ for Pacific Western and Canadian Airlines and is still largely a narrowbody base with limited international service. It acts as a regional feeder for the west coast, far north, etc. but still benefits from the remnants of Canadian's operations.
Although Westjet is also HQ'd in Calgary, it hardly operates on the hub system. Rather, it has made a fortune by pioneering point-to-point service across Canada and bypassing traditional hubs. Air Canada also still exceeds WJ in the number of flights from Calgary airport due to the inherited slots and route structure of Canadian.
The only reasoning that I can offer as to why Calgary has been more popular as a "focus city" (the more appropriate term) is because of improved airport infrastructure (courtesy of the 1988 Olympics) and the aforementioned headquartering of PWA and Canadian Airlines.
Furthermore, the traditional hub-and-spoke system of air travel is disappearing with the advent of long-range CRJ/Embraer aircraft and the introduction of the 787 Dreamliner. Point-to-point service is emerging as the new paradigm in the airline industry. Hence, any discussion concerning the importance of a city as an air "hub" is rapidly becoming moot.
In the near future, the public's ability to fly non-stop between destinations will vastly improve.