Alberta Travellers Win as Edmonton Gains New Gateway to Europe: Icelandair to Reykjavik and Beyond



September 3, 2013 (Edmonton, AB) – Starting in March 2014, Icelandair will begin regular scheduled service between Edmonton and Reykjavik, providing Albertans with faster and easier access to more than 20 destinations across Europe.

“This new route links the Capital Region into Icelandair’s superb network of over 20 European destinations, with significantly shorter travel times to places like Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Stockholm and more. Travellers will save as much as six and a half hours of travel time on a return trip,” says Reg Milley, EIA President and CEO.

“We see a bright future ahead with a stronger network and even more opportunities for the many business and leisure travellers flying to Europe from Canada. Icelandair continues to search out markets that will benefit from our presence for both inbound and outbound travellers and further strengthen our role in opening the skies to Europe. The vibrant and academic community of Edmonton is underserved by international airlines and Icelandair will now offer a refreshing alternative to Europe from Canada,” says Helgi Már Björgvinsson, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Icelandair.

"Iceland is a great new addition to EIA's non-stop network. Icelandic immigrants have contributed greatly to Alberta's rich cultural fabric. We look forward to welcoming more Icelanders to Alberta so they can explore our natural beauty, enjoy our arts and culture, and re-connect with family and friends who now call Alberta home," says Alberta Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation, Dr. Richard Starke.

“Icelandair is one of the world’s most innovative and respected airlines, with an outstanding network across Europe. With our strong economic performance, and our impressive new air terminal, we’re proud that Edmonton has what it takes to attract a world-class international air carrier of Icelandair’s calibre,” says Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel.

“A non-stop connection with Reykjavik further opens up Edmonton to continental Europe and will allow for new tourism and business opportunities to be pursued. Icelandair’s investment underlines its confidence in the Edmonton region as an economic hub for North America,” says EEDC President and CEO Brad Ferguson.

This new service will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays on an Icelandair Boeing 757 seating 183 passengers in a three-class layout. The 6-hour, 20-minute eastbound flight will depart from EIA at 6:30 p.m. and arrive in Reykjavik at 6:50 a.m. the next morning. The westbound flight will leave Reykjavik at 4:45 p.m. and arrive at EIA at 5:30 p.m. the same day, with flying time of 6 hours, 45 minutes.

Passengers will enjoy the following minimum time savings on return trips to major European cities, as compared with current available schedules offered by existing routings:

• Amsterdam: 1 hour, 25 minutes
• Copenhagen: 4 hours, 55 minutes
• Frankfurt: 2 hours, 30 minutes
• Munich: 3 hours, 50 minutes
• Paris: 2 hours, 25 minutes
• Stockholm: 6 hours, 40 minutes
• Zurich: 3 hours, 20 minutes

These are minimum time savings. Total time saved increases even more with schedule variations.

Icelandair’s interline agreement with WestJet means passengers connecting to Icelandair flights at EIA can book a single combined e-ticket for both airlines, and enjoy the convenience of single check-in for all flights, with baggage sent through to the final destination.

About Edmonton International Airport:

Edmonton International Airport (EIA) is Canada’s fifth busiest airport by passenger traffic and the largest major Canadian airport by land area. Canada’s fastest growing major airport in 2012, EIA serves over 6.5 million passengers per year and offers non-stop connections to more than 50 destinations across Canada, the US, Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe. For more information about Edmonton International Airport, visit www.flyeia.com.

About Icelandair:

Icelandair, the national carrier of Iceland since 1937, offers service to Iceland from Boston, New York-JFK, Seattle, Denver and Toronto with seasonal service from Newark, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis-St. Paul, Orlando Sanford, Halifax, and Anchorage. Connections through Icelandair's hub at Keflavik International Airport are available to more than 20 destinations in Scandinavia, the U.K. and Continental Europe. Only Icelandair allows passengers to stopover in Iceland at no additional airfare. To book a flight with Icelandair, visit www.icelandair.ca.



Media Contact:
Heather Hamilton
Director, Marketing & Communications
Edmonton International Airport
c: 780 884 2966
e: hhamilton@flyeia.com
w: www.flyeia.com

Michael Raucheisen
Marketing Executive, the Americas
Icelandair
t: (1) 857 403 1787
e: raucheisen@icelandair.is
w: www.icelandair.ca

Edmonton on the way up:)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94203789@N05/9667637089/

Absolutely Edmonton’s Story....By graduating into a beast...by being a humble and sincere city that has perspective in Education....Arts ...Business...Government....and just enough Nimbi’s to make things interesting :)!

Major Announcement Marks "Roads. Rails. Runways." National Cargo Conference

September 25, 2013 (Edmonton, AB) – Edmonton International Airport (EIA) and the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association (CIFFA) are hosting over 250 cargo, shipping and logistics leaders from across Canada and beyond at the Roads. Rails. Runways. Cargo Conference.

The conference, which is taking place at the Radisson Edmonton South on September 25 and 26, features local, national and international guest speakers from across the industry, as well as discussion forums and networking opportunities. Highlights also include oil sands flyovers for out-of-province guests and tours of the Leduc-Nisku Business Park, North America’s second largest energy park north of Houston.

Roads. Rails. Runways. marks CIFFA’s first-ever national conference in western Canada.

The need for an industry event of this calibre in Edmonton was further demonstrated by major new announcements today, including:

• A new partnership between EIA and Panattoni Development for light industrial development at the Cargo Village, including warehousing and logistics facilities for freight forwarders, custom-built for the users;
• A custom-built freight forwarding building that will be constructed by Runway Developments Inc.. The 30,000 sq ft building will be located on 5 acres of land and will provide both office and warehouse space.

“EIA is serious about cargo. Cargo has distinct needs, which is why EIA and our partners are building the facilities needed for the expansion of air and ground cargo companies in the Capital Region,” said Traci Bednard, EIA Vice President, Market Development.

EIA has made a multi-million dollar investment into the infrastructure of its Cargo Village in the past three years, including a dedicated air cargo apron, airside building facilities, road and land servicing and a new Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) facility. This is all part of EIA’s new Cargo Village complex, a commercial and industrial development on airport lands with a growing contingent of freight industry tenants. It has contributed to a year of rapid growth in EIA’s air cargo division, including upgraded service by cargo carriers FedEx and Cargojet.

The conference also marks the 65th anniversary gala of co-hosts CIFFA, Canada’s leading freight forwarding association.

“This was the perfect place to celebrate 65 years of advocacy, education and finding international opportunities for Canadian freight companies. Edmonton is a vital link to Canada’s emerging markets in the resource sector, and obviously growing rapidly, which presents CIFFA member firms with almost unlimited opportunities,” said Ruth Snowden, CIFFA Executive Director.”

Additional conference partners include the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME), the Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters (I.E.Canada) and Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC).

More information is at: www.flyeia.com, www.ciffa.com, www.cme-mec.ca, www.iecanada.com, www.edmonton.com www.panatoni.com www.runwaydevelopments.com

Media Contact:
Chris Chodan
Communications t: 780 890 8454 c: 780 700 3596 e: cchodan@flyeia.com w: www.flyeia.com

If only Alberta Transportation can get their highway 19 alignment sorted out....

Not sure if this belongs in this thread or the transit thread, but here's an article I came across about the UP (Union_Pearson Express) under construction at Toronto Pearson International Airport:

http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2013/09/...ow-75-complete

Awesome and about time, even if the express bus from Union is ok.

More good news for Windsor International Airport, a new cargo village finally becoming reality.

http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2013/10...startup-grant/

I don't think many would agree that an express bus is adequate for a city of 6 million people. The dedicated rail link to downtown is something that should have happened decades ago. Even Vancouver has that.

Do Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, or other cities have one?

I believe you can take a train from Dorval to downtown, but I'm not sure how far the train station is from the airport. If Montreal doesn't have an airport to downtown rail link, they should. Ottawa and Calgary likely don't, but should have plan for one when they get bigger... perhaps when they grow to the 2.5 million range.

Montreal already has an underground train station at the airport which was built several years ago. It is currently unused. Authorities are squabbling over whether to use CN or CP track (linking to Central Station or Lucien-L'Allier Station). The Montreal Airport authority (ADM) wants CN/Central Station option while the AMT commuter train operator prefers the CP/Lucien-L'Allier route. There are so many stakeholders (ADM, AMT, STM, CN, CP, VIA Rail, Transports Québec, City of Dorval and the City of Montreal) and bureaucratic games for a relatively small amount of new track.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/images/biz...3/04/52691.jpg
http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/mo...s-garantie.php

Overview of the whole area
http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/340/8tnp.png
http://www.bing.com/maps/#Y3A9NDUuND...NBbnVsbCU3RA==

Here's a closeup of the AMT (grey shelters on the northern track to the left) and Via stations (red roof on the southern track to the right). The AMT station is on CP's track which goes to Lucien-L'Allier (slightly more direct), and the VIA station is on CN's track which goes to Central Station via Point St. Charles.
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8896/i2re.png
http://www.bing.com/maps/#Y3A9NDUuND...NBbnVsbCU3RA==

Via currently offers a free shuttle to their station (I don't think it goes to the AMT station): http://www.viarail.ca/en/travel-info...ity/airconnect

The service at VIA is obviously not frequent enough to be of much use to travelers. The service at the AMT station is also not frequent enough (and the station can't easily be reached from the airport anyway). http://www.amt.qc.ca/train_gares.asp...&LangType=1033

So instead, the STM offers the 747 express bus with frequent departures. It's by far the easiest way to get downtown.
http://www.stm.info/en/info/networks...-ville-shuttle

Currently in the Montreal municipal election, Denis Coderre, Marcel Côté and Mélanie Joly all favour improving bus service as opposed to projects like an airport rail link. Only Richard Bergeron seems to be in favour of an airport rail connection at the moment.

The two downtown stations are only about 500 metres apart, aren't they? Seems so easy, yet... not. :koko:

Did they set aside a right-of-way between the airport station and the two rail lines? Would additional tunneling be required, or is it just a matter of laying down track and switches?

Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport

Phase I of a two phase expansion of the YXE terminal that will nearly double it in size opens tomorrow:

I'm flying Melbourne-Sydney in a couple weeks for $79.. hard to beat that price, more expensive to drive and rail takes like 9 hours

What Canada needs is more competition domestically, since Virgin has been in Oz prices for flying have dropped.

Prices in Canada aren't that bad, especially when adjusted for inflation over time. What is a killer is the additional fees and taxes on top of the airfare. None of that goes to the airlines. Is that $79 all in? What are the taxes, fees etc. on a fare like that?

For competition in Canada to increase, and for prices to drop, we need to see domestic carriers like Porter Airlines expand to become a truly National carrier. It's great to see WS and AC having a presence coast-to-coast but AC's stranglehold on YYZ and YUL have done little to lower fares in those cities. The situation may be different in YVR and YYC where WS and AC have a more equal market share and compete directly on more routes. WS's continued expansion in YYZ can make a difference, however. In any case, if we want more domestic competition then we should be supporting Porter Airline's idea of becoming a more National carrier as opposed to the regional one it is today.

I beg to differ. I don’t believe the fights into Australia’s northern territories are as outrageous as ours are. My flight to Iqaluit usually comes in from 2800 -3500 depending on the month. And a normal flight from YEG to McMurray round trip is 700-1000 depending on the time of day.
I would love to see real completion in Canada.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTLskyline (Post 6288012) Montreal already has an underground train station at the airport which was built several years ago. It is currently unused. Authorities are squabbling over whether to use CN or CP track (linking to Central Station or Lucien-L'Allier Station). The Montreal Airport authority (ADM) wants CN/Central Station option while the AMT commuter train operator prefers the CP/Lucien-L'Allier route. There are so many stakeholders (ADM, AMT, STM, CN, CP, VIA Rail, Transports Québec, City of Dorval and the City of Montreal) and bureaucratic games for a relatively small amount of new track. http://www.cyberpresse.ca/images/biz...3/04/52691.jpg http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/mo...s-garantie.php Overview of the whole area http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/340/8tnp.png http://www.bing.com/maps/#Y3A9NDUuND...NBbnVsbCU3RA== Here's a closeup of the AMT (grey shelters on the northern track to the left) and Via stations (red roof on the southern track to the right). The AMT station is on CP's track which goes to Lucien-L'Allier (slightly more direct), and the VIA station is on CN's track which goes to Central Station via Point St. Charles. http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8896/i2re.png http://www.bing.com/maps/#Y3A9NDUuND...NBbnVsbCU3RA== Via currently offers a free shuttle to their station (I don't think it goes to the AMT station): http://www.viarail.ca/en/travel-info...ity/airconnect The service at VIA is obviously not frequent enough to be of much use to travelers. The service at the AMT station is also not frequent enough (and the station can't easily be reached from the airport anyway). http://www.amt.qc.ca/train_gares.asp...&LangType=1033 So instead, the STM offers the 747 express bus with frequent departures. It's by far the easiest way to get downtown. http://www.stm.info/en/info/networks...-ville-shuttle Currently in the Montreal municipal election, Denis Coderre, Marcel Côté and Mélanie Joly all favour improving bus service as opposed to projects like an airport rail link. Only Richard Bergeron seems to be in favour of an airport rail connection at the moment.

Thanks for the post. What a mess though. The station is already built. The airport is surrounded by rail tracks.

And yet, nobody can agree. And CN, a company that has been headquartered here since it was founded almost a century ago, shame in them for stalling the airport rail link, and for killing the AMT commuter train potential.

And shame on our next mayor (whoever he'll be) who won't even bother trying.