Just because I was curious...
YQR has direct flights to the following destinations: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Minneapolis, Mexico and the Caribbean.
According to their winter newsletter, they are still in talks about the direct flight to SLC. Any idea whatever happened to the flights to Vegas that they were looking into? It sounds like they pretty much had everything in place when Canadian customs decided that they couldn't have people at the airport for a 5 a.m. arrival time. This article I found from August says that they were going to make representations to politicians to have a review of the situation.
As of the end of July, passenger traffic was up about 12% over 2006. Assuming that number stayed relatively constant, you're looking at about 976,000 passengers for 2007 but they were expecting it would be between 865,000 and 905,000.
Here's the article, in case anyone wants to read it.
Quote:
The Regina International Airport is on its way to setting a record for passenger traffic.
To the end of July, 556,483 passengers had gone through the airport, compared with 496,277 in the first seven months of 2006 -- an increase of about 12 per cent.
In July alone, traffic was up 15.1 per cent over 2006 -- 86,086 compared with 74,791. That marked a one-month record for the Regina International Airport.
"This increase is an indication both of the positive economic times Saskatchewan has been enjoying and the level of service provided by our airline partners," Regina Airport Authority interim CEO Ray Boughen said in a news release issued Tuesday.
"When the economy is strong, air travel is an important part of that strength for business and for tourism."
If current trends continue, then the Regina airport expects to see between 865,000 and 905,000 passengers board or leave aircraft here this year, he added in an interview.
That means the airport could break last year's record of 871,416 passengers.
And 2006 itself showed a sharp increase from 2005, when more than 826,000 passengers went through the terminal building.
In addition to a healthy economy, Boughen said the surge illustrates how the cost of air travel becomes more attractive when the total cost of ground transportation -- gasoline, accommodation, vehicle rental and food -- is considered.
"When you add it up, air travel -- within one day to anywhere in the planet -- starts to add up," he said.
In search of additional flights, Boughen said he and airport staff earlier this month met with Atlanta-based Delta Airlines about getting scheduled flights to Regina from Delta's regional hub in Salt Lake City, from which connections could be made all over the western U.S.
Though no decision was made by the airline, a return visit by Delta managers is expected soon.
"Negotiations are ongoing with them and we have the feeling that we're gaining some ground," Boughen said.
Talks have also been held with WestJet about direct flights from Regina to Toronto and Vancouver.
"We're on their radar, " Boughen said, "but we haven't got anything in place that we can make an announcement about."
Not all the news was good, though.
Boughen said the airport authority had worked with WestJet to get two weekly flights to Las Vegas, only to be told by Canadian customs officials that having personnel at the airport for their 5 a.m. return time was not possible.
"We were working together with (WestJet officials) on it, we got them in place and then Customs pulled the rug out from under us," he said, adding that representations to politicians will be made in order to seek a review of this.
Credit: Leader-Post
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Also found this in the Jan. 11 L-P:
Quote:
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Other improvements -- such as better service to Vancouver or establishing a Regina-to-Las Vegas flight -- could be considered in the future, Pugliese said.
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