Calgary International Airport II

[CareerShow]

Originally Posted by zahav

The thing with Westjet now is that they consider Toronto as important (and arguably more so) than Calgary. And for those east cost cities (and so many other secondary US cities, as well as Caribbean etc.) it makes way more financial sense for them to funnel people through Pearson. They are exploiting that hub now more than ever. Calgary still doesn't have a super large O&D with those cities, and Vancouver and Edmonton are the only cities that might make sense to funnel through YYC (other prairie cities make more sense to funnel into Toronto since they are going in that direction to the east coast anyways). But even with YVR and YEG potential to connect in YYC, they still make more sense to channel everything through Toronto. I hope Westjet gives more love to us in Western Canada, but for certain expansion markets, it all seems to be focused on Toronto.

As for Air Canada, they long ignored western canada too but seem to finally be starting to build up their YVR presence at least. Who knows if they will start announcing new YYC routes (i know, this has been discussed ad nausem on these threads...). But there is hope, YVR was not getting much new from them until last couple years either. Now, all changed. Just today they announced daily 787 service to Frankfurt (on top of Lufthansa's daily 747), and 3x weekly Rouge to Gatwick (the 3 flights are pulled from Toronto, who are going from daily down to 4 weekly, so one plane will do YVR 3x and YYZ 4x).

At this point YYC seems more like a large focus city for AC, rather than a hub. Just for a numbers comparison for international service (incl. transborder). From YVR, AC offers service to 36 destinations, 24 of which are operated by widebody heavy aircraft. That's 2/3 of flights operated by large capacity planes. From YYC, they offer service to 14 destinations, only 4 of which are widebody heavy aircraft. Those 4 widebodies are 787-9 (x2), 787-8 (x1), and 763 (x1). YVR has tons of 773HD and more frequencies on those 36 routes as well.

YVR has been fortunate to have Air Canada support in the last 3 years. Just in these years they've added on Rouge Palm Springs, Phoenix, London Gatwick, Osaka, Nagoya, Dublin, and Cancun. On AC express they've added Dallas, San Jose, and San Diego. Then on mainline they've added Delhi, Brisbane, London Heathrow second daily, Frankfurt, Taipei, Chicago. And as you've said Beijing and Shangai are 773 in the summer months, with Hong Kong and London Heathrow being 777HD routes. Even Newark has been upgraded to a 789. Will be interesting to see if YYC gets any new routes as it seems they have been neglected in the last few years. Not many aircraft left for allocation however and the economic downturn in Alberta didn't help. Its easier for AC to feed traffic through YVR for Asia and Europe/Carribean from YYZ, then it is to launch routes from YYC it seems.

[camilacastro]

Originally Posted by CareerShow

Will be interesting to see if YYC gets any new routes as it seems they have been neglected in the last few years. Not many aircraft left for allocation however and the economic downturn in Alberta didn't help. Its easier for AC to feed traffic through YVR for Asia and Europe/Carribean from YYZ, then it is to launch routes from YYC it seems.

Vancouver is blatantly becoming AC's west hub, so the anwser will be no, YYC won't get new routes unless they are easy profit. Back to D.C., Boston, and Miami routes, AC is likely to implement them sooner or later considering they intend on pursuing the U.S.A to oversees strategy. Once those routes get landed at YVR, it will be a very long time before YYC gets another chance at those routes. It will be an even longer time before YYC has any shot at being any kind of international traffic hub like it hopes to be. YYC needs Westjet attention again.

[CareerShow]

Originally Posted by camilacastro

Vancouver is blatantly becoming AC's west hub, so the anwser will be no, YYC won't get new routes unless they are easy profit. Back to D.C., Boston, and Miami routes, AC is likely to implement them sooner or later considering they intend on pursuing the U.S.A to oversees strategy. Once those routes get landed at YVR, it will be a very long time before YYC gets another chance at those routes. It will be an even longer time before YYC has any shot at being any kind of international traffic hub like it hopes to be. YYC needs Westjet attention again.

It also appears the 787, 777HD have really opened up the thinner routes from YVR that weren't viable with the 767 and lesser dense 773. One would assume some east coast markets may become viable from YVR with the 737 MAX and other destinations such as Austin/Sacramento as well as upgrading San Diego, San Jose, Dallas, and Chicago when the C-Series aircraft begin entering service. YYC may be able to get a few california flights but really not much else from AC. Westjet is the best bet for YYC.

[MalcolmTucker]

Cities with more than 10,000 O&D trips with Calgary.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Acey

Kind of an odd way to phrase it, "'experiment" implies a conscious decision to not do it hoping no one would notice or complain, as opposed to an oversight which some had rumoured. It matches the stance of a YYC guy I spoke with yesterday about it who basically said they thought they'd get away with it and it was not missed.

[Rollerstud98]

See, the mop buckets not in the sink anymore!

[CalgaryCheese]

I'm glad the water situation has been fixed...I was more expecting a drinking fountain/filling station combo, but hey, I'll take what I can get!

[casper]

Originally Posted by Acey

I believe transborder would still need one.



The fact that they did it says enough about the general sentiment.

Reading between the lines, it basically says: "You (our travelers/passengers/customers/guests) said we needed a water fountain. Hey, look we are doing what you asked for."

Good customer focused approach.

Passengers went from: and to

In time the relationship with the Airport authority will be . Well as much as anyone can have feeling for their local airport authority.

[Bureaudog]

Originally Posted by casper

Reading between the lines, it basically says: "You (our travelers/passengers/customers/guests) said we needed a water fountain. Hey, look we are doing what you asked for."

Good customer focused approach.

Passengers went from: and to

In time the relationship with the Airport authority will be . Well as much as anyone can have feeling for their local airport authority.

Not quite "new" filling stations either. I recognize them from the Secondary areas of the CBSA hall (there were two). Oh well, they will hush people up, and I'm sure a long-term solution will be implemented eventually.

[outoftheice]

Originally Posted by Bureaudog

Not quite "new" filling stations either. I recognize them from the Secondary areas of the CBSA hall (there were two). Oh well, they will hush people up, and I'm sure a long-term solution will be implemented eventually.

Not sure if it actually will. Sure you can fill up an empty water bottle but thst assumes everyone is carrying around an empty bottle. Still nothing resembling am actually water fountain. It also doesn't address the fact that someone earlier in the thread reported the airport authority was removing the water fountains from the A/B/C wings. I'll await a term solution but I'm kind of expecting this half assed one to be left for a long time.

[camilacastro]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

Cities with more than 10,000 O&D trips with Calgary.

can't separate Ft. Lauderdale and Miami whilst having Baltimore's airport in Washington or San José in San Fran's stats...

Atlanta didn't become the world's busiest airport by focusing uniquely on the traffic it gets between itself and another city. And Dubai won't be the busiest airport because of the traffic it gets between two cities. Its all about network and network opportunity when building that network.

For instance I mentioned Spokane. A city I have never seen mentioned... That city sits in a catchment area of 1.4 million people. Calgary is directly in its European flight path, and is the most direct connection to eastern Canada. This in turn increases the volume (aka flights) from Europe and eastern Canada to Calgary, which in turn increases the odds of people using Calgary as a connection to go to places such as Portland. *sorry for rant*

But ya, nothing to do with how many people in Spokane are going to see the dinosaurs in Alberta.

[Nick]

I count 24 flights per day between KGEG and KSEA. If I lived in Spokane, I'm going to Seattle every time just because I can find an optimal time for my schedule.

[excel]

Personal feedback from using gate C72. (Domestic gate in the new Terminal)

Signage from A gates to C gates is pretty poorly done and can be confusing in areas. There were multiple people confused about getting to their gates while on the YYC Link. Even the driver was having a tough time explaining it to everyone.

No food near the gate, other than what Hudson News has to offer. We were told to get off at the main C wing to get food and then re-board the YYC Link to get us to our gate.

Seating was sufficient at the time but I can see it getting really packed if there were to be similar departure times on both C70 and C72.

Only 2 solo occupancy bathrooms are available.

First of all they divide the gate from the waiting area which I found ridiculous for two reasons:

1) You can not see the gate with the screen that has the destination and updated departure time on it. Once arriving you have to walk past the bathrooms just to confirm the gate on your boarding pass actually matches the gate and then return to sit down.

2) Because of the divide, instead of using the intercom, the WestJet CSA decided to come out and make the opening boarding announcement in person. She basically had to yell just so the whole gate could hear. This obviously can be done via the intercom but just showed how the gate not being visible is a poor design.

To add to it, the single occupancy bathroom doors do not close behind themselves. I was sitting near one and after someone came out the smell was so bad I had to move.


The walk to the aircraft had one more issue. The signage for the split between gate C70 and C72 is not great. It makes it look like C72 is up a flight of stairs unless you look past the first sign and see another C72 sign.

For someone who doesn't use airports much or speaks a foreign language, I can see it being confusing.

Overall I was pretty disappointed I had to use this gate especially for a WestJet flight. It would definitely make last minute connections tough to reach quickly. The YYC Link alone had a 3 trip wait and was definitely not that fast. Not sure why they didn't just use moving walkways. This would have also negated the need to pay drivers. Our driver almost crashed into oncoming traffic.

Only positive experience was the staff. Everyone was very friendly and happy to help.

[Coldrsx]

Back through YYC earlier today from NRT. Loved the huge customs area, even if a hike and very YYZ post. The walk halfway to Edmonton to catch the Red Arrow was not fun though. Where was that LINK again?

Overall a great terminal public side, tight and kinks on the airside.

[Cage]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Back through YYC earlier today from NRT. Loved the huge customs area, even if a hike and very YYZ post. The walk halfway to Edmonton to catch the Red Arrow was not fun though. Where was that LINK again?

Overall a great terminal public side, tight and kinks on the airside.

YYC link is airside and Red Arrow is groundside, hence you cannot use YYC link to get to red arrow from the international terminal.

[Mazrim]

Sitting in transborder lounge right now and watched a bunch of people race off to their gate when the screen announced their number. Would YYC rather you wait for boarding to start before heading to the gate or is everyone supposed to stand for 45 minutes at the gate?

[Bigtime]

When we travel this call to gate system will be perfect for us, we travel light and like to board at the end anyways. So we'll chill in the central area and make our way to the gate once boarding has been called.

[Fuzz]

Do they call the whole flight over, or do they announce by zones?

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by Cage

YYC link is airside and Red Arrow is groundside, hence you cannot use YYC link to get to red arrow from the international terminal.

Ah, so desune. Then the walk from gate to Red Arrow is forever and ever.

[McMurph]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

Sitting in transborder lounge right now and watched a bunch of people race off to their gate when the screen announced their number. Would YYC rather you wait for boarding to start before heading to the gate or is everyone supposed to stand for 45 minutes at the gate?

I'm not sure the airport cares. Do what you want and get on your plane on time. Maybe linger a while and buy a bottle of water.

I came back last night through those new domestic gates. Not the most immersive experience in the new terminal to say the least. A long walk through a semi decent space that by design will always be an awkward spot. The only issue was a short delay at the end of the walk while we waited for some doors to be unlocked. The impatience of some of the travellers was irritating. A new building and a complicated maze of through which to herd folks (separating int'l from domestic arrivals), yet they act as if a 3 minute wait was completely inexcusable and a personal affront.