Booming Edmonton International setting new records monthly
Leaves Vancouver in its contrail as a destination for WestJet flights
Gary Lamphier
The Edmonton Journal
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
EDMONTON - Canada's fastest growing major airport? It's no contest -- Edmonton International Airport takes the crown.
In fact, June was the busiest month on record for EIA, with nearly 508,000 passengers shuffling through the terminal.
That marked the 18th straight month of double-digit growth, says Edmonton Airports CEO Reg Milley, and an eye-popping 22.2-per-cent increase over June 2006, when 416,000 travellers enjoyed the airport.
On a year-to-date basis, traffic volumes rose an impressive 18.7 per cent, to well over 2.9 million, EIA says. Calgary International Airport, the nation's second-fastest growing major airport, posted traffic growth of 10.6 per cent in the first five months of 2007, to nearly 4.9 million passengers.
At current growth rates, Milley figures Edmonton could hit the six- million-passenger mark for 2007.
After mapping out the airport's long-term projections, he's also forecasting double-digit growth rates to continue for the next five years.
"The growth we're seeing is just outstanding. Edmontonians and people throughout the region are really responding to the increases in air service," he says, including more flights to U.S. cities and Air Canada's successful non-stop daily service to London, launched last year.
"In 2006 we added a lot of new destinations -- more than probably any other city in the last decade. That's really helping us to drive traffic," says Milley.
In May, Edmonton topped Vancouver as WestJet's third-largest hub in Canada, in terms of seating capacity. Edmonton now trails only Toronto and Calgary.
"WestJet has just been a fantastic partner for us, as has Air Canada. They've added new destinations, increased capacity and are really working with us on making sure the Edmonton region grows."
Passenger traffic on connecting flights from Grande Prairie, Yellowknife, Fort McMurray and Saskatoon is also up in a big way, rising 42 per cent in 2006, versus 2005. The uptrend is continuing in 2007, Milley says.
"We're seeing our catchment area expand. If you walk through our parkade or parking lot you'll see a lot of Saskatchewan licence plates now. We're getting a lot of people driving in and connecting in Edmonton, so our profile is changing," he says.
On a year-to-date basis, domestic passenger volumes are up 15.3 per cent; U.S. traffic is up 21.3 per cent; and international traffic is up 77.7 per cent.
The latter reflects the impact of Air Canada's non-stop service to Heathrow Airport, as well as strong traffic growth to Mexico -- the top destination for international travellers -- and other vacation hot spots.
International flights have quadrupled since last summer, jumping to 12 departures per week from just three, and Milley says he's hoping to add flights to Texas, New York and either Frankfurt or Munich in the coming year.
Despite its growth, Milley says EIA could do even better if it was able to attract more of the roughly one million local passengers annually who opt to fly from airports in Calgary or Vancouver, rather than Edmonton.
"Every time somebody buys a ticket they cast a vote, and they either vote for the airport in their region or another one. And if you connect through, or drive to another airport you're not going to help us see air service grow here. The more people in the region utilize the airport, the more direct destinations we'll get."
With EIA expecting to achieve new record passenger volumes in July and August, and the terminal already running above its design capacity, Milley says travellers should allow an extra 15 minutes for parking, check-in and clearing security this summer.
Airport expansion is now underway with 1,000 new parkade stalls being added, as well as new de-icing pads and aircraft parking space. Additional terminal construction is slated to start some-time in 2008.
I love Toronto. It's a great city. We lived there for a decade, and know it well. Our kids were born there, and my wife and I began our careers there. Nearly 20 years after leaving Toronto, we still miss the big-city vibe and cultural vitality of our old haunts on Bloor Street West, Queen Street, The Beaches and Bayview Avenue.
But like any city, Toronto has its flaws. It can be smug, self-satisfied and arrogant. Too many Torontonians -- including a lot of media types -- know next to nothing about the rest of Canada. Including Edmonton.
Occasionally, their collective ignorance is reflected in the pages of the so-called national (read: Toronto) press. Witness a piece on urban thinker Richard Florida that ran in last Tuesday's Globe and Mail.
After extolling the virtues of Canada's other major cities as havens for hip, creative people, the Globe slagged Alberta's capital city as an industrial backwater. To add insult to injury, the Globe ran a photo of an oilsands mine near Fort McMurray -- as if that somehow represented Edmonton.
There's only one word for coverage like that: pathetic.
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© The Edmonton Journal 2007
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