YEG - Edmonton Int Airport

[Coldrsx]

"prompted the airline to concentrate on Calgary and Vancouver in Western Canada"

if Edmonton had a $1 for every time we heard this we would be billionaires many times over.

[BlueFusion]

Well when AC launched their YEG-LHR flight, didn't Edmonton's mayor say use or lose this flight? Perhaps he got through to everyone, and thus most of Zoom's business went to AC, making the route to YEG no longer profitable.

[Coldrsx]

cause you cant tell me a city of a million and catchment of prob 1.25 cant support more than 1 times daily to europe?

uh huh

[Bigtime]

Tough break about Zoom, unless AC was really putting a hurt on them with the LHR run.

Or second crazy theory, that's what you guys get for having the 225 come up there instead of YYC!

[Canadian74]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

cause you cant tell me a city of a million and catchment of prob 1.25 cant support more than 1 times daily to europe?

uh huh

Calgary is also a million, but we have 3 dailies to LHR in the summer and 2 dailies to FRA. I guess it is because of the all the head-offices.

[Coldrsx]

^yes...that must be it...

[CanadianCentaur]

I wouldn't be too worried about Zoom leaving Edmonton, except maybe for the effect what its departure might have on AC's fares to LHR. If we got an airline flying YEG-LHR on a daily basis rather than 1 per week, plus biz class and all that stuff and there's a low-cost carrier flying into Gatwick only 1 x week, it becomes pretty obvious which airline travelers would choose. Besides, I think most people would rather go into Heathrow instead of Gatwick for reasons like better public transit access and connections to the rest of the UK and Europe.

[BlueFusion]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

cause you cant tell me a city of a million and catchment of prob 1.25 cant support more than 1 times daily to europe?

uh huh

I am sure YEG can support more then one daily flight to Europe, but perhaps the London market got to crowded with AC now flying daily, plus with YYC having three flights, the whole Alberta market seems to have more then enough capacity to London.

[tuffyy]

Zoom has a fleet stretched pretty thin....Maybe there service to LGW wasnt doing well from YEG...BIG DEAL.Air Transat still offers a weekly to LGW.Remember this flight operated to LGW not LHR,LGW does not offer the connections that LHR has.The LHR route does well since it offers connections to a ton of points.The zoom flight was mainly a tourist flight...Maybe the LHR flight does so well because of all of our buisness people travelling on it to and from...

[Coldrsx]

Two airports can co-exist
The Edmonton Journal
Published: 3:06 am

The Journal's Nov. 17 editorial is way off base. The City Centre Airport is not and never has competed with the International.

Co-ordinated updating of both airports would properly use both and provide the kind of air service that should be the objective of our management system.

Build the right terminal at the City Centre Airport, with or without parking, and New Air, Porter and Transwest Air (Saskatchewan) will move in to meet the area's needs.
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Don Peterson,

Edmonton


© The Edmonton Journal 2007

[Coldrsx]

Leave Muni alone
The Edmonton Journal
Published: 3:06 am

Re: "City Centre Airport should close," by Jeff Beitel, Letters, Oct. 23.

I am incensed by the ignorance of citizens -- including some city councillors -- who want to close the City Centre Airport.

I'm weary of being told we can't afford two airports. Hogwash. It's apparent that nothing pleases the Edmonton Airports Authority more than the slow deterioration of business there.
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Sadly, Peace Air is gone; they moved Quick Air out of the area. Was it not convenient for Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean to park her government jet there on her initial visit to Edmonton? Didn't we enjoy the Snowbirds' visit there?

The City Centre Airport is home for STARS, small private craft and some helicopters, including Air One.

I've spoken with medivac attendants who come to our local hospitals to pick up infants, children, and adult patients over the years and who must travel to the International Airport.

Leave the City Centre Airport alone. Calgary will always remain the hub of air travel in Alberta.

M. Carriere, Edmonton


© The Edmonton Journal 2007

--------------------------------

great attitude

[Coldrsx]

Open skies
The Edmonton Journal
Published: 3:06 am

The Journal's editorial talks about "the clear success of consolidation."

This is not true. Edmonton had far more scheduled international (non-U.S.) flights before consolidation than it does now.

I understand why a group of southern Alberta cities are pushing for an "open skies" policy at the City Centre Airport. Since the elimination of small regional carriers that used to fly from the downtown airport, it is almost impossible to fly from Medicine Hat to Edmonton for a short meeting and return in the same day. In addition, there is the matter of $100 for taxi fares to and from the International.
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No one is suggesting that we return to large jets at the City Centre Airport, just small, 19-seat regional planes.

Visitors want to use that airport to do business and spend money here.

The most glaring error in the editorial is when it refers to the City Centre Airport as "prime serviced land." That land is not serviced. It would cost a fortune to service that land with a sewerage system and doing so would overload the sewerage system in adjacent neighbourhoods. Tearing out concrete runways would also be a very expensive proposition.

The editorial talks about growing the tax base. When it was thriving, the City Centre Airport used to make money for the city.

Many cities are developing alternative airports. A growing number of commercial flights using Toronto's Island airport. In addition to its international airport, Vancouver has Abbotsford, and more than 100,000 passengers per year use the commercial seaplane service in the harbour.

Many cities would give their eye teeth to have an airport close to downtown for regional traffic.

Jim Spalding, Edmonton


© The Edmonton Journal 2007

People don't get it.

[Coldrsx]

SOMEONE REALLY NEEDS TO REPLY TO THIS ONE>>>>>PLEASE!!!!

---------------------------------------------------

Consolidation 'disastrous'
The Edmonton Journal
Published: 3:06 am

Has the consolidation of air traffic at the International been successful?

If you are a business person who frequently travels to Calgary, Fort McMurray or any Western Canadian destination, the answer is clearly no. You are much better off to drive to Calgary than to fly. If you want to carry out business with the Alberta government and you live in the north, it is more time- and cost-efficient to fly to Calgary and do your business in a branch government office there.

If you define success as moving development and tax revenue to Leduc, the answer is yes. Consolidation has built new businesses all along the QEII Highway and moved a number of jobs -- and associated tax revenue -- from Edmonton to Leduc. Businesses along Kingsway Avenue that pay Edmonton taxes have languished. The growth to the south has produced such urban sprawl that Edmonton homeowners spend most of their infrastructure dollars building new roads to enhance the competitiveness of Leduc businesses.
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Has consolidation brought in all the new 747s that were promised? No, because Edmonton still isn't big enough to fill the plane. If you are going overseas, you still can't fly direct from Edmonton.

So what will we get if we close the City Centre Airport? We will get taller highrises and more developed space downtown.

Health care for northern Alberta is based on medivac flights to the City Centre Airport. Either the province will have to convert to helicopters that fly at only 130 miles per hour and cost more, or they will have to send the flights the extra 20 minutes to Calgary, on cheaper 300 m.p.h. planes.

Health facilities in Calgary would be upgraded to handle the extra work. Maybe the "Edmonton Clinic" will have to be built in Calgary.

Aviation is a service industry and it's time the debate focused on that. People want the fastest, most efficient way to get from point A to point B.

Unfortunately, consolidation has been a disaster for Edmonton and for travellers. It's harder to get anywhere. Every flight has a 45-minute drive, a $50 cab ride or a $30 parking fee, and you still need to connect somewhere -- Calgary, Chicago, Denver, etc. -- to travel any distance.

We have an excessive airport improvement tax that helped build a new building, parkade and golf course. Businesses in Edmonton have become less competitive as time and money is wasted.

We should put customers first and find the quickest and most cost-effective way to move people to and from Edmonton.

David Climenhaga, Edmonton


© The Edmonton Journal 2007

[Coldrsx]

Our status slipping away
The Edmonton Journal
Published: 3:06 am

Edmonton was the Gateway to the North, but the mayors and reeves of northern Alberta say that this is no more.

Our city was the centre of government for the province, but the mayors and reeves from southern Alberta say this, too, is slipping away.

Our city generated more than $5 million a year in revenue when the city operated the Muni, but no more.
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Our city once had a downtown of commerce and enterprise, but now its focus is apartments and condos.

Our city prides itself in trying to be a "Smart City," but editorials such as this merely confirm that we really don't have a vision of what our City can be if we reasonably approach the jewels that we currently have, such as the City Centre Airport, rather than looking to someone else to deliver us.

Let's stop perpetuating the myth that Edmontonians voted to close the City Centre Airport in 1995, when the facts confirm the opposite.

John Szumlas,

Edmonton


© The Edmonton Journal 2007

[Coldrsx]

Muni has a larger role to play
The Edmonton Journal
Published: 3:06 am

Re: "Let's make Muni a memory," Editorial, Nov. 17.

The Edmonton City Centre Airport is an integral part of the regional airport system in Alberta. Regional airports are a major component of economic development and must be within the planning purview of provincial and local economic development authorities.

Airport authorities should operate airports, and facilitate convenient and efficient passenger air access, not dictate flight schedules and/or restrict the purpose of flights.
The provincial government uses the City Centre Airport as a base for its fleet of aircraft.View Larger Image View Larger Image
The provincial government uses the City Centre Airport as a base for its fleet of aircraft.
Rick MacWilliam, The Journal, file
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Major centres need better access to regional airports to make air transportation competitive with other modes of transportation.

All air travel is not the same. Commuter travel is much different from vacation or national/international travel. Commuter travellers are day trippers.

Commuter travel is a service provided by airlines under Section 704 of the Canadian Air Regulations, which limits the aircraft size to 19 passengers and a maximum of 50,000 pounds. Primarily, these airlines provide point-to-point service for same-day business, medical and personal travel.

The Commuter Air Access Network of Alberta (CAANA) believes in an open-skies policy for Alberta -- an indigenous commuter service that links the regions of the province, where customers determine where they fly, with market driven realities that include:

- Free-market competition for airports and airlines;

- Prices determined by market forces;

- And fair and equal opportunity to compete.

Access to regional airports, including the City Centre Airport, is very important for business efficiencies in:

- Resource development and operations;

- Agriculture and food processing;

- Forestry;

- And medical and secondary health care, including medivac.

There needs to be a provincewide system of commuter air services to provide business efficiencies as a major component of the Alberta Advantage.

CAANA does not promote the return of jet passenger service to the City Centre Airport. The 1995 plebiscite was to move large jet passenger service to the Edmonton International Airport at Leduc, not to close the CCA down, as suggested in The Journal's editorial.

Northern Alberta's economic boom creates a need for efficient movement of people.

If traffic from the City Centre Airport continues to be limited, the alternative is more traffic on Alberta's already congested highways. When QuickAir was forced to move from the City Centre Airport to the International, it went out of business because people would rather drive than use the International, which is inefficient for commuter travel.

Edmonton should be the centre of economic activity in Alberta. Airports such as the City Centre Airport are an integral part of all communities and provide key transportation links.

George de Rappard,

executive director,

Commuter Air Access Network of Alberta


© The Edmonton Journal 2007

[Jasper and one o nin]

If I drive from the wall mart at the northern end of St Albert, in Rush hour - it still does not take 45 minutes to get to the airport. From my downtown address it takes just over 20 minutes on the weekend.
Don't even want to touch the rest of the moronic comments. Shame on the Journal for even publishing them.
F**king idiots! Lets give Saskatoon and Regina each one more airport. While we are at it, red deer needs two airports. It is absolutely insane to even suggest that Edmonton could benefit from having YXD as our only airport - even to suggest two functioning airports is assinine

[Coldrsx]

Someone Write In To The Journal

[Jasper and one o nin]

I am so fu(*ing sick and tired of this age old, small town, debate. This biggest problem with Edmonton are these small town, small minded, non-forward thinking hicks that keep bringing up their own selfish self interests arguements, and the media that supports them.
It just makes our city look BAD

[Coldrsx]

^i would add:


those who do not take the time to know the current situation in both the airline industry and the current flights/operations at YEG