YEG - Edmonton Int Airport - Page 173

Rocket252 · #**3441** Posted **Jan 22, 2009, 7:05 PM**

Right in the middle of nowhere

Hawker · #**3442** Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 6:15 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 240glt

Edmonton International Airport tops in passenger growth in Canada

EDMONTON — The Edmonton International Airport led the country in passenger growth for the third year in a row, and it’s one of the few major airports forecasting more growth this year.

Passenger numbers jumped six per cent to a record 6.5 million with domestic routes accounting for five million, up 3.4 per cent.

International was up 21.7 per cent to 386,563, and U.S. rose 16.7 per cent to 944,000.

“This 6.1 per cent increase over the previous year is especially remarkable compared to capacity cuts at other airports,” Edmonton Airports said in a release.

Edmonton also had the highest seat-capacity growth in Canada at seven per cent, bucking the trend of declines in other cities.

Airlines continued to add more cross-border flights, with WestJet alone adding 16 to their U.S. schedule. Air Canada, Jazz and Star Alliance partner United Airlines added 45 per cent more seats to their five key hubs of Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

The airport has launched a billion-dollar expansion that will double the number of aircraft gates and add other state-of-the-art infrastructure by 2012 to speed up passenger flow and check-in.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Edmonton+...ssenger+growth+Canada/1181697/story.html

These are indeed very good numbers, but a bit misleading to say that it is the tops in passenger growth in Canada. Maybe 'highest percentage growth amongst the 10 biggest airports'. Saskatoon, for example, has pax growth of almost 10% last year, according to this report:
http://www.sreda.com/media/user/document...ion%20Economic%20Report%20-%202008Q4.pdf

Speaking of the two cities, why the rather poor direct connections between the two cities? Only two flights a day direct? Is this the work of the Calgary airport mafia?

Rocket252 · #**3443** Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 12:34 PM**

The hub system - that is what Air Canada and WestJet will tell you.

240glt · #**3444** Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 3:02 PM**

By the time you drive to EIA, check in, board, fly, land, get your luggage and get a cab you could have driven to your destination faster.

Stang · #**3445** Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 3:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 240glt

By the time you drive to EIA, check in, board, fly, land, get your luggage and get a cab you could have driven to your destination faster.

I go from Calgary to Edmonton somewhat frequently (10+ times a year) for work, and I am given the choice of how I get there.

My first choice is to drive, as it is the fastest and I actually like driving. I can go from door to door in under 3 hours. My second choice is Red Arrow, and if I actually had to work downtown (I'm usually on the North side near the city centre airport), it might very well be my first choice. If I need/want to get any work done, the Red Arrow is great as you get the entire duration to work instead of 30 minutes in between take-off and landing. My distant third choice would be flying. It takes the the same amount of time as the bus or even slightly longer (door to door), and is generally not any cheaper.

Now if WestJet was allowed to fly into the City Centre Airport... that would change things.

240glt · #**3446** Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 3:29 PM**

^ Ha. Ain't gonna happen buddy

I get called to Calgary every once in a while too, mostly for consulting, and I choose to drive as well. Overall it's less hassle and because I'm usually down & back in a day and usually end up in different parts of the city it's just easier for me to have my car.

MalcolmTucker · #**3447** Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 3:43 PM**

You can close the Muni airport, but keep open a heliport. Could do Osprey in the future, but for now Boeing 234 (civilian refurbished Chinooks), downtown to downtown in an hour 15 minutes. You could probably carry passenger loads in the low 40s, depending on cargo, which would have to be minimal unless you bought external cargo pods, or slung it below.

Now that would be a real 'air bus', could even paint it in Red Arrow colours.

Any such operations would also likely kibosh high speed rail for the time being.

Stang · #**3448** Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 5:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 240glt

^ Ha. Ain't gonna happen buddy

My Dad remembers when they used to land 737s there. That would be fun driving along Kingsway with those things coming in! But yeah - those days are long gone.

IKAN104 · #**3449** Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 9:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stang

My Dad remembers when they used to land 737s there. That would be fun driving along Kingsway with those things coming in! But yeah - those days are long gone.

Or stepping outside the food court doors of Kingsway mall seconds before one of those beasts comes screaming over. Especially fun because you can't hear it coming (mall blocks the sound) until it's right on top of you. ... Scared the crap out of me.

JBB · #**3450** Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 10:00 PM**

Great picture Coldrsx! I may only be 27 but I can still feel a bit nostalgic for the old YEG... Those were the days of Canadian Pacific, paper tickets, the only place to eat being that institutional cafeteria and no multi-level parkade.

Jasper and one o nin · #**3451** Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 10:47 PM**

The cafeteria on the third floor? I remember that. Dont forget the old obervation decks.. Down the corridor on the third floor and then up the stairs. There used to be two obervation decks, but turned them into office, in fact, down the same third floor corridor was the AC lounge. (i remember cause I had free access on my aeroplan card)

ExcaliburKid · #**3452** Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 11:12 PM**

Favorite part about the old airport as a kid was the video arcade. I played that Simpsons Arcade game non-stop until whoever we were waiting for landed. Good times.

Jasper and one o nin · #**3453** Posted **Jan 23, 2009, 11:15 PM**

here is a 1991 shot from airliners.net - you can see the two observation decks.

0773|=\ · #**3454** Posted **Jan 24, 2009, 12:45 AM**

Yeah, I remember those observation decks. If we were picking up someone from the airport, that's where we'd sit while we waited. It was a nice view! I also remember when I was a kid, if we were ever driving somewhere northwest of the city, my dad would usually take a detour by Villeneuve airport. He always said he was looking for some hangar space--he has plans for a small kit-plane, but he's never built it. I suppose everyone has their dreams...

Edmonchuck · #**3455** Posted **Jan 24, 2009, 10:32 PM**

Try actually having a key to go outside and sit on a lawn chair on those decks! Heck, I remember when everyone could go outside and watch those stupid PTV's taking people from the airport to the plane...what were they thinking...

Edmonchuck · #**3456** Posted **Jan 24, 2009, 10:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasper and one o nin

here is a 1991 shot from airliners.net - you can see the two observation decks.

You can see the lack of cars, the lack of planes, and the lack of overall activity too. Those were dark dark times.

CMD UW · #**3457** Posted **Jan 24, 2009, 10:59 PM**

They were weren't they....

My how things have changed over there...particularly the last 8 years. It will be interesting to compare this when the terminal expansion is completed in 2012.

Coldrsx · #**3458** Posted **Jan 26, 2009, 3:00 PM**

there are more taxis now than the number of those cars...

just flew out and back to van, YEG was very pleasant again. Checked out the new pub airside along with timmy hoes now open. Much better.

TimB09 · #**3459** Posted **Jan 26, 2009, 5:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

there are more taxis now than the number of those cars...

just flew out and back to van, YEG was very pleasant again. Checked out the new pub airside along with timmy hoes now open. Much better.

I look forward to using that airport in March when I go to Tampa. Looking forward to seeing what has been added since last April.

pallo · #**3460** Posted **Jan 27, 2009, 11:43 AM**

Hello

Could anyone please tell me why there are no direct bus connections between Edmonton and Banff? The only few bus i could find all go through Calgary which makes the journey like 6 hours long

I thought that the distance between edmonton and banff
would have been the same as the distance between calgary and banff, isn't that so?