YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion - Page 94

trofirhen · #**1861** Posted **Oct 14, 2009, 6:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by nova9

Perhaps YVR should take a poll of how much business they lose, or conduct some survey on customers diverting their $ to Sea-Tac and then send the results to the government.

Great Idea !! Seriously !! It might be the one way those fat feds will finally sit up and take notice of the economic damage they're doing by keeping YVR's wings clipped the way they do. (no pun intended)
If they think we're losing business to Toronto, they think "so much the better," but when that lost business is going out of the country altogether,
it might provide the jolt they need.

Worth a try, anyway.

twoNeurons · #**1862** Posted **Oct 14, 2009, 2:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

Is it not just all because of taxes? ... EDIT: Ooops. I was looking at the pre-tax prices... ummm... I blame Air Canada now

Even so, I think that taxes have something to do with it. Of course, going to US destinations will be cheaper from a US Airport. That being said, many airports consider YVR a domestic flight because you're essentially across the border before you're on the plane.

trofirhen · #**1863** Posted **Oct 17, 2009, 6:06 PM**

Good-bye YVR . . . Hello Sea-Tac ! ! !

sacrifice333 · #**1864** Posted **Oct 17, 2009, 6:33 PM**

85% of my flying over the last 5 years has been out of SEA-TAC instead of YVR.

Now with the addition of twice-daily train transport to Seattle AND their new 'skytrain' almost complete from downtown Seattle to SEA, it'll make the journey quite enjoyable and pretty low-stress.

Hopefully the CDN airlines and YVR can compete, because although I enjoy the Seattle aspect of my air travel it is completely unnecessary.

Political_R · #**1865** Posted **Oct 17, 2009, 8:32 PM**

sacrifice, our light rail isn't by any means as good as skytrain. I think skytrain is extremely superior in frequency, reliability, and ridership. It is a start but we need our UW connection before we see the numbers spike.

SpongeG · #**1866** Posted **Oct 17, 2009, 9:06 PM**

yah but at least you can get from downtown to the airport on it - up until now it was not easy if you came to seattle without a car

nova9 · #**1867** Posted **Oct 17, 2009, 9:15 PM**

you still have to take a bus, i thought the lightrail didn't go ALL the way to sea-tac.

sacrifice333 · #**1868** Posted **Oct 17, 2009, 9:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by nova9

you still have to take a bus, i thought the lightrail didn't go ALL the way to sea-tac.

The track's there and they're working on the finishing touches... not sure of the date of service implementation.

trofirhen · #**1869** Posted **Oct 17, 2009, 11:17 PM**

Whatever the mode of transportation used to get to either airport, the basic fact of the matter is that Sea-Tac is gaining on Vancouver for overseas destinations, and will soon overtake us. Case closed.

SpongeG · #**1870** Posted **Oct 17, 2009, 11:22 PM**

its suppossed to be all teh way to seatac in december or november

either way its much easier than it was - with a morning train and the LRT to seatac its definately a viable option that you can leave your car at home

and again you can usually arrange to fly back in YVR - depends where you are going and its still cheaper

sacrifice333 · #**1871** Posted **Oct 17, 2009, 11:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Whatever the mode of transportation used to get to either airport, the basic fact of the matter is that Sea-Tac is gaining on Vancouver for overseas destinations, and will soon overtake us. Case closed.

For domestic US, especially compared to Canada to US travel, they've won everytime for a long time and that won't change anytime soon when weighing cost and direct-itude heavily. Obviously for ease and time required flights originating from Canada would generally be easier for Canadians... but there is the whole international vs. domestic factor.

Canada used to always win on International flights, like those to Europe, but recently I've found better, easier fares out of the US (SEA) to Europe than YVR.

trofirhen · #**1872** Posted **Oct 18, 2009, 12:26 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sacrifice333

Canada used to always win on International flights, like those to Europe, but recently I've found better, easier fares out of the US (SEA) to Europe than YVR.

Yeah, and thanks to the protectionist, anal blockheads in Ottawa, it's going to get more that way and STAY more that way. Once again, YVR and the west gets screwed out out of jobs and growth by Ontario.

vanman · #**1873** Posted **Oct 18, 2009, 1:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Whatever the mode of transportation used to get to either airport, the basic fact of the matter is that Sea-Tac is gaining on Vancouver for overseas destinations, and will soon overtake us. Case closed.

Sounds like what happened with the cruise ship industry.

Rusty Gull · #**1874** Posted **Oct 18, 2009, 1:19 AM**

You know what's weird, though? David Emerson, the freakin' ex-CEO of YVR, was the government's second-in-command in the PM's cabinet a couple of years ago, and he made zero progress on opening up more flights for Vancouver.

Canadian airports across the board, it seems, suffer from higher landing fees, higher labour costs, higher taxes, and lower efficiency.

If Emerson couldn't fix the problem, then nobody will. It's a lost cause. YVR will continue to bleed international business to SeaTac, mostly because it's subsidizing Air Canada's operations in Montreal and Toronto.

For shame!!

MalcolmTucker · #**1875** Posted **Oct 18, 2009, 2:29 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Yeah, and thanks to the protectionist, anal blockheads in Ottawa, it's going to get more that way and STAY more that way. Once again, YVR and the west gets screwed out out of jobs and growth by Ontario.

You act like it is all the bilaterals fault. It is not. At least on the Europe side, there will be open skies, possibly including fifth freedom when Canada and EU conclude the free trade deal in 2011 (more likely 2012). As for flights to Dubai, the only reason the route might be profitable is connections onto India. Why allow a state airline that for all we know gets to refuel its jets at ultra cheap prices (their books aren't public) to destroy the existing connections.

You have all the extra charges that are added to Canadian flights, including funding the airports. Plus sales taxes on the fares, and moderately higher fuel prices and you have a combination that really reduces relative competitiveness. All of these differences have very good reasons. Plus it is just going to get worse as the US dollar depreciates.

Add to this a consolidation in the US airline industry leading to increase hubbing and the economies of scale beginning to reduce flight prices due to higher load factors.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanman

Sounds like what happened with the cruise ship industry.

Lots of Americans don't have passports, and didnt want to get them for their Alaska cruise. Nothing can be done about that. It has hurt the cruise lines too, since ships traveling without a stop in another country are forced to have american crews and be registered in the USA. They are really hurting.

SpongeG · #**1876** Posted **Oct 18, 2009, 2:50 AM**

cruise ship traffic was actually up 4% this past season

mr.x · #**1877** Posted **Oct 18, 2009, 2:58 AM**

^ after a free fall for the last 7 years?

Rusty Gull · #**1878** Posted **Oct 18, 2009, 4:46 AM**

Happy news for once -- from what I understand Air Canada will be resuming its direct service between YVR and Osaka-Kansai. This will be a temporary, three-month arranement (likely coinciding with the Olympics), but it's certainly a move in the right direction.

deasine · #**1879** Posted **Oct 18, 2009, 6:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Gull

Happy news for once -- from what I understand Air Canada will be resuming its direct service between YVR and Osaka-Kansai. This will be a temporary, three-month arranement (likely coinciding with the Olympics), but it's certainly a move in the right direction.

Let's hope it leads to permanent. Isn't this kind of stupid though? Canceling it, then resuming, then ending it again...

trofirhen · #**1880** Posted **Oct 18, 2009, 1:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by deasine

Let's hope it leads to permanent. Isn't this kind of stupid though? Canceling it, then resuming, then ending it again...

A bit like the temporary Air Canada service during the Olympics: three or so weeks of Vancouver-Paris nonstop, Vancouver-Zurich nonstop, Vancouver-Geneva nonstop . . . . then back to the old "CHANGE PLANES IN TORONTO" routine. Only in Canada.