YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[deasine]

Chris Gailus was referring to Virgin America, which is considered a cheap airline. And cheap considering their level of service of the planes.

[SpongeG]

it was the cheapest fare i found to fly from london to uk when i was looking

i can still remember how delicious the gross looking breakfast was - haha it looked awful but it tasted so good - i dream of it

[Dr Nevergold]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

• Video Link

An absolutely amazing, high quality video. Love the 720p version, and the fact that you can see Coquitlam, New Westminster, Burnaby/Metrotown, Downtown... Great find!

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by deasine

Chris Gailus was referring to Virgin America, which is considered a cheap airline. And cheap considering their level of service of the planes.

Then Gailus should have listened to Sir Richard more carefully, as SRB specifically says "Virgin Atlantic".

[trofirhen]

What about more flights to continental Europe? (and not just Paris ! !) Any information on possibilities for this? (regardless of the airline)

[MalcolmTucker]

I would gander that a probable new entrant for Vancouver will be Iceland Air. Right now they are re-jigging all their service to try to earn lots of hard currency due to their problems, trying to be a sort of Dubai type stop between North America and Europe. They are soon to start a new service from Toronto on this basis, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it expanded to other cities.

[Johnny Aussie]

Looks like DL is going to 4 daily MSP (5 flights on day 6) for the summer scheds.

DL summer ops:
MSP 29/week (all 319)
DTW 7/week (319)
ATL 3/week (757)
MEM 1/week (320)
SLC 21/week (7-CRJ, 7-CR7, 7-CR9)

Day 6 will see 11 DL ops... going to be busy at check-in around 10:00-12:00.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Sir.Humphrey.Appleby

I would gander that a probable new entrant for Vancouver will be Iceland Air. Right now they are re-jigging all their service to try to earn lots of hard currency due to their problems, trying to be a sort of Dubai type stop between North America and Europe. They are soon to start a new service from Toronto on this basis, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it expanded to other cities.

But why would you bother to stop in Iceland when there's plenty of direct service? Dubai = heat, beaches + shopping. Iceland, not so much.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by whatnext

But why would you bother to stop in Iceland when there's plenty of direct service? Dubai = heat, beaches + shopping. Iceland, not so much.

Cheapness and connections. I don`t think Vancouver is going to get direct Helsinki or Dusseldorf flights anytime soon but with just one transfer in Iceland...

[Yume-sama]

Reykjavík is quite an interesting place, too! There are quite a lot of connecting flights to other less popular European countries, too, as was mentioned, like Finland, Norway, and even Russia.

[usog]

Came in through YVR right when the two charters from Moscow came in, place was flooded with Russian wear/banners lol.

[SpongeG]

the city is full of russians - not only the athletes but the whole sochi team performers for the closing, radio people, tv people, the rusky dome staff its nuts

[trofirhen]

Airports with yearly passenger volumes extremely close to Vancouver are Brisbane, Oslo and Stockholm Arlanda.

I could visualize a direct flight to Brisbane, continuing on to Melbourne, in addition to the Sydney nonstop we have now, plus a Vancouver - Oslo - Stockholm flight. I don't think this would be a revenue loser, considering the sizeable Scandinavian population in Vancouver.

Copenhagen Kastrup, incidentally, has applied for a direct flight to Vancouver. They should be able to get it with the Open Skies agreement, but with Scandinavian Airlines cutting back (look at Seattle!) I think another airline would have to fill that route - probably any others, too.

Like Air Paper Cup and Stale Pastry (you know the toothpaste planes with the maple leaves on the tail)

[SpongeG]

global is doing a storey about Emirates

they want to do daily service to Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto ASAP

they are fighting regulation right now

BC government is doing what it can to get them here and are in talks with them

[The_Henry_Man]

The federal government needs to implement open skies ASAP after the Olympics. But I think the Olympics will allow federal officials to realize that there's more than just Air Canada. Perhaps WestJet can one day expand its services to cover international flights and replace Canadian Airlines as the second major Canadian competitor to Air Can?

I was hoping for quite a while that Cathay Pacific might one day have a non-stop from HK to Calgary (like 2-3 time per week), or even a stop over destination on its way to Toronto (or via YVR). There's quite a significant population of Chinese people in Alberta.

[CLC]

A news that Zwei would love to share:
Man hit by SkyTrain remains in hospital

Miné Salkin

Vancouver, BC — Globe and Mail update Published on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010 5:42PM EST Last updated on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010 5:43PM EST

A young man who was struck by a SkyTrain in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Vancouver has undergone surgery and remains in hospital, TransLink has confirmed. An investigation will be launched to determine the cause of the incident.

Around 2 a.m., the victim's arm was allegedly caught by a slowing train at Burrard Station downtown. Paramedics were on the scene within minutes, and rushed the victim to hospital where he was treated for his injuries.

The cause of the incident is unknown. “Since it was early in the morning, it wasn't because there were too many people on the platform, we don't allow that to happen anyway,” said Ken Hardie, a spokesperson for TransLink.

Mr. Hardie added that TransLink did not know the victim's name, nor the status of his condition. “We don't know if he was from Vancouver or not,” he said.

According to TransLink, there would have been an employee near the platform, in addition to people in the control room to monitor the situation. However, injuries on the platform do still occur.

“In any situation like this - and they come up a couple of times a year, unfortunately -Min there are videos taken continuously of what's going on at the platforms. These will be reviewed by [TransLink] and the safety authority to find out what may have happened,” Mr. Hardie said.

[cabotp]

I don't have any details. But I'd venture to guess that this person was a bit drunk and either didn't know how close they were to the edge. Or they did know and they were acting like an idiot trying to see how close they could get. Well they got close enough.

Trains just don't suddenly jump out of no where and hit people. People get in the way of moving trains.

[SpongeG]

Emirates pushes for greater access in Canada

Study commissioned by Dubai-based carrier touts economic benefits; Air Canada derides 'aggressive tactics' to win international traffic

BRENT JANG

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Published on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010 12:00AM EST
Last updated on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010 4:42AM EST


TRANSPORTATION REPORTER

Canada stands to reap $480-million in annual economic benefits by approving Emirates Airline's plan to expand its Toronto flights and introduce service to Calgary and Vancouver, according to a study commissioned by the Dubai-based carrier.

More than 2,800 direct and spinoff jobs could be generated if Ottawa lifts restrictions that currently limit Emirates to flying three times a week between Toronto and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, said the analysis by InterVistas Consulting Inc.

The report riled Air Canada and its supporters. "This is part and parcel of Emirates' aggressive tactics to force Canada into a one-sided air services agreement. The UAE already enjoys access to Canada which far exceeds the traffic between both countries," Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said yesterday.

But Andrew Parker, Emirates senior vice-president of international affairs, said Air Canada and its Star Alliance partner, Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG, are unnecessarily worried about losing passengers to Emirates.

Emirates' Toronto-Dubai flights have been more than 90-per-cent full, even after switching to the double-decker Airbus A380 on the route last June, Mr. Parker said in an interview, after appearing on a webcast yesterday from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics with B.C. Transportation Minister Shirley Bond.

Provincial governments in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario support Emirates' campaign for greater access in Canada.

The study by Vancouver-based InterVistas argues that Emirates' expansion in Canada would have a "low" impact on Air Canada's international traffic.

Emirates offers connecting flights from its Dubai hub to Asia, Africa and other destinations, but InterVistas noted that Air Canada does not operate non-stop flights to Dubai, relying instead on partners in Europe to serve a variety of global destinations.

Emirates wants to increase its Toronto-Dubai service initially to daily flights and then twice daily. The airline also hopes to launch the Vancouver-Dubai and Calgary-Dubai routes, perhaps three times a week to start and then daily service. Another carrier, Etihad Airways, currently flies three times a week between Toronto and Abu Dhabi.

Transport Canada spokesman Patrick Charette said current capacity supplied by Emirates and Etihad exceed travel demand, so there isn't any seat shortage.

"Officials continuously monitor the Canada-UAE market to ensure it is not underserved, as this would not be in the commercial interest of either country," Mr. Charette said. "The rights under the current Canada-UAE air transport agreement meet the market demands of travellers whose origin or final destination is either Canada or the UAE."

Captain Paul Strachan, president of the Air Canada Pilots Association, said Emirates is playing down its true ambition of wooing customers in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver to travel to places other than Dubai. Emirates is trying to funnel foreign travellers connecting through its Dubai hub, which serves as the entry point into Canada, he said.

"Quite frankly, Emirates wants to dump new seat capacity into established markets and poach traffic," Capt. Strachan said. He disputed Emirates' assertion that increased flights will provide economic stimulus to Canada and accused Emirates of taking aim at lucrative international traffic at Air Canada.

Emirates, owned by the Dubai government, "has a tactic to break into markets and expand aggressively, but free trade in aviation has to be fair trade. In this instance, it's a lopsided proposal by Emirates," Capt. Strachan said.

...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on...greater-access-in-canada/article1479266/

[SpongeG]

Wed, Feb 24 - Another Polish citizen "appears" to go missing at the Vancouver Airport.

video from global here

[SpongeG]

Emirates to Fly Here?

global video