YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

You're right ... but there MUST be a way to change that. What could we do to get those f---heads in Ottawa to allow Total Open skies, as the article says we should?

I hope you understand the implications of what you ask for... might get cheaper flights, but definitely not more direct flights under that situation.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Sir.Humphrey.Appleby

I hope you understand the implications of what you ask for... might get cheaper flights, but definitely not more direct flights under that situation.

I'll settle for $$$ cheaper ones. It'll compensate for the hassle of changing planes.

[jlousa]

Don't know how Seattle-Paris is doing but the flights are a lot more expensive then Air-Transat. Heck I can fly Air France from YVR to Paris via SLC cheaper then I can out of Seattle.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Don't know how Seattle-Paris is doing but the flights are a lot more expensive then Air-Transat. Heck I can fly Air France from YVR to Paris via SLC cheaper then I can out of Seattle.

Well, they've been flying that route steadily since 2007, so something must be right. Also, perhaps having it year-round, daily, makes a difference. Their winter fares are probably lower, etc ...

[Yume-sama]

Kind of relates to YVR, I suppose! Tourism Vancouver has said tourism is up 19% from Europe, 9% from USA, and 6% from the rest of Canada so far this June. And they expect a lot more this Summer! Interestingly they didn't mention Asia. But this bodes well for more European action if we can lure more and more Europeans over thanks to the exposure from the Olympics.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

Kind of relates to YVR, I suppose! Tourism Vancouver has said tourism is up 19% from Europe, 9% from USA, and 6% from the rest of Canada so far this June. And they expect a lot more this Summer! Interestingly they didn't mention Asia. But this bodes well for more European action if we can lure more and more Europeans over thanks to the exposure from the Olympics.

A totally disingenous stat. They're comparing it to last year, which just happened to be the depths of that little thing called the Great Recession.

[Yume-sama]

Oh. I forgot. We aren't allowed good news when you're around. Ho-hum.

Conversely, Tourism Calgary says bookings are down 7% in total from last year. You know, the year of the recession.

[SpongeG]

its still up better than not - goes to show what was probably lost is coming back - better than not coming back

[en2]

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4854447/

Japan Airlines has announced their routes out of Haneda Airport.

This is bad news for people who like to fly JAL from Vancouver to either Hong Kong or Singapore via Tokyo as all HKG and SIN flights out of Narita will be replaced with flights from Haneda airport. From my experience a lot of passengers on the flights to Tokyo transit onwards to Hong Kong.

Haneda airport is located about 1+ hour away from Narita airport by bus or train.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by en2

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4854447/

Japan Airlines has announced their routes out of Haneda Airport.

This is bad news for people who like to fly JAL from Vancouver to either Hong Kong or Singapore via Tokyo as all HKG and SIN flights out of Narita will be replaced with flights from Haneda airport. From my experience a lot of passengers on the flights to Tokyo transit onwards to Hong Kong.

Haneda airport is located about 1+ hour away from Narita airport by bus or train.

Yeah, it sucks to transfer to Haneda. I think it's longer than 1 hour away though, more like 90 minutes.

It will improve when one of two things happen. [list][*]The new Narita-Haneda Express is made ( planned ) reducing time to 59 minutes.[*]Vancouver gets a flight to Haneda ( Canada has two unused slots at Haneda, with Vancouver and/or Toronto as the requested routes

Haneda is finishing a major upgrade to itself this year, which will increase the number of flights it can handle by 50%.

Going forward, I think Haneda will become the place to be for flights to/through Japan to Asia.

Narita is Tokyo's Mirabel... they've just prolonged its demise by the creative use of trains and a policy forcing international flights to land there.

I think the move to Haneda for JAL is a positive one, personally. It's a much more convenient airport for Japanese and the more JAL can make its flights competitive, the better it will be able to compete. I wouldn't be surprised if JAL moves some of its "pseudo-Asian" hubs, like San Francisco, Vancouver and Toronto to Haneda as well. I'd welcome the change, personally... but maybe I'm hoping for to much.

As for flights to France, I would suspect that the reason there isn't a lot of traffic is because there's relatively little advertising for Paris, France. If Air France started flying here, you'd expect a large advertising campaign.

Many people feel that the only way they can get to Europe is through London, Amsterdam or Frankfurt. With the high Loonie and low Euro, I'm surprised we're seeing increased traffic from Europe... though I suspect that any increase due to the Olympics won't last long.

I'd be surprised if I didn't see an increase in Canadians vacationing abroad.

[Yume-sama]

It is amazingly easy to transfer to Haneda despite the distance. I am thinking perhaps they strategically chose flights with the lowest amount of transfers from other flights at Narita, however.

And it seems they have been trying to make China less "International". Chinese tourists are very important for the Japanese economy~

Even if everyone constantly gripes about their behavior and antics

[Gordon]

Speaking of JAL has their financial situaution inproved ?

The 787s that Air Canada has ordered do have the range to fly non-stop from YYZ to Guangzhou eastbound. It will be interesting to see what AC does, you would hope they would see the sadvantage of servicing one of the largest Asian populations as well.

WestJet has been negotiating some sort of deal with Delta which would likely give them access to their group 'Skyteam' which includes China Southern which could help them decide to start their YVR Guangzhou route.

[Yume-sama]

Unfortunately not. Just today they announced they're more broke than they thought. Topping 1 trillion JPY ($11 billion).

And will be laying off another 15,000 people~

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by Gordon

WestJet has been negotiating some sort of deal with Delta which would likely give them access to their group 'Skyteam' which includes China Southern which could help them decide to start their YVR Guangzhou route.

WestJet plays footsie with lots of foreign airlines and alliances, but where are the results? The only positive was picking up the tv system from a company bought out by JetBlue - otherwise haven't seen anything concrete.

[Hourglass]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

It is amazingly easy to transfer to Haneda despite the distance. I am thinking perhaps they strategically chose flights with the lowest amount of transfers from other flights at Narita, however.

And it seems they have been trying to make China less "International". Chinese tourists are very important for the Japanese economy~

Even if everyone constantly gripes about their behavior and antics

Too true, unfortunately. In Hong Kong, the boutiques in Pacific Place used to treat Chinese tourists like they had the plague -- until they started buying up everything in the store!

Now, tourists from the Mainland get treated like royalty.... Money talks.

I had a very bad experience transferring from Narita to Haneda to catch a flight to Okinawa once. Misread my ticket and thought I was connecting from Narita! Of course my bus got stuck in bad traffic. Got to the gate just as they were closing the gate...

[twoNeurons]

Yeah, I don't know about it being easy to connect from Narita to Haneda.

It's a long slog by bus and you have to worry about traffic problems and most trains don't connect directly. Actually, I'm not sure if any connect directly.

I usually plan to transfer through Narita or if I have to go through Haneda, take the bus for convenience. Transferring without luggage isn't bad, but if you have a lot of luggage, fitting onto a crowded train in Central Tokyo with luggage is not my idea of easy.

Ironically, on my last trip I transferred through Narita and I missed my connection. It was during that snowstorm that shut down Air Canada. We were one of the last flights out, but the flight was quite late.

We had the option of Shinkansen or a next day flight from Haneda... we took the train, even though it meant transferring trains in Tokyo station ( which is MASSIVE, by the way )

All that being said, it will change quite a bit once the new Keisei train comes online ( in a few weeks, if I'm not mistaken ) cutting the time from Narita to downtown to 36 minutes.

[Yume-sama]

There is a limited express from Narita - Haneda that takes 70 minutes.

Alternatively the best course of action is to take the train to Shinagawa, and transfer to Haneda.

Or you can take the bus, but allow 2 hours transfer time.

[twoNeurons]

It just makes me thankful that we only have to deal with a 25 minute trip in Vancouver.

[nova9]

from www.miss604.com:

Starting July 9th, 2010 YVR (Vancouver International Airport) will be hosting weekly entertainment and activities during Take Off Fridays.

Both international and domestic terminals will have face painting, live DJs, “Food on the Fly” offers, and free samples from YVR’s shops including Absolute Spa, A&W, Daniel Le Chocolat Belge, Starbucks, and more. You can also check out the Observation Area, with its videos and interactive displays, at any time.

All those who stop by can enter to win prizes featuring a behind the scenes tour of YVR and accommodation at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport.

This will take place every Friday this summer (July 9th until August 27th) from 8:00am until 4:00pm.

[whatnext]

Interesting. Who's it geared to? Maybe locals who have a transit pass or faresavers. Definitely not for someone who drives there - that parkade is the biggest rip-off in town.