YEG - Edmonton Int Airport - Page 344

Jasper and one o nin · #**6861** Posted **May 10, 2012, 4:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by s211

Frankly, YEG, I couldn't give a rats ass about another hick-filled run to some sun destination in the southern US or Mexico. Get into the real game and give me more flights to Europe.

I see two possibilities for a second european destination. Air Canada could split its current route between LHR and FRA. 4Xweekly to LHR and 3X FRA. To add a brand new route to FRA with either AC or LF will break their existing model (it would only work by taking passengers from existing routes out of Calgary). The other option would be a second teir airline such as Air Berlin or Iceland Express. If easyjet or Ryanair entered the NA market, YEG could be viewed as a secondary airport which is consistent with their corporate model. Having said that, Ryanair would likely hit eastern europe and TO (Hamilton) first.

240glt · #**6862** Posted **May 10, 2012, 4:07 PM**

^^ I agree. better connections to the US/ Mexico are far more important to me than europe flights.

I guess that makes me a hick

Great EIA numbers.... by memory, that would make April the busiest month ever for YEG.

Rogie · #**6863** Posted **May 10, 2012, 4:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 240glt

Great EIA numbers.... by memory, that would make April the busiest month ever for YEG.

No, there were 573,000 in March.

Great numbers, though.

TimB09 · #**6864** Posted **May 10, 2012, 4:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 240glt

^^ I agree. better connections to the US/ Mexico are far more important to me than europe flights.

I guess that makes me a hick

Great EIA numbers.... by memory, that would make April the busiest month ever for YEG.

Guess that makes me a hick too, seeing as I have family in Texas and Arizona. Issue is my famiy doesn't live near Houston and I'd rather fly directly into Dallas then having to go Denver or Minneapolis to get to Dallas.

Call me a hick then!

hilman · #**6865** Posted **May 10, 2012, 5:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by s211

Frankly, YEG, I couldn't give a rats ass about another hick-filled run to some sun destination in the southern US or Mexico. Get into the real game and give me more flights to Europe.

Please elaborate on how these two hugely different markets are remotely connected? The sun destinatins have zero to do with flights to Europe and vice versa, do people want to go to Europe in the winter to get away from the snow here? We need nonstop flights to both areas and do not steal passengers from each other.

Cage · #**6866** Posted **May 10, 2012, 5:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocket252

Just want bring up a topic discussed quite a bit over the last few years-our long needed flight to Frankfurt.

I have talked to a number of family and friends who have travelled to Europe recently and got the same response. What flight did you Take? "Oh I took the Frankfurt flight out of Calgary" it really frustrates me when I hear this and I wonder about the impact that this one route could have on passenger service in Edmonton.

A regularly scheduled flight to Frankfurt is essential and I am just wondering if we are any closer to getting this route?

The question is, did your family take YEG-YYC-FRA to drive to yyc and catch the flight from there. If its option 1 then there is no impact on the YEG traffic statistics. If the pax took YYC-FRA under some marketing analysis they would show up as YYC origin pax.

The tough pill to swallow as a YEG supporter is that YEG does not require a second daily flight to Europe. It woukd be great to have however the economics do not support this type of service. The biggest factor not in YEG favour is th growth of YMM to other Canadian destinations such as YYZ and YVR. 10 years ago it was a given the YMM traffic had to go through either YYC or YEG, however there are no multiple daily flights to YYZ and YVR. THe growth of connection possibilities out of YMM will continue (imagine if YMM gets passenger level customs facilities, then flights to ORD and DEN are possible and would further siphon traffic away from YEG).

YEG has LHR for the connection and O&D traffic, however the FRA traffic would almost always be connection only. Until YEG-FRA gets good amount of O&D traffic, the route would be marginal at best.

LO 044 · #**6867** Posted **May 10, 2012, 5:21 PM**

The problem with Europe is that there is one flight to Europe and the connections aren't great. Some have stated how great LHR is to connect to but the proof is in the pudding and there are so many others that still connect via FRA by way of YUL, YYZ or YYC or by driving to Calgary. By the way my routing in late June is YEG-YYZ-FRA-POZ and then TXL-LHR-YEG. I basically tried to make LHR work on the way back by flying out of Berlin's new airport. Sadly, BER's opening is delayed.

As for the US and Mexico, there are enough options to connect or to at least get close to some of the cities. Chicago, Minneapolis, Orlando, Phoenix, Seatlle, Denver, Los Angeles, Las vegas, San Francisco and Houston makes up a fairly substantial list of US destinations if you think about it. We should be happy with those destinations.

So we have 10 options for the US and 1 in Europe and the 1 choice is usually an expensive one and the flight times aren't the greatest.

Cage, i disagree with your O&D statement regarding YEG-FRA. First of all, FRA is almost never the final destination from wherever you are coming from unless your are travelling by train after landing in FRA. You can't honestly say that YYC-FRA has great O&D traffic. Who's kidding who, FRA is LH's main hub and connection options are endless. It is a true Star Alliance hub.

Airboy · #**6868** Posted **May 10, 2012, 6:29 PM**

So in other news.

Spent time with some of the more senior operations personal at YEG the last few days. Word is the Tower will stay, what configuration is still up in the air. But leased office space is still required even after the new tower opens. One scenario is the gutting of the whole tower; another is removing the top half and only using the lower 3 floors. The asbestos abatement is required no matter what they do though.

And minor renovations along with mechanical upgrades to the north terminal apparently start this summer.

Rocket252 · #**6869** Posted **May 10, 2012, 6:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cage

The question is, did your family take YEG-YYC-FRA to drive to yyc and catch the flight from there. If its option 1 then there is no impact on the YEG traffic statistics. If the pax took YYC-FRA under some marketing analysis they would show up as YYC origin pax.

The tough pill to swallow as a YEG supporter is that YEG does not require a second daily flight to Europe. It woukd be great to have however the economics do not support this type of service. The biggest factor not in YEG favour is th growth of YMM to other Canadian destinations such as YYZ and YVR. 10 years ago it was a given the YMM traffic had to go through either YYC or YEG, however there are no multiple daily flights to YYZ and YVR. THe growth of connection possibilities out of YMM will continue (imagine if YMM gets passenger level customs facilities, then flights to ORD and DEN are possible and would further siphon traffic away from YEG).

YEG has LHR for the connection and O&D traffic, however the FRA traffic would almost always be connection only. Until YEG-FRA gets good amount of O&D traffic, the route would be marginal at best.

These were friends of mine but I also have to add that they were part of a tour group (10-15) that all went YYC-FRA which is even worse.

Rocket252 · #**6870** Posted **May 10, 2012, 6:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Airboy

So in other news.

Spent time with some of the more senior operations personal at YEG the last few days. Word is the Tower will stay, what configuration is still up in the air. But leased office space is still required even after the new tower opens. One scenario is the gutting of the whole tower; another is removing the top half and only using the lower 3 floors. The asbestos abatement is required no matter what they do though.

And minor renovations along with mechanical upgrades to the north terminal apparently start this summer.

Any word on routes?

hilman · #**6871** Posted **May 10, 2012, 6:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Airboy

So in other news.

Spent time with some of the more senior operations personal at YEG the last few days. Word is the Tower will stay, what configuration is still up in the air. But leased office space is still required even after the new tower opens. One scenario is the gutting of the whole tower; another is removing the top half and only using the lower 3 floors. The asbestos abatement is required no matter what they do though.

And minor renovations along with mechanical upgrades to the north terminal apparently start this summer.

Ian will be very happy about that!

s211 · #**6872** Posted **May 10, 2012, 7:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by hilman

Please elaborate on how these two hugely different markets are remotely connected? The sun destinatins have zero to do with flights to Europe and vice versa, do people want to go to Europe in the winter to get away from the snow here? We need nonstop flights to both areas and do not steal passengers from each other.

They're not connected. What drives me nuts is that YEG seems fixated on doing Corona runs instead of securing flights anywhere else.

hilman · #**6873** Posted **May 10, 2012, 7:30 PM**

So you believe that EIA is doing nothing to get more European flights?

CMD UW · #**6874** Posted **May 10, 2012, 8:15 PM**

If he/she does, then I think we know who the real 'hick' is.

MalcolmTucker · #**6875** Posted **May 10, 2012, 9:36 PM**

The tower is staying? Is it set back far enough to not screw with any sight lines from the new one to gates? Or is that even an issue?

s211 · #**6876** Posted **May 10, 2012, 9:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by hilman

So you believe that EIA is doing nothing to get more European flights?

Poorly chosen words on my part. The only new destinations or increased service that YEG seems to get these days are for Corona runs.

s211 · #**6877** Posted **May 10, 2012, 9:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMD UW

If he/she does, then I think we know who the real 'hick' is.

Debate the issue, please.

hilman · #**6878** Posted **May 10, 2012, 10:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by s211

Poorly chosen words on my part. The only new destinations or increased service that YEG seems to get these days are for Corona runs.

I agree, I hope the next routes YEG gets are FRA and EWR.

Airboy · #**6879** Posted **May 10, 2012, 10:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocket252

Any word on routes?

I just do buildings I don't know no stinkin routes.

Johnny Aussie · #**6880** Posted **May 11, 2012, 12:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dansk

Can't remember if Sunwing had flights to LAS last year, but they just updated there winter to include 1X week.

MSP at this point looks like it will remain untouched for winter, which is good because usually we see a reduction to 2 flights a day.

IAH on UA returns 2x daily this winter as announced earlier

Still nothing new that isn't expected. If it wasn't for UA's and WS investment in YEG I would be scared to know where our city would be as far as air service today.

Sunwing will operate to LAS as last fall... They fly from late Sept to 2 Dec only.

DL to MSP back to 2 daily effective 1 Dec so no change either.

Obviously schedules can change as they always do.