__________________ "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice. Carl Spackler, 1980
Personally, I interpret the word "major" as much more than KEF and Icelandair.
If anything, KEF would most likely be a seasonal destination and not so much fanfare surrounding it. But something tells me that it's Asian based and that would be truly fantastic.
Either way, there will be a lot of speculations over the next 48 hours...
I'm telling you, it is Icelandair. The announcement on Tuesday will be Icelandair
__________________ "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice. Carl Spackler, 1980
I have looked at schedule times on Icelandair connecting to Europe. Their schedule for cities in NA have them departing 1730 onward to arrive in KEF by 0530 with connections to Europe by 0730-0800 and arrival in Europe a few hrs later. This would actually get you into LHR LGW or CDG or any of their city pairs earlier than available now and at 30-40% less $ from fares I looked at for other NA cities.
The other advantage for tight budgets and those with families is that you could also connect at KEF to Easyjet (for example) for Edinburgh or Manchester or London Luton dirt cheap. And looking at fares for Seatac to KEF separately and fares on a second set of tickets on Easyjet - will make it a steal. And Easyjet are not the only discount carrier flying out of KEF as wiki informs.
And a side benefit is YEG may see traffic increases as budget travellers from throughout Western Canada may come to YEG to get an Icelandair flight to save $$$$$.
KEF is positioning itself as a North Atlantic HUB - so it appears.
How big is that market? I was unaware Albertans go to Iceland in numbers big enough to sustain this. Good luck.
KEF is a big "meh" to me.
Um... Connections to Europe.
__________________
"The destructive effects of automobiles are much less a cause than a symptom of our incompetence at city building" - Jane Jacobs 1961ish
Strategically speaking, Icelandair is a good investment for YEG for the simple fact "other" carriers claim YEG doesn't have the lift for dedicated service to Amsterdam, Frankfurt etc. this flight will interestingly made up with a assortment of passengers headed to various cities in Europe.
Not a meh... But a smart move.
Interestingly enough this isn't Reg Milley's first interaction with the airline. He was also responsible for landing the airline in Halifax during his time as CEO of that airport.
Duh. It's not unlike AC's FRA flight... well over half was connecting to other destinations in Europe when I flew it. Meh in the sense that Asia would have been cool, obviously any new international route to Alberta is good. I forgot that *A connections at LHR are pretty much gone; if they were still there then this flight competes with AC's LHR for connections. No longer the case.
According to The Canadian Trade Commissioner Service :
Quote:
In 2008, Canada was Iceland’s 20th largest trade partner with the top three Icelandic export sectors being: Fish, crustaceans, molluscs (C$11.1m), Chemicals (C$4.1m) and Machinery (C$3.7m)
These figures are extremely small relative to the canadian economy and today are probably lower due to their banking collapse and a national GDP decline of >25% since the start financial crisis. However, I am actually pleasantly surprised by these figures considering it only has a population of around 320 000.
Returning to responding to your statement, you can extrapolate from these figures what the current economic interdependence is between Alberta and Iceland...
Fun fact: Read on wikipedia Iceland recently (2012) considered switching its currency to the Canadian Dollar because of the financial crisis and the devaluation of their currency (among other currencies but the Canadian Dollar was supposedly the favorite). I'm not sure if that idea is still being considered though.
I didn't say Iceland. I was referring to connections in to Oslo or more in to Stavanger. AC and maybe now Iceland have great connections into these centres.
If it does turn out to be KEF, yes, there will be a much needed alternative available for YEG travelers. And it will be a great success.
My only issue with the press release is the word "major". KEF is not a major international destination. YEG should be aiming for true major destinations.
KEF serves a very limited number of destinations primarily in Western Europe. I'd rather see AC serve YEG 7x week through the winter rather than having limited service to both LHR and presumably KEF (which does not solve our problems having to connect in YYC)
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...Like Cold mentioned..which most ignored.... Its the connections to Europe!!!
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