YEG - Edmonton Int Airport

[rike5]

@dansk Oops lol. Wow... don't know what I was reading there...

Btw, I get it. The connections to europe is why this route is so great, I completely agree. Also, I think this route might encourage competition in the international market out of YEG. Exciting times

[tuffyy]

Btw your all welcome for news I presented months and months ago... Lol

[dansk]

Yes Tuffyy!! Now hopefully the comments about DFW and Asia come through

[dansk]

Originally Posted by YegFan

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)

Depends on how you look at Major. From EIA's standpoint this is a huge breakthrough as YEG was not getting the attention of any other providers as they are strongly aligned with AC and WS thus YYC. Sure it's no FRA or AMS but its a major international connection. Look at how happy DEN was with the flight. They treated it as a major announcement and route and I would say it helped them with more international competion and they are a hub.

[Coldrsx]

As posted on C2E

Confirmed it's Icelandair. Starting June 4.

dep YEG 6:30 pm arr KEF 6:50 am
dep KEF 4:45 pm arr YEG 5:30 pm

Boeing 757

Frequency TBA

[tuffyy]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

As posted on C2E

Confirmed it's Icelandair. Starting June 4.

dep YEG 6:30 pm arr KEF 6:50 am
dep KEF 4:45 pm arr YEG 5:30 pm

Boeing 757

Frequency TBA

Days indicate only show 1-3----.

I have heard it will be 1-3--6- for the initial summer.

[Hallsy's Toupee]

If I have a lengthy stopover at KEF, I'm going here:

http://cantabridgette.blogspot.ca/2012/09/the-blue-lagoon-iceland.html

[EdmTrekker]

Originally Posted by tuffyy

Days indicate only show 1-3----.

I have heard it will be 1-3--6- for the initial summer.

Announced early enough to guarantee full flights for the summer holiday season 2014. I plan to be on that inaugural flight to where I don't know yet...choices choices choices.

[Bigtime]

So 2x weekly, but as tuffyy says it should be 3x?

Good on ya YEG. Always nice to get a tail that is not AC or WS around.

[tuffyy]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

So 2x weekly, but as tuffyy says it should be 3x?

Good on ya YEG. Always nice to get a tail that is not AC or WS around.

The schedule was loaded partially showing just two flights total. It's been removed from the GDS.

Days are supposed to be Mon,Wed,Sat based on demand I wouldn't be surprised to see a year round adjustment/increase.

[LO 044]

It is definitely worth it to use Icelandair if you are heading to "Western" Europe but they do have a bit of a gap when it comes to central and eastern Europe. No Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Rome or Vienna. Weird to see Hamburg over the other five i mentioned.

Stiil, based on some decent pricing and some travel agents being to use the internet to realize what options are available (i had two travel agents in Sherwood Park tell me there are no non-stops to Orlando when WS has once a week flights) this flight should do well. I really hope that Icelandair puts advertising on local radio and television. 99% of people flying to Europe don't realize they fly over Rekjavik anyways and you really have to educate people in this city and province. WestJet could help make or break this route as well. I had sent out a company wide e-mail when then New York flight came out and i will do the same for this flight.

One more thing, i am curious if this flight is slated for next summer so that if the bookings aren't there, the route will be cancelled. Doesn't this sort of setup happen quite a bit?

[tuffyy]

Originally Posted by LO 044

It is definitely worth it to use Icelandair if you are heading to "Western" Europe but they do have a bit of a gap when it comes to central and eastern Europe. No Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Rome or Vienna. Weird to see Hamburg over the other five i mentioned.

Stiil, based on some decent pricing and some travel agents being to use the internet to realize what options are available (i had two travel agents in Sherwood Park tell me there are no non-stops to Orlando when WS has once a week flights) this flight should do well. I really hope that Icelandair puts advertising on local radio and television. 99% of people flying to Europe don't realize they fly over Rekjavik anyways and you really have to educate people in this city and province. WestJet could help make or break this route as well. I had sent out a company wide e-mail when then New York flight came out and i will do the same for this flight.

One more thing, i am curious if this flight is slated for next summer so that if the bookings aren't there, the route will be cancelled. Doesn't this sort of setup happen quite a bit?

Icelandair is notorious for announcing routes almost a season before they start. I have no doubt this route will be very successful for YEG given the amount of onward destinations offered. In addition it should be successful with inbound tourism for both Europeans and icelandics who are notorious international shoppers.

I'd suspect with the lack of competition this route will do extremely well.

[EdmTrekker]

Originally Posted by LO 044

It is definitely worth it to use Icelandair if you are heading to "Western" Europe but they do have a bit of a gap when it comes to central and eastern Europe. No Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Rome or Vienna. Weird to see Hamburg over the other five i mentioned.

Stiil, based on some decent pricing and some travel agents being to use the internet to realize what options are available (i had two travel agents in Sherwood Park tell me there are no non-stops to Orlando when WS has once a week flights) this flight should do well. I really hope that Icelandair puts advertising on local radio and television. 99% of people flying to Europe don't realize they fly over Rekjavik anyways and you really have to educate people in this city and province. WestJet could help make or break this route as well. I had sent out a company wide e-mail when then New York flight came out and i will do the same for this flight.

One more thing, i am curious if this flight is slated for next summer so that if the bookings aren't there, the route will be cancelled. Doesn't this sort of setup happen quite a bit?

Icelandair fly to St. Petersberg. WOW, the other Icelandic airline flies to Warsaw-Chopin. The WOW website shows this fare for example (and you could buy separate tickets for this part of your journey, Icelandair allows open-jaw not sure about WOW. Flight times would be critical if changing airlines. ):

FLIGHTS
Route Flight Date Depart Arrival
Reykjavik - Warsaw X9601 Monday, June 02, 2014 06:00 12:15
Warsaw - Reykjavik X9602 Friday, June 20, 2014 13:15 15:40
Total 320.46 EUR including taxes * They have children's fares as well

http://www.wowiceland.co.uk

Also these airlines flying summer:
Lufthansa Summer seasonal: Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Hamburg
Air Berlin Summer seasonal: Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich
Niki Summer seasonal: Vienna
Germanwings Summer seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart
WOW air:Yr Round: Berlin-Schönefeld, Copenhagen, London-Gatwick
WOW air: Summer seasonal: Alicante, Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, Lyon, Milan-Malpensa, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salzburg, Stuttgart, Vilnius, Warsaw-Chopin, Zurich

[LO 044]

^Yes i did know that WOW flies to WAW however i am not sure that expats will be vigilant to use such a connection. In an ideal world, it would be nice to fly one airline or one alliance to avoid issues if a flight is cancelled or delayed and connections are missed.

My mistake about not looking into Air Berlin or Lufthansa. I would have no problems connecting with those carriers. I guess Rekjavik is much more of a hub than i ever would have thought.

[EdmTrekker]

Originally Posted by LO 044

^Yes i did know that WOW flies to WAW however i am not sure that expats will be vigilant to use such a connection. In an ideal world, it would be nice to fly one airline or one alliance to avoid issues if a flight is cancelled or delayed and connections are missed.

My mistake about not looking into Air Berlin or Lufthansa. I would have no problems connecting with those carriers. I guess Rekjavik is much more of a hub than i ever would have thought.

KEF is positioning itself to be a HUB.

As to Icelandair they have these arrangements:

Icelandair Codeshare partners: FINNAIR, SAS

Icelandair Interline partners:
LOT POLISH AIRLINES
AMERICAN AIRLINES
JET BLUE AIRWAYS
FRONTIER AIRLINES
US AIRWAYS
AIR CANADA
SUN COUNTRY
BRITISH AIRWAYS
SWISS INT. AIRLINES
ESTONIAN AIR
BRUSSELS AIRLINES
AIR BALTIC
AUSTRIAN AIRLINES
AIR EUROPA
WESTJET AIRLINES
PORTER AIRLINES

Can they steal away travellers who go to YYC to connect through the far more extensive hubs of FRA and AMS? Pretty good product on that KL flight... I have a friend in Leduc who's doing 2 trips a year, driving to YYC, connecting in AMS, and hitting various places in Europe.

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by Acey

Can they steal away travellers who go to YYC to connect through the far more extensive hubs of FRA and AMS? Pretty good product on that KL flight... I have a friend in Leduc who's doing 2 trips a year, driving to YYC, connecting in AMS, and hitting various places in Europe.

Absolutely they can. But I would wait and see what the fares are going to be.
If the savings can now be reversed, then absolutely, expect some leakage of YYC passengers who will do the drive north.
I know a lot of people on here have stated without exception that they would never ever connect in YYC and would rather pay more $$$ to fly non-stop.
I would say I would tend to agree from a convenience perspective. However, I do not diss anybody who would choose to save $$$ and therefore fly via YYC. It is up to the consumer to decide. The same applies for YYC pax now perhaps considering flying via YEG.

[Rocket252]

So how will Westjet and Air Canada react to this announcement?
For Westjet will they try to sign a code share with Icelandair and funnel more passengers through Yeg?
For Air Canada will they try to price match their European flights out of calgary or their LHR flight out of Edmonton with the Icelander flight ?

Maybe too early to tell

[tuffyy]

Originally Posted by Rocket252

So how will Westjet and Air Canada react to this announcement?
For Westjet will they try to sign a code share with Icelandair and funnel more passengers through Yeg?
For Air Canada will they try to price match their European flights out of calgary or their LHR flight out of Edmonton with the Icelander flight ?

Maybe too early to tell

I'd suspect it is likely that someone will sign a agreement with the airline similar to what has happened with the Icelandair flights from YYZ.

[LO 044]

I think AC will have a tough time matching the fares of Icelandair. They pay no interest to Air Transat's fares albeit this is a measily 1x weekly flight a week to LGW for a short period of time. I don't know how competitive or uncompetitive AC's fares from YEG are relative to fares from YYC on BA and KLM.

I have no idea what WestJet is thinking. They seem to codeshare with a variety of airlines in differenet alliances which would leave you to believe that codesharing with Icelandair is a possibility. Icelandair, however, codeshares only with SAS and Finnair as EdmTrekker has mentioned. This limits their reach so to speak. A marriage with WestJet would be ideal for both companies until WestJet buys some long haul aircraft.