Canadian Airport Thread

[casper]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

YYC has a main bank of fast food outlets prior to security in the central area on the upper level. Most of the typical A&W, Pizza and subway type deals. There is a Montana's and a couple other sit down type restaurants prior to security also throughout the central concourse behind check-in.

Post security for the AC concourse there is a Chilli's sit down restaurant which does a good breakfast (there is also one on the WJ concourse). There is also a Tim's and Starbucks plus a few shops. The WJ concourse also has it's own food court with typical fast food style selections (subway, mancho wok, A&W, etc.). Depending on what gates are being used for US flights, I think there is also a Great Canadian Bagel on the central concourse that does International/US flights but which side it serves depends on that day - I think it's typically on the US side if memory serves.

The US Area (as it exists currently) is drastically under served. There is a Burger King and a Tim's and that's about it other than a convenience store for those last minute snack options. I suspect the new International Terminal (which will double YYC's footprint) will have a lot more options.

I got to do a bus tour of the tarmac with a work group and the YYC planning staff were telling us that the YYC International Terminal will use a fixed gate system. This means you won't be let down to your gate until the gate is assigned about 45 minutes before your flight - so you will congregate in a central hold room (which will have lots of shops, restaurants, etc) and then announcements will be made that your flight is assigned to a gate and you will then be able to proceed to the gate. This will all be post security check of course.

Domestic WestJet side has the food court. The AC side is older and less options. I do agree that US departures area is under serviced with food options. Should be improved once they get the new international concourse.

[SignalHillHiker]

Our airport is located at a relatively high elevation off the east end of town. Both of those things mean it's way foggier than anywhere else in metro. Our main runway is closed for construction, which will include adding more equipment that will make foggy landings no issue. It'll transform us from an unreliable airport to one that can take landings 99% of the time.

But until that happens, were down to a secondary runway with almost no tech. It needs a ceiling of 500m and 1K horizontal visibility. Unless it's a clear sunny day, that is unlikely to happen at our airport.

This weekend almost all flights were cancelled. They still haven't worked through that backlog and today we're seeing the same thing. It's going to be a rough few months for YYT.



But it'll be worth it:



The LED thing cracks me up. I don't know but it sounds to me like saying, "The IceCaps will be the first hockey team in the world with a bouncy castle in their locker room."

EDIT: Now they're bussing everyone at YYT to Gander.

[MolsonExport]

^need more daily updates, please.

[SignalHillHiker]

If anything happens, I'll let you know.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by casper

Domestic WestJet side has the food court. The AC side is older and less options. I do agree that US departures area is under serviced with food options. Should be improved once they get the new international concourse.

Looks like the video of the terminal interior will have lots of options.

Video of the interior of the expanded YYC International Terminal (in case this wasn't posted previously).
Here is another without the snappy music - but it shows lots of options for the US area for YYC.
One last one showing the proposed new 'trolly' system to get you throughout the airport.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

But it'll be worth it:



The LED thing cracks me up. I don't know but it sounds to me like saying, "The IceCaps will be the first hockey team in the world with a bouncy castle in their locker room."

They should really mention if it's CAT 2/3 ILS approaches. There are dozens of airports in Canada that have an ILS on both ends of a runway, it's pretty standard and 60 year old technology.

YYC has CAT 3 on both ends of its new runway

[Bigtime]

YYC is also all LED lighting on the new parallel runway 17L/35R and associated taxiways, but I guess St. John's is getting around that with their statement because technically it is but one of two primary runways at YYC.

I always love and appreciate some good PR spin from airport authorities.

[lubicon]

Originally Posted by Nick

They should really mention if it's CAT 2/3 ILS approaches. There are dozens of airports in Canada that have an ILS on both ends of a runway, it's pretty standard and 60 year old technology.

YYC has CAT 3 on both ends of its new runway

Word on the street is they don't like to use it though, it slows down the arrival stream. (?)

[Nick]

We use it when we have to. The separation required is pretty restrictive, but we are able to get planes on the ground instead of them diverting. As a passenger I'd be much happier being delayed than going somewhere else.

[thenoflyzone]

The AAR (airport arrival rate) during CAT 3 ops on any runway is pretty low, often times 10/hour or even less, depending on weather and winds. That is because the previous arrival has to not only land, but also clear the ILS critical area before the subsequent arrival is cleared for the approach. That means in a best case scenario, arrivals have to be 12-15 nm apart on the LOC, in worst case sometimes even as much as 20 nm apart when there is a good tailwind on the approach or when planes are having a hard time exiting the runway, ex. due to snow or ice. This extra separation on final gives you an airport arrival rate that is anywhere from 8 to 15/hour, when typically you can land 35-40/hour on one runway during normal ops.

At busy airports such as YYZ, YVR and YYC, this can be a problem. This is why, for example, one CAT3 runway wasn't enough for YYZ and now they have two. (06L/24R and 05/23)

YYT wont have these problems as it is not a busy airport in terms of aircraft movements. However, they should have had a CAT3 years ago. About time.

[casper]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

Looks like the video of the terminal interior will have lots of options.

Video of the interior of the expanded YYC International Terminal (in case this wasn't posted previously).
Here is another without the snappy music - but it shows lots of options for the US area for YYC.
One last one showing the proposed new 'trolly' system to get you throughout the airport.

That transit system (ok lets call it what it is a glorified dedicate golf cart roadway) looks labor intensive and a little over the top. Does anyone else do this?

[Trevor3]

The troubles at YYT have led to some amusing scenes at airports across the island. Here, the Goo Goo Dolls were fogged out of St. John's on Saturday, so they lounged on the lawn at YJT during a beautiful west coast afternoon while waiting for the weather to break on the other side of the island.


Credit: Jon Duke, @DukeNL on Twitter

This week, the Wednesday morning flight left here bound for St. John's and Toronto. It departed at 11 but was back at 12 to refuel and head on to TO after failing to get into YYT. So those passengers on board flew from Stephenville to Toronto via Stephenville. They literally went nowhere fast for their first hour and half on the plane.

[davidivivid]

Porter Airlines Q400 in CYQB by Guillaume Bérubé, sur Flickr

[FrAnKs]

^ Ah ! C'est un angle intéressant que je n'avais encore jamais vu ...Merci !

[hoboman27]

Originally Posted by casper

That transit system (ok lets call it what it is a glorified dedicate golf cart roadway) looks labor intensive and a little over the top. Does anyone else do this?

not sure who else does it, but man I can't imagine the amount of money spent on running this program (labor and maintenance)

[Coldrsx]

Awesome news for YEG.




Air China Cargo to launch Canada service
Jul 20,2015
BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Air China Cargo, China's only flag-carrying cargo airline, will launch a freight service between Shanghai and the Canadian city of Edmonton, the company's first scheduled freighter destination in Canada, it announced on Monday.

With the launch of the Shanghai-Edmonton-Dallas route on September 3, Air China Cargo will be the first Chinese cargo airline to offer direct services between Shanghai and Edmonton.

Edmonton is Canada's fifth-largest municipality and capital of the state of Alberta. A key hub for its oil and natural gas industry, the city is known as "the oil capital of Canada".

"This will be first freighter route between the Chinese mainland and Alberta, and it is a key step in connecting two economies with high growth momentum," Air China Cargo Vice President Patrick Yu said.

The route will also expand Air China Cargo's network in North America, connecting Alberta and Texas, two key oil-producing regions.

The company said brand-new Boeing 777F freighters will be used on the route, which operates every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=293469

[SkahHigh]

"Capital of the state of Alberta"

[Bigtime]

It should have read "Capital of the People's Republic of Albertastan".

[esquire]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

"Capital of the state of Alberta"

It's obviously a mistake, but I'd cut them some slack... I'd wager that most Canadians don't know how subnational units are described outside of Canada, the US and maybe a couple of other countries.

But congrats to EIA, that's a nice catch for them.

[The Fisher Account]

Is there a reason we call them 'provinces' and not 'states'?