Quote:
Originally Posted by espalorius
i have no clue about airline economics but even if eia is successful in their quest, wont the fact that yyc is the hub for 2 airlines always work against edmonton?
i mean, even if all the ppl that drive to yyc used yeg, just what kind of improvements would occir?
maybe a couple euro nonstops, a couple US ones, or just increased frequency to canada's bigger 'hub' airports?
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I think that EIA has been very successful in its quest to inform the citizens of metro Edmonton to Fly Edmonton First. The idea of utilizing the existing routes and flying any new ones to ensure that direct service is maintained should be a continued strategy because, yes, the hub system is with us to stay. That being said, I do not think that there is a huge amount of people driving to Calgary in the first place. The issue is more of connecting through Calgary versus connecting through somewhere else if you can do it. I gladly take a potential longer route through Toronto or Vancouver if I need to and not use Calgary connections. But sometimes it is unavoidable. For example, I am flying with friends to LAX on Labor Day weekend. The price through Calgary at the time we booked was a low $69 on Westjet. Although we are flying direct on the way back, we could not justify the extra cost of 4 people to fly direct on the way down as the sales price heading down was not available.
As for driving, cost and then convenience and safety are the three factors that would be considered the most. As for cost, the price of the gas, wear and tear on the car and parking would make driving to Calgary usually not that appealing verus flying. Maybe if you have a group of people but even then I would think that it does not happen that often. I would think most elderly people, for example, would not even consider driving to Calgary as the extra three hours on the road is pretty daunting. And for, say, a family of 4 with little kids, I doubt that they would be driving as well. I have considered driving down in situations where I see a really great deal on a flight to Europe, for example. However, after considering all the costs and usually having really bad arrival and departure times that warrant hotel stays on one or both ends of the trip, it is not really feasible most of the time. In my mind, not many people would want to arrive late at night after a long flight and then pack up for a long three hours drive back to Edmonton. And I have not even factored in the potential effects of winter driving.
On a positive note, it is good to see that Westjet is opening new routes out of Edmonton each year. I am encouraged when I see that they have added Edmonton-Orlando to their winter schedule. And it is also good to see that Westjet is not afraid to route passengers from Vancouver, Abbotsford, Regina and Saskatoon through Edmonton and onward to Orlando. And based on my recent search, they were providing a slight price incentive versus flying through Toronto. A double win as the passenger saves a bit on the basic airfare and also saves on the airport fees as they bypass Toronto's airport usage fee.
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