YYC is claiming "fastest growing airport in canada".........
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Airport poised to be No. 3 in nation
Calgary passenger numbers expected to surpass Montreal
Dina O'Meara, Calgary Herald
Published: Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Calgary's airport is expected to become Canada's third-busiest airport, overtaking Montreal within a year, says an industry analyst.
The nation's fastest-growing airport will get even busier on Friday, as the Christmas rush hits a fever pitch and more than 40,000 people are expected to travel through Calgary International Airport.
That's about 12,000 more people than the daily average, a number that has risen 10 per cent a year for the past five years to lead the nation in growth.
Eight-year-old Kyle Christopher waits for his bag during the busiest week of the year at Calgary International Airport -- 40,000 passengers are expected Friday.
"No one has forecast this kind of growth," independent aviation analyst Rick Erickson said. "Aviation has done well in Canada, but Calgary has done much, much better than the national average."
The number of flights at Calgary International has soared 43 per cent since 2002, the largest increase in Canada.
That's not surprising considering the city is at the hub of the oil industry -- the country's economic engine -- and boasts the second-largest number of Fortune 500 company headquarters in Canada.
While Toronto and Vancouver are indisputably the first- and second-busiest airports in the country, Erickson, of RP Erickson & Associates, anticipates Calgary will soon place third as its white-collar workers take to the air for business and pleasure travel.
Almost as many people fly into and out of Calgary's international airport as from Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Montreal, a city three-times larger, Erickson noted.
"And I'm fairly certain Calgary will overtake Montreal within a year because of the propensity of Calgarians for international travel," he said.
About 12.3 million people will travel to and from Calgary in 2007, up one million passengers from last year, and just a few hundred thousand behind Montreal, according to estimates by the Calgary Airport Authority.
The not-for-profit organization, which ranks as one of the country's most successful airport authorities, is in the midst of a 10-year, $1.2-billion expansion and maintenance program.
"It has been a hectic year," said Julien DeSchutter, marketing vice-president with the airport authority.
Calgarians can fly to 102 destinations worldwide, plus several new ones announced in the past two years.
Since 2006, British Airways started direct flights to London, England, and Frontier launched services to Denver. This year, German-based Lufthansa said it was returning to Calgary after a 20-year hiatus with daily non-stop flights to Frankfurt that started in April.
Mexicana Airlines recently announced it would be flying four times a week, and local airlines Air Canada and WestJet have increased the number of flights out of Calgary.
Service from Asia was inaugurated this year with a summer charter by Korean Air Ltd. from Seoul, South Korea. While the charters cater only to Koreans, aviation experts believe the carrier could be testing the Calgary market, as it already offers regular flights from Vancouver and Toronto.
International visitors coming to Alberta bring in about one-third of the $5 billion in tourism collected, according to Travel Alberta, and they play a large role in building long-haul markets.
"Continued growth is a reflection of the continued business and tourism travel to the region, and our robust economy and record load factors reported by airlines in 2007," said Bryce Paton, director of communications and emergency planning for the airport authority.
Seemingly non-stop construction at the airport has added a new wing, new gates, and new parking stalls to accommodate the surge in air travel. A $91-million investment was made this year in roadway and parking improvements, baggage system improvements, pavement and facility restoration, land servicing, upgrading vehicles, systems and equipment.
The authority also invested $10 million in improvements to Springbank Airport, a reliever airport run by the airport in the Municipal District of Rocky View.
For 2008, the airport authority has approved an $180-million infrastructure budget for continued expansions and upgrades.
The authority's long-term 10-year, $1.2-billion anticipated development projects include refurbishing and expanding the international facilities terminal.
The airport authority does more than build runways and direct traffic, it also leases nearly 180 hectares of industrial land, is developing a trade park, and is set to open a 24-hole golf course in 2008.
While it might sound like an odd proposition for an airport authority, a golf course makes perfect sense when taking into account its location -- at the end of a new 4,200-metre parallel runway set to open in the fall of 2015.
It will bring additional revenues in by utilizing land where buildings can't be built, Erickson noted.
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