(YEG) Edmonton International Airport Part 4 (October 2023)

[Slide]

Glad to see "arrivals refresh" in there. that whole area feels like a basement. And super cramped.
As an aside, i never liked YEG's separation of commercial vehicles and private vehicles for pick up. Especially in a climate like ours. I typically ask guests to go upstairs to departures once they've collected their bags, and pick them up from there instead so they wouldn't have to wait in the cold and have trouble finding me when i would drive up to the building.

The highway 2 improvements as beyond 2048? That flyover for north bound should have been built 30 years ago.

The transit hub location in beyond 2048.. I guess i would locate it there too if i assumed the status quo of everything would carry-on for another 25+ years... Most airports have the train/transit come directly to the terminal, today in fact.

reach for the stars next time

[Coldrsx]

Agreed.

Kinda sorta given 'express transit' leaving options open, which is odd given that the last one had it.

[Hallsy's Toupee]

Hey, has anyone heard from Erin Isfeld? She left CTV last autumn to join YEG but since then there's been nothing but silence.

[JSS1974]

Plan looks like a larger regional airport with likely more connector flights
Plan does not show LRT-wishy washy

[YegFan]

Their annual projections are probably by done by a high school student...Simple straight line forecasting!!

The Edmonton area will be almost 50% foreign born by 2048. There will be way more international passengers.

I wish there was a bit more thought into forecasting future traffic trends. At this rate, YEG will probably have one daily flight to Europe and that is all (after 25 years).

[faraz39]

The report looks amateurish.... Something you'd expect a student to compile but apparently it's their "master plan."

[LO 044]

Originally Posted by Slide

Glad to see "arrivals refresh" in there. that whole area feels like a basement. And super cramped.
As an aside, i never liked YEG's separation of commercial vehicles and private vehicles for pick up. Especially in a climate like ours. I typically ask guests to go upstairs to departures once they've collected their bags, and pick them up from there instead so they wouldn't have to wait in the cold and have trouble finding me when i would drive up to the building.

The highway 2 improvements as beyond 2048? That flyover for north bound should have been built 30 years ago.

The transit hub location in beyond 2048.. I guess i would locate it there too if i assumed the status quo of everything would carry-on for another 25+ years... Most airports have the train/transit come directly to the terminal, today in fact.

reach for the stars next time

Pretty much agree with everything you have said and a couple of posters below you.

I could have come up with better graphics using AutoCAD. I love the 5 aircraft parked at 3 gates in the revamped north terminal. What kind of gates are those? Makes no sense. The commercial site(s) have really made a mess of getting in and out of the airport. Those express lanes should be constructed sooner than later but they won't be especially the eastbound to northbound section which is a major cost. Even the transit. At least pretend it will come to the terminal instead of to the middle of nowhere. Of course, EIA cares more about getting you to the outlet center than the airport and I use the outlet center term loosely.

EIA just needs to add 10, 20 or 25 years to this master plan when they update it in 10, 20 or 25 years. Nothing will change.

[s211]

Originally Posted by JSS1974

Plan looks like a larger regional airport with likely more connector flights

Indeed. That pretty much sums up the gate expansions.

And am I seeing what looks like a call-to-gate model for the expanded transborder area? From what I hear, that's not working out optimally in Calgary.

[TheGreatestX]

Originally Posted by LO 044

I love the 5 aircraft parked at 3 gates in the revamped north terminal. What kind of gates are those? Makes no sense..

That's the same set up as the existing south terminal. On the map it looks like one gate, but in reality it is two jet bridges.

[Base]

Originally Posted by s211

Indeed. That pretty much sums up the gate expansions.

And am I seeing what looks like a call-to-gate model for the expanded transborder area? From what I hear, that's not working out optimally in Calgary.

I did unfortunately have to travel through YYC once a couple years ago and while I see how it saves space, the call to gate setup wasn't a great passenger experience.

[Coldrsx]

Call to gate generally does not work and is counter intuitive to on edge travellers who want to have line of sight to gate.

[LO 044]

Call to gate also doesn't work unless you have a centralized area for shopping and food purchases. YEG does not have the amenities set up that way. On top of that there is ample seating at most of the gates which encourages people to go to the gate early. And thank the Lord that is the case. I'll bet if you took a poll, the majority of passengers would not choose a call to gate system if they understood it. It is nice to be able to relax prior to your flight near the gate.

A prime example of this is Cancun that we just recently came back from which has a hybrid situation. Terminal 4 is in essence constructed the same way as YEG. Yes they have a centralized eating area but they have plenty of seating next to each gate. The food court is a zoo and louder than any party at a resort in the area. On top of that, there is not enough seating in the food court. Apparently they sort of have a call to gate system now even though our gate number was printed on the boarding pass. Our WS 737 arrived and sat there and it took until almost boarding to list the gate on the departure screens. My party seemed to think the gate listed on our boarding pass might not be correct and wanted to sit near Gate 54 but our aircraft parked at Gate 64 (Gate 65 on the boarding pass) so then we had to walk to the other end of the terminal to catch our flight. There was always plenty of seats everywhere so again no need for call to gate but it seems to be the Pokemon or Elmo or whatever flavour of the day for airports these days.

[Base]

January 2024
Terminal Traffic: 499,246 passengers (1.1% YOY growth)
Domestic: 360,131 passengers (-3.2% YOY growth)
Transborder: 62,350 passengers (3% YOY growth)
International: 76,765 passengers (25.3% YOY growth)

Fixed base operators (FBO): 54,350 (20% YOY growth)

Total Passengers: 553.596 (2.7% YOY growth)

FBO and International good, domestic not so good. Porter's flights not making up for less Flair. Also wondering if a sign of the times for people's personal finances although we will have to see how other airports January numbers look.

[RetiredGuy]

Originally Posted by Hallsy's Toupee

Hey, has anyone heard from Erin Isfeld? She left CTV last autumn to join YEG but since then there's been nothing but silence.

CTV news interviewed her in Late December when she was speaking on behalf of YEG concerning those traveling on one of the busiest days at the airport.

[Rocket252]

Lynx Air is shutting down Sunday Night. No merger with Flair.

[LO 044]

Lynx's demise won't be a big deal for YEG. In the next 24 hours, YEG has 1 Lynx departure, 5 Flair departures, 39 WestJet departures (8 to YYC), 2 Sunwing departures, 20 Air Canada departures (4 to YYC), 3 United departures, 1 Air North departure, 2 Canadian North departures, 4 Porter departures and 1 Alaska departure.

Until I actually looked at my own list, I didn't realize how little Flair flies to/from YEG. They might have more destinations for a smaller operation but the amount of passengers carried is not that far off Porter. I am curious how Porter's loads are to/from YEG. If/when Flair goes under, the main result will be higher prices so book your flights early.

[Rocket252]

As Flair has increased the amount of planes they have decreased the number of flights to Edmonton and focused on other cities.

[JakeLRS]

Originally Posted by Rocket252

Putting the pressure on Flair with that Nashville Flight.

Daily Atlanta is pretty cool.

Flair quietly dropped YEG-Nashville.
I believe LAX and SFO were set to also return but they are no longer bookable from YEG.

YEG-LAS frequency dropped to 3x weekly for the winter (4x in April... for now).

Flair is playing it safe and will quickly drop out of direct competition from WS on YEG routes.

[JSS1974]

Originally Posted by Rocket252

As Flair has increased the amount of planes they have decreased the number of flights to Edmonton and focused on other cities.

Perhaps, but flair needs to run a business and will place planes wherever they see profitable.

[Rocket252]

^ I agree.

the door is open for Flair to become the dominant low cost airline in Canada.