Atlantic Canada airport thread

[J_Murphy]

Originally Posted by jeddy1989

that's such a cool airport! I reember seeing it on the news, apparently it was never modernized from that look, but very well maintained so now they decided to continue with the vintage style and not modernize the theme. very cool!

Well, the saturation of colours in these photos make it look nicer than if you were actually in the building. From what i remember, it does have a feeling of being a bit outdated.

[SignalHillHiker]

Oh, it feels very outdated - but in an interesting way. It's retro, it's authentic. It doesn't have the fake feel of, say, Bowring's Downtown Centre.

And when you think of the people who have walked through there... everyone, basically, who ever flew between the United States and Europe until modern jet aircraft were invented. Marilyn Monroe, Cher, Elvis, whoever you can think of...

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Oh, it feels very outdated - but in an interesting way. It's retro, it's authentic. It doesn't have the fake feel of, say, Bowring's Downtown Centre.

And when you think of the people who have walked through there... everyone, basically, who ever flew between the United States and Europe until modern jet aircraft were invented. Marilyn Monroe, Cher, Elvis, whoever you can think of...

I love the terminal in Gander, honestly the only part of the bus ride that's worth seeing, haha...

We actually used to have a similar smaller terminal in Stephenville, but it was closed in the late 60s, converted to a swimming pool and demolished in the early 90s.


Photo: Gordon Robertson

I hope Gander can find a way to incorporate the exisiting terminal into its future plans. It's a relic of another era and would be a shame to lose.

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by J_Murphy

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?...29758&latest=1



Overall, it's looking like 2012 was an awesome year for airports in NL.

Sorry, I can't let this slide. I see this stuff for Deer Lake and I just can't let it go.

In the late 1980's, Stephenville was attempting to build a new terminal building to deal with rising passenger traffic (180,000 annually by 1989). Brian Tobin, our former MHA, attempted to run in Humber Valley, and began promoting the idea of two west coast airports. This was a dumb idea, but I digress. The terminal which Stephenville had lobbied for years to get was constructed in Deer Lake in order to give that facility a selling point.

Deer Lake Regional Airport has been on the receiving end of seemingly endless federal and provincial government investment since its privatization. When other airports have submitted requests for similar funding they have been shot down continuously. Beginning in 2007, Stephenville (YJT) began the process of trying to secure funding for the construction of new fuel storage tanks. Since a major portion of business is refuelling and servicing international flights, this would have been a major boost to business. However, provincial and federal government continually shot down requests, citing that they were not in the airport business. Shortly thereafter, government announced it was funding a significant portion of the expansion projects in Deer Lake ($9 million). Stephenville had requested $750,000.

After numerous tries, the provincial ministers responsible finally agreed to a meeting with town council, at which time they reiterated that they were not in the airport business. The world's busiest MHA, Joan Burke, said that a comprehensive business plan was needed before any requests were to be considered. YJT had a business plan prepared over the course of 12 months, as well as an intensive audit, submitted it to Burke, and no response was ever received. This past summer, the YJT terminal building received a coat of paint.

And that is a quick summary of how the NL government threw millions of dollars into trying to duplicate a service that was already working.

Adding to the conspiracy: Deer Lake was allowed to receive international flights without having any border service guards at the airport. They were permitted to land widebody, international flights on a runway that was below the acceptable standards for the aircraft in question, without fire rescue or emergency resources on site. They lucked into having Sean Durfy, a Deer Lake resident, become CEO of WestJet, 1 week before that company was set to sign off on an agreement to service YJT.

[SignalHillHiker]

Wow... sad for Stephenville.

[Ben_Dover]

Originally Posted by Trevor3

Sorry, I can't let this slide. I see this stuff for Deer Lake and I just can't let it go.

In the late 1980's, Stephenville was attempting to build a new terminal building to deal with rising passenger traffic (180,000 annually by 1989). Brian Tobin, our former MHA, attempted to run in Humber Valley, and began promoting the idea of two west coast airports. This was a dumb idea, but I digress. The terminal which Stephenville had lobbied for years to get was constructed in Deer Lake in order to give that facility a selling point.

Deer Lake Regional Airport has been on the receiving end of seemingly endless federal and provincial government investment since its privatization. When other airports have submitted requests for similar funding they have been shot down continuously. Beginning in 2007, Stephenville (YJT) began the process of trying to secure funding for the construction of new fuel storage tanks. Since a major portion of business is refuelling and servicing international flights, this would have been a major boost to business. However, provincial and federal government continually shot down requests, citing that they were not in the airport business. Shortly thereafter, government announced it was funding a significant portion of the expansion projects in Deer Lake ($9 million). Stephenville had requested $750,000.

After numerous tries, the provincial ministers responsible finally agreed to a meeting with town council, at which time they reiterated that they were not in the airport business. The world's busiest MHA, Joan Burke, said that a comprehensive business plan was needed before any requests were to be considered. YJT had a business plan prepared over the course of 12 months, as well as an intensive audit, submitted it to Burke, and no response was ever received. This past summer, the YJT terminal building received a coat of paint.

And that is a quick summary of how the NL government threw millions of dollars into trying to duplicate a service that was already working.

Adding to the conspiracy: Deer Lake was allowed to receive international flights without having any border service guards at the airport. They were permitted to land widebody, international flights on a runway that was below the acceptable standards for the aircraft in question, without fire rescue or emergency resources on site. They lucked into having Sean Durfy, a Deer Lake resident, become CEO of WestJet, 1 week before that company was set to sign off on an agreement to service YJT.

What i don't get is why didn't these towns with such small population just decide to build one lage airport between the two and benifet both of these communities.
Anyone from Fredericton or Saint John can relate to this one.

[Marty_Mcfly]

I've never understood having 2 airports competing with each other in a sparsely populated area. I understand having Deer Lake there due to it's proximity to Corner Brook, but it'll never be a huge airport.

[MonctonRad]

I've been checking out the arrivals and departures boards at the GMIA website again and it is interesting to note that depending on the day, there can be 1-3 Air Canada flights from YQM to Toronto Billy Bishop.

This is a new development that I don't think has been reported in the media.

We can now fly from Moncton to Toronto Island on both AC and Porter. This is tremendous as Toronto Island is so close to downtown Toronto.

The flipside of this however is that there is now less frequency to Toronto Pearson. This may mean longer connection times if you are flying elsewhere on the continent.

I guess you can't have it both ways.

[q12]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I've been checking out the arrivals and departures boards at the GMIA website again and it is interesting to note that depending on the day, there can be 1-3 Air Canada flights from YQM to Toronto Billy Bishop.

This is a new development that I don't think has been reported in the media.

We can now fly from Moncton to Toronto Island on both AC and Porter. This is tremendous as Toronto Island is so close to downtown Toronto.

The flipside of this however is that there is now less frequency to Toronto Pearson. This may mean longer connection times if you are flying elsewhere on the continent.

I guess you can't have it both ways.

These are actually flights to Montreal that continue on to Toronto Island. The same as the Porter flight that goes to Ottawa than on to Toronto Island.

The interesting part about this is Air Canada Express is using prop planes (Q400) for all but 1 flight to Toronto Pearson from Moncton. This results in a 20-30 minute longer direct flight versus the Air Canada Express jet (CRJ).

There is currently only 2 Air Canada Express jet departures out of Moncton (1 to Pearson and 1 to Ottawa). There is no Executive Class/Business Class seats on any flight out of Moncton.

[Marty_Mcfly]

Monctonrad: do you know if there are any plans for AC to add a direct flight from Moncton to St. John's? I'd much rather drive to Moncton to catch a flight than all the way to Halifax. I think it'd make sense to start some sort of flight path between the two, especially with the cities both growing at such quick rates.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

Monctonrad: do you know if there are any plans for AC to add a direct flight from Moncton to St. John's? I'd much rather drive to Moncton to catch a flight than all the way to Halifax. I think it'd make sense to start some sort of flight path between the two, especially with the cities both growing at such quick rates.

There used to be a direct CanJet flight between Moncton and St. John's when CanJet used to be a scheduled airline. I believe it was quite popular. There is a bit of a Newfoundland ex pat community here in Moncton.

There is interest in re-establishing a St. John's - Moncton direct flight route. I know that the GMIA has been in negotiations with the St. John's International Airport. The GMIA has also been polling the local business community to see if they would use the service. I don't know what the results of the survey are.

I don't think Air Canada is interested in offering the service however. It would be a major violation of their "hub and spoke" principle requiring all passenger to pass through hub cities like Halifax, Montreal or Toronto.

If this service is ever to occur, I think you would have to look towards Porter or perhaps WestJet's new regional service. In either case, what I think you might see happening is the establishment of a new St. John'-Moncton-Toronto route. I think this would be a very real possibility.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by q12

These are actually flights to Montreal that continue on to Toronto Island. The same as the Porter flight that goes to Ottawa than on to Toronto Island.

The interesting part about this is Air Canada Express is using prop planes (Q400) for all but 1 flight to Toronto Pearson from Moncton. This results in a 20-30 minute longer direct flight versus the Air Canada Express jet (CRJ).

There is currently only 2 Air Canada Express jet departures out of Moncton (1 to Pearson and 1 to Ottawa). There is no Executive Class/Business Class seats on any flight out of Moncton.

I like the Q400's. They are quiet, comfortable and relatively roomy for a turboprop. The extra 20 minutes travel time is only a minor nuisance. The value of the Q400 is that you end up with increased service frequency since it is a smaller plane.

[magee_b]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I like the Q400's. They are quiet, comfortable and relatively roomy for a turboprop. The extra 20 minutes travel time is only a minor nuisance. The value of the Q400 is that you end up with increased service frequency since it is a smaller plane.

The Q400's actually have 74 seats compared to the 50 seats in the standard CRJs that were being used on most of the YFC/YSJ/YQM - Toronto routes. So it's actually an increase in capacity

[MonctonRad]

Interesting article in the T&T today about the GMIA, dealing specifically with potential routes and the fact that the airport is increasingly being served (on Air Canada routes) by the Bombardier Q400.

I found it rather amusing. We have noticed on the Moncton threads for some time that not infrequently, several days after a discussion on the forums, that a T&T article would pop up dealing precisely with the topic we had just recently discussed. Like in this case, the similarity of our discussions to the tone of the article in the newspaper is too close to be a coincidence.

They said all the same things, that the Q400 is more efficient, allows better service frequency and is a comfortable aircraft popular with airline travellers. They mentioned that there was only a single daily CRJ flight to Toronto (like Q12), and mentioned that the Q400 actually had more seating than a CRJ (like magee_b). They also talked about the need for direct flights to St. John's (and Boston), which Marty and I talked about. The similarity was remarkable!!

They did have something new in the article though. They interviewed the CEO of the GMIA who stated that, although the final numbers aren't in yet, the passenger volume for the airport in 2012 will exceed 600,000 people for the first time.

[Sunnybrae]

I think Air Canada put Q400's to Moncton because of many factors. The importance of speed, the passenger density, fuel cost and route length. At one time Air Canada was using CRJ-705's to Moncton. Thats the plane I preferred. Rising fuel costs put an end to that.

[MonctonRad]

News just out today that passenger volumes at the GMIA are up 6% in 2012 and the counts have surpassed 600k for the first time.

In 2012 more than 615,000 passengers used the GMIA.

I will post more on this later.....

[MonctonRad]

As promised......

Metro airport sets passenger record
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Times & Transcript
By: ColeHobson

Local airport saw a record of more than 615,000 customers in 2012

It was a record-setting year for the Greater Moncton International Airport (GMIA).

Passenger traffic at the airport was at an all-time high, with 615,085 customers using the airport in 2012. That's an increase of six per cent over 2011 numbers, which saw 579,329 passengers.

Julie Pondant, a corporate communications specialist with GMIA, said they are very excited and pleased by the passenger growth and she believes the improvement will lead to even more success for the airport in the future. 'What the community needs to understand is that they have to use it to have some more services. It's kind of like if you want more carriers, more frequencies, they need to have a solid business case to tell them why they should be coming here,' she said. 'If people are using the services, they will be more keen on coming and offering more frequency from our airport, and that's what we want. It's a win-win for the community and for everybody.' GMIA has been privatized since 1997, and Pondant said the growth in passengers has been staggering since that point.

Read more:
http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=10524

[Marty_Mcfly]

Not just an Atlantic Canada airport thing, but a problem encompassing airline travel in Canada as a whole. I was searching for flights to Providence, Rhode Island. They don't exist. Who dropped the ball here? I understand Providence is close to Boston and all, but for someone who may have to go to Providence flying to Boston and then trying to find a way to get where you're supposed to be.

Anyway that's my rant for today.

[Sunnybrae]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

Not just an Atlantic Canada airport thing, but a problem encompassing airline travel in Canada as a whole. I was searching for flights to Providence, Rhode Island. They don't exist. Who dropped the ball here? I understand Providence is close to Boston and all, but for someone who may have to go to Providence flying to Boston and then trying to find a way to get where you're supposed to be.

Anyway that's my rant for today.

??? I used Expedia and found lots of flights. All the majors go there including Air Canada.

[magee_b]

As per airlineroute.net Air Canada is cancelling it's twice daily Toronto-Providence service as of March, 2013

Also, on Atlantic Canada related news, looks like Charlottetown will be seeing a service reduction from it's normal summer schedule.

Montreal – Charlottetown 15JUN13 – 03SEP13 Peak summer season reduced from 3 daily in S12 to 2 daily
Toronto – Charlottetown Service reduces from 3 daily in S12 to 2 daily

http://airlineroute.net/2013/01/24/ac-domestic-s13/