Edmonton International Airport (EIA/YEG)

[EdmTrekker]

It's another important option for Alberta and so a net positive and we should not be lamenting the fact that we are getting out-hustled.

What continues to impress me about Calgary is their business-minded, go gettr' attitude versus an improving, but still very much government town attitude here.

When you are comfortable, you sit back

"When you are comfortable, you sit back." sounds like a lazy ass view. The new flight WILL negatively impact KLM frequency at YEG as a big number of passengers on KLM are connecting in AMS - to India, Middle East, Africa. You can sit back and watch the ripple effect of the net positive gain you mention that it provides Edmonton metro.

 

[MakeYEGGreatAgain]

Too much supply will start to eat away from KL and the existing players even at YYC. You can bet that so much traffic to India/south Asia/ME will shift to EY (much better product and competitive pricing). it's not good news for YEG that's for sure!

 

[JNO1]

When you are comfortable, you sit back.

Half @$$ it. It's the most Edmonton thing you can do.
That has been my motto for Edmonton for a while now. I don't mean it in an insulting or pejorative sense, but it just seems to be the overall attitude by a lot of people in this city. Especially the people with the financial and political wherewithal to be able lead or make substantive improvements here. Too many times "we" go part of the way there but then stop short for some reason (e.g. Ice/Bank District tenancy, Milner Library, Jasper Ave improvements, maintenance and overall cleanliness). What has driven me absolutely crazy, for decades now, is that Edmonton could (and should) be so much more. So much better. But we stop short. I don't know if it is because of comfort (as @IanO suggests) or a "little brother" syndrome, afraid of taking on our big brother down south. But whatever it is it has been there for decades and unless someone with financial/political clout steps up to start to change that we will continue too languish when it comes to business, economy, flights, etc.
Anyway. Apologies for all the Dougie downer stuff. Just a morning rant and my thoughts and opinion on a Friday morning. I am going to go and make another cup of coffee. Maybe that will help settle me down!!

 

[BASE]

I'm not willing to write YEG off and I don't begrudge YYC for getting theirs.

YEG can't control the fact that Westjet is based in Calgary or it's general geographic disadvantages but it can continue to build a great airport people can access (advocate for train link), and work with other aviation related industries (cargo, defense) which will indirectly support their vision of more flights to more places.

 

[MakeYEGGreatAgain]

Well in all fairness, go back 30 + years, and you will see that YEG had more service overseas than we do now. The city has doubled in size and has a much more proportion of immigrants who travel overseas.. That should tell you something. YEG is not getting its fair share while YYC is getting everything. What is the management of YEG doing is beyond all of us here.

 

[ADob]

When we first came to Canada in the early 80s, there was a direct 8-h Edmonton to Warsaw charter flight that was always full. I will admit I've no clue how charter flights work, but having now to go through any number of airports and take twice as long feels like a huge let down. And keep in mind that Edmonton has Canada's second largest Polish population (after Toronto).

 

[Kosy123]

While we do have an issue with comfort when it comes to our political and business elite and it's something I really want to see change, I don't think it's just the fact that Calgary has a "corporate, business friendly culture", because that's attributing the city's success to that is a bold faced lie when you dig deep and see how much of Calgary's corporate establishment has succeeded due to its ties with the Alberta PCs.

Calgary is Alberta's showpiece city, and that's something that's been made clear time and time again by Alberta's political establishment. I don't think people realize the sheer amount of direct and indirect support that YYC gets. I'm quite young compared to a lot of the forum members here, but the more I dig down on how Calgary got its premier position from the 70s onwards. I get the frustration and anger from older Edmontonians, because Edmonton's successes are more in spite of, rather than due, to the support of external factors. Frankly, going through the history of this city, I'm surprised we even got to the point where competing with Calgary is a possibility.

That doesn't absolve us of our own problems and limitations, and lack of ambition and drive, but you can only do so much when the cards are stacked against you in a way that no other major Canadian city can understand.

 

[David A]

Well in all fairness, go back 30 + years, and you will see that YEG had more service overseas than we do now. The city has doubled in size and has a much more proportion of immigrants who travel overseas.. That should tell you something. YEG is not getting its fair share while YYC is getting everything. What is the management of YEG doing is beyond all of us here.

It is really up to the customers,, Edmontonians to start to boycott the airline that keeps on pulling this crap. Look at the outrage about their shrinking not reclining seats that forced them to back down.

 

[Dkeirle]

I have read through all of the recent posts and wanted to weigh in on the discussion. I see a lot of the blame for YEG's decline relative to YYC being pointed at Westjet, and while they are partly to blame, it goes further than that. When I lived in Edmonton my dad was a regular flyer due to his work. I remember him complaining about having to use YYC as far back as the 80's and 90's before Westjet was around.

The day that air travel took off and Banff became a major air travel destination, Calgary cemented itself as Alberta's main hub. Westjet maybe partly to blame, but in reality it was more of them taking of advantage of the situation that had already unfolded. Long before Westjet, PWA was also using Calgary as its hub. If Westjet had never come along, AC in combination with other European carriers would have done the same thing. It would have been to a lesser degree than with Westjet, but YEG would most likely be in the same situation. YOW is also in the same position being near Montreal.

Regarding Danielle Smith. I hate the woman with every fiber of my being, but I don't have an issue with her helping drum up support for flights to Alberta. If Nenshi (who I will be voting for) were in power I imagine he would do the same thing. The chances of Etihad choosing YEG as a destination is pretty much nil and YYC was probably borderline. If you can at least get one into Alberta then why not?

 

[MacLac]

Who are we kidding here....as per "Invest Alberta" - my most recent message - it clearly shows Smitty had a role to play - greasing palms etc to get this flight. But why beat around the bush - 99% of folks on this flight are NOT ending in Abu Dhabi but rather India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc....that's where the passengers are going....except of going on a crashy, older, cramp, horrible Air India flight - which the Indians don't even want to fly on, they get to fly on a new Dreamliner - happy for all of those whom this affects........

 

[Dkeirle]

Who are we kidding here....as per "Invest Alberta" - my most recent message - it clearly shows Smitty had a role to play - greasing palms etc to get this flight. But why beat around the bush - 99% of folks on this flight are NOT ending in Abu Dhabi but rather India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc....that's where the passengers are going....except of going on a crashy, older, cramp, horrible Air India flight - which the Indians don't even want to fly on, they get to fly on a new Dreamliner - happy for all of those whom this affects........

Exactly. The combo of YYC as Westjet's hub, and AUH as Etihad's hub, means someone going from YEG to BLR will now have an alternate and likely better route than AC via VYR DEL BLR. There will be a tourist boost for Banff as people in that region can now do a one hop trip to Banff. It's possible with KLM, but EY serves a lot more destinations in that part of the world.

I don't know that I agree about Smith 'greasing palms'. You mean she paid someone money to do the flight?

 

[Glenco]

I have read through all of the recent posts and wanted to weigh in on the discussion. I see a lot of the blame for YEG's decline relative to YYC being pointed at Westjet, and while they are partly to blame, it goes further than that. When I lived in Edmonton my dad was a regular flyer due to his work. I remember him complaining about having to use YYC as far back as the 80's and 90's before Westjet was around.

The day that air travel took off and Banff became a major air travel destination, Calgary cemented itself as Alberta's main hub. Westjet maybe partly to blame, but in reality it was more of them taking of advantage of the situation that had already unfolded. Long before Westjet, PWA was also using Calgary as its hub. If Westjet had never come along, AC in combination with other European carriers would have done the same thing. It would have been to a lesser degree than with Westjet, but YEG would most likely be in the same situation. YOW is also in the same position being near Montreal.

Regarding Danielle Smith. I hate the woman with every fiber of my being, but I don't have an issue with her helping drum up support for flights to Alberta. If Nenshi (who I will be voting for) were in power I imagine he would do the same thing. The chances of Etihad choosing YEG as a destination is pretty much nil and YYC was probably borderline. If you can at least get one into Alberta then why not?

Lougheed bought PWA with the explicit purpose of moving the head office from Vancouver and the centre of opposition from Edmonton to Calgary to make them the hub they are today.

 

[FrankRizza]

My two sense; We have lost!

In the real battle of Alberta, besides hockey, Calgary has lapped us and maybe more than once. There used to be a time when the cities were comparable, today one city is a world class destination for business and tourism and the other is us.

Calgary has always been the oil hub but now they have a real tech industry, tourism is booming annd head offices just keep popping up. they just know how to get things done. It’s a city that you never have to worry about because there is enough money and executive level talent everywhere. They were always going to figure it out.

As for flights, I’m a guy that refuses to fly through Calgary. I’ve been to Abu Dhabi 5 different times and you can bet your existence that I will never use that Calgary flight so to me it’s not a net win for Alberta. It’s a win for Calgary not Edmonton. but as my sister said to me yesterday after she shared to post for the AbDhabi flight, “looks like your Calgary airport boycott is working”.

In trying to take my family to Europe this Summer. The flights are horrendous. I’m not going to Calgary so I have to get creative. That said, maybe I’ll just stay home and save the money because trying to fly around the world from Edmonton will test your mental strength.

At the end of the day, it’s us Edmontonians who are to blame. We are the ones that have no problem driving to Calgary, staying a night in a hotel and then pay to park your car then take a flight from YYC. You might as well just throw up your middle finger to the city on your way down the highway.

Money talks, and for all the money we have in this city, we do a really bad job of letting it do the talking for us.

All I know is that in the real battle of Alberta, it’s official, we have lost!

 

[Oilers99]

It's not just something about our flights here. Edmontonians don't like success. This is a town that vilifies anyone for trying to be successful or liking nice things. Whether you disagree or not, is irrelevant its the truth and the pervasive discourse within this town. Calgary does not have that.

 

[Glenco]

My two sense; We have lost!

In the real battle of Alberta, besides hockey, Calgary has lapped us and maybe more than once. There used to be a time when the cities were comparable, today one city is a world class destination for business and tourism and the other is us.

Calgary has always been the oil hub but now they have a real tech industry, tourism is booming annd head offices just keep popping up. they just know how to get things done. It’s a city that you never have to worry about because there is enough money and executive level talent everywhere. They were always going to figure it out.

As for flights, I’m a guy that refuses to fly through Calgary. I’ve been to Abu Dhabi 5 different times and you can bet your existence that I will never use that Calgary flight so to me it’s not a net win for Alberta. It’s a win for Calgary not Edmonton. but as my sister said to me yesterday after she shared to post for the AbDhabi flight, “looks like your Calgary airport boycott is working”.

In trying to take my family to Europe this Summer. The flights are horrendous. I’m not going to Calgary so I have to get creative. That said, maybe I’ll just stay home and save the money because trying to fly around the world from Edmonton will test your mental strength.

At the end of the day, it’s us Edmontonians who are to blame. We are the ones that have no problem driving to Calgary, staying a night in a hotel and then pay to park your car then take a flight from YYC. You might as well just throw up your middle finger to the city on your way down the highway.

Money talks, and for all the money we have in this city, we do a really bad job of letting it do the talking for us.

All I know is that in the real battle of Alberta, it’s official, we have lost!

Not so fast. At one time Imperial, oil Shell, Syncrude, Suncor among others had their regional offices in Edmonton until Lougheed asked (told) them to move along with all of the regulatory departments. Edmontonians were indeed to blame for going along with this and continually going along with it and voting conservative for the next 40 years.