In an effort to reach airport management and the Board on my personal concerns over YEG's continued decline in air service since well before the pandemic, I have penned and sent the letter below. I am sharing with this forum and encourage others to reach out as well.
I would like to begin by thanking the Board and management for your service and commitment to ensuring the health and safety of all passengers during the pandemic. I have utilized the airport on a few occasions recently and truly feel that my health and safety were the utmost priority.
I am writing to the Board and management to flag my concern with the decline of airline relationships and key global routes that service EIA and its customers. This concern has been negatively impacting the greater Edmonton region for several years even before COVID-19 and has disadvantageously positioned EIA and the Edmonton region at risk of not reaching its full economic recovery potential in a post-pandemic and increasingly competitive world.
In EIA’s Airport City Fact Sheet, EIA notes that air service is “at the core of our business”. While I acknowledge positive strides have been made such as the retention of KLM to Amsterdam and the establishment of Flair’s operational base, I am more concerned than ever about EIA’s emerging relegation to a large regional and LCC airport. This disappointing trend is evident when considering the following:
- From 2015 to 2019, annual passenger totals remained relatively flat fluctuating around ~8.0MM passengers, yet transborder passengers declined (21%) from 1.2MM to 0.97MM and international passengers declined (15%) from 526K to 450K while domestic passengers increased 13% from 5.5MM to 6.2MM
- For perspective, the combined decline in transborder and international passengers (333K) was more than offset by the increase in domestic passengers (710K)
- In that same time frame the airport lost key global air service connections to LAX and DFW on American Airlines; SFO, ORD, EWR on United Airlines; LHR on Air Canada, SEA on Delta Airlines; and experienced reductions in seats or frequencies to other key global routes
- Unprosperous public relationships with airline partners over the past several years demonstrating unconstructive developments or outlooks
- Air Canada Vice President Derek Vanstone’s 2013 comments regarding disappointment towards EIA with regards to the LHR route and Icelandair before canceling the route in 2015
- Air Canada’s reference to Edmonton as a secondary city in 2019 concerning A220 use
- American Airlines June 2021 announcement of 80 years of service in Canada with commitments to continued or expanded air service in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Halifax, Quebec City, and Ottawa
- Delta Airlines withdrawal from Edmonton after several decades of route service to MSP
- Air Canada’s lack of long-term commitment to key domestic routes such as Saskatoon, Regina, Kelowna, or Victoria, for example
I acknowledge that I am not privy to non-public discussion and the above is based on public information and observations; however, as a concerned frequent user of EIA and by virtue of the declining state of air service at EIA, a now supporter of connecting in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary, I would very much appreciate the opportunity to learn how the Board and management plan to strategically position the airport to reverse the decline in air service and improve relationships with our biggest airline partners, especially Air Canada. Additionally, I encourage the Board and management to recognize the bigger picture impact my concern has on the Edmonton regions future post-pandemic economic development.
