Edmonton International Airport (EIA/YEG)

[IanO]

Similar in what way?

 

[erudyk_29]

Edmonton is planning a new hospital, has LRT u/c and soon to be another line, the Winspear is u/c... just saying.

You sure about 'people are leaving in droves', for they just had quite a month real estate-wise and Calgary's tech sector is an order of magnitude larger than Edmonton's.

Last I saw Calgary had one of the highest office vacancy rates in the country whereas Edmonton's was average. Sure people may not be leaving in droves but Edmonton certainly attracts more young talent with our university. (Even though no young people are flocking to Alberta anymore with the crazy UCP cuts to U of A, and U of C, U of A cuts nearly twice as much by the way). I think the point of these people's statements is that the province seems to still be valuing Calgary as the provinces main urban economic driver while Edmonton is slowly but surely catching up.

 

[IanO]

Calgary's office market is in another tier/scale/size/global presence. Apples and oranges. To put it into perspective, their vacancy is the size of our entire Downtown market +.

Edmonton is doing a lot better in some regards and gaining notoriety in some important places, but continues to lag comparable centres on many fronts.

 

[David A]

It has been a very tough year for airports for obvious reasons. However, with all the disruption, this might be the time for such an initiative. If you don't take the initiative, you risk being overlooked.

I think Edmonton has a number of has a number strengths to help with future growth. Historically, the oil industry was very much centered in Calgary so that made it hard for Edmonton to compete as a business center, but with more diversification of the economy in the future the playing field may be more level.

 

[Glenco]

Edmonton International Airport (EIA) is launching a new manufacturing facility to help emerging Canadian food innovators access new national and global markets by filling a regional gap in food manufacturing.

With a federal investment of $550,000 through Western Economic Diversification Canada, EIA will partner with the Edmonton-based Uproot Food Collective and convert a former flight kitchen space into a new federally certified food production and contract packaging facility. Uproot Food Collective will be the first long-term tenant of the new Ag-celerator at EIA and will co-lead the construction of the facility with a design focused on advanced food production that offers scalable services for small business food manufacturers.



https://flyeia.com/corporate/media/news/eia-teams-up-to-ag-celerate-food-exports/

 

[erudyk_29]

Calgary's office market is in another tier/scale/size/global presence. Apples and oranges. To put it into perspective, their vacancy is the size of our entire Downtown market +.

Edmonton is doing a lot better in some regards and gaining notoriety in some important places, but continues to lag comparable centres on many fronts.

The point isn't which city is doing better but rather why the province seems to give the middle finger to Edmonton at every turn despite it being the city that will likely be more important for Alberta in the future after the inevitable collapse of the oil industry. The U of A is a far larger and more important university than U of C and yet it receives twice the funding cuts? The entire re-opening plan revolves around whether or not the Stampede will be able to happen, not to mention the obvious lack of care for any public workers (Education and Healthcare mostly) who have their base in Edmonton as the capital.

The answer can be found simply by looking at the map from the last election. Edmonton was an island of orange in a sea of blue and Jason Kenney knows that isn't going to change. So he tries to keep the votes he had in Calgary by favoring their city over ours on nearly every policy decision.

 

[IanO]

' the province seems to give the middle finger to Edmonton at every turn despite it being the city that will likely be more important for Alberta in the future'

Go on...

 

[erudyk_29]

Calgary is far more dependent on the oil industry than Edmonton and Alberta's oil industry is dying, We can't get any infrastructure complete to sell our product even if we could. Most places want to buy from the Middle East where it's significantly cheaper for a number of reasons. The world is moving away from fossil fuels anyway so we need to start transitioning as well. When (not if) the fossil fuels industry goes down tech and A.I will be the new money printing industry and Edmonton in my opinion is better equipped to create jobs and revenue in that sector. Calgary may have it's own tech industry, but the A.I research happening at the U of A is world class and that should attract a lot of young talent who will establish startups in the city. Edmonton's transit system particularly in LRT while smaller now has a lot more potential being that we built our most expensive, underground section while the province was still very rich. Our population growth is already outpacing Calgary's and I would expect that trend to continue. Now don't get me wrong the shift isn't going to happen overnight, and Edmonton could certainly mess it up (or the UCP could slash the university into oblivion). But I think it's more likely than not as Calgary continues to feel the effects of the dying industry that is it's economic backbone.

 

[EdmTrekker]

I think Edmonton International Airport needs to negotiate with the Federal Government to allow international flights back to Edmonton, as restrictions are lifted.

More like demand.

 

[CaptainBL]

Council approves almost $10 million to help Edmonton International Airport over three years

City council voted Monday to pitch in $9.88 million to urgently help the struggling Edmonton International Airport (EIA) and the region’s economy get off the ground…

edmontonjournal.com

While I do think approval of this fund is a step in the right direction, I am curious to know what the strategy and use of funds is going to be. Will it be hiring another couple of people to sit in Toronto to "promote" and BS with Air Canada and Westjet again like the individual hired a handful of years ago? Because if that's the case, that was effectively useless.

Iveson's quote about becoming a suburb of Calgary is the first time I think I have heard him realize this is an issue for Edmonton. Unfortunately, I think he realized this trend way too late in his mayoral career.

 

[The_Cat]

I know one thing for sure, if Mike Nickel is elected Mayor, it's over for the Edmonton International Airport.

 

[TAS]

I'm looking forward to seeing how other municipalities vote on this and I'm curious about the performance indicators of this funding.

Flights are going to be returning as restrictions lifted - so how do they show how this money has made an impact? Was it this campaign or was it already established demand from the past returning?

 

[occidentalcapital]

Good timing on the flight opportunities fund.

It is the right time to get creative and assertive in advocating for Edmonton's economic future. More of this please!!

 

[The_Cat]

Flair Air in the news;

https://twitter.com/x/status/1403054875903086594

 

[TAS]

Glad to see airlines back in the news with good news! And liking Flair's new 737 max-8s, that it now has 19 Canadian cities in its schedule and 13 new planes by year end with hopes of expanding to 50 in years ahead.

More service options on their planes now with their new app. Love the prices.