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Edmonton International Airport (EIA/YEG)

Actually WestJet announced plans to consolidate most overseas flying on the WS Boeing 787 towards Calgary YYC it's main hub in Canada.

And WestJet is going continue fly international destinations. But it will be more leisurely 1's like in Mexico & Europe.
Exactly, all their eggs in one basket. And the goose says it wants to stop laying those eggs.
 
Exactly, all their eggs in one basket. And the goose says it wants to stop laying those eggs.
While I agree the jury remains out on their single global hub experiment I would say they are still in great shape with Heathrow and Frankfurt on AC and their KLM Amsterdam flight. If Westjet flooding the market chases those other services away that could be trouble. But I am also contributing to derailing what should be YEG discussion.
 
Looking at the recent news that Icelandic carrier Play Airlines has announced their first Canadian destination and is considering more in the future, it seems to me that Edmonton would be a good choice. I believe Play is not tied to airline partnerships that might hinder such a flight from happening. It would offer many European one stop destinations with a quick turn around time in Iceland. I assume they would qualify for a new carrier subsidy. Also, they would enter a market that is underserved with European options. Also, it seems that Edmontonians would support a transatlantic ultra low cost carrier as it looks like there is only so much business traffic out of Edmonton. Yeah, I would be excited to see Icelandair back but I wonder if it makes as much sense for them now as it once did. It also seems like Play can undercut Icelandair in price. I was curious and saw that an example return price from Hamilton to Stockholm was about $440 without bags and $670 with a checked bag. I know I would definitely go for that and I think many other Edmontonians would too.
 
1. 8 million
2. non-stop to London Heathrow or Gatwick
3. 3rd runway to handle increasing cargo flights
You don't need another runway, 2 non-intersecting is more than enough for YEG's volume.

What you need is an airfield revamp with centerline taxiway lighting and a category III ILS approach so your airport doesn't grind to a halt in the fog and divert all the arrivals to Calgary like what happened Tuesday.

Even Winnipeg has these things.

Exactly, all their eggs in one basket. And the goose says it wants to stop laying those eggs.
Advanced bookings look strong on the new routes of BCN, EDI, and NRT. Sorry to disappoint you, but your wish for the YYC hub to fail will have to wait at least one more summer.
 
While I agree the jury remains out on their single global hub experiment I would say they are still in great shape with Heathrow and Frankfurt on AC and their KLM Amsterdam flight. If Westjet flooding the market chases those other services away that could be trouble. But I am also contributing to derailing what should be YEG discussion.
If WestJet chases AC out the dream would be to have AC fly them out of Edmonton, seeing as the Edmonton to Gatwick flight by WestJet isn't returning.

Pretty wishful thinking though, but It would be nice to get to the UK without having to transit through Calgary.
 
Ouch!

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Summer 2023 Europe Seats vs. Summer 2019

Toronto 5,392,000 -12%
Montreal 4,161,000 +12%
Vancouver 1,276,000 -14%
Calgary 1,033,000 +37%
Halifax 134,800 -15%
Edmonton 75,500 -30%
Quebec City 71,200 +85%
Hamilton 46,000 +45%
Whitehorse 7,800 -7%

On the glass half full side, things could actually be worse, we could have Hamilton, Ottawa or Winnipeg's numbers. Obviously, restricting international flights to a select number of airports hurt during COVID, hurt every other airport with international service and it will take time to recover.

It has never made sense to me why someone from Edmonton would have to catch a plane, fly several hundred miles south likely get off that plane, catch another and fly back over Edmonton to go to Europe. A big part of the reason I suspect is that one airline has its head office in Calgary and its main focus has always been there.

It would make more sense for the European flight to start in Calgary and then stop here to pick up additional passengers, but airlines are not generally known for business sense or good customer service, at least in Canada.
 
It would make more sense for the European flight to start in Calgary and then stop here to pick up additional passengers, but airlines are not generally known for business sense or good customer service, at least in Canada.
Probably because creating a stopover on a premium transatlantic service is, in fact, terrible customer service.

300+ pax are flying YYC-LHR on WestJet tonight. Less than 20 are YEG-originating. It sounds like good customer service to you for that flight to stop in Edmonton for over an hour while 50 tonnes of transatlantic fuel is loaded?

It has never made sense to me why someone from Edmonton would have to catch a plane, fly several hundred miles south likely get off that plane, catch another and fly back over Edmonton to go to Europe. A big part of the reason I suspect is that one airline has its head office in Calgary and its main focus has always been there.

For what it's worth, among North American cities, this is not a misfortune unique to YEG. I could list you a ton of cites much bigger than YEG whose residents have no Europe service and have to make a hop to a nearby hub just as Edmontonians do; they'd kill for 3-4 weekly KL service to AMS.

Looking at the recent news that Icelandic carrier Play Airlines has announced their first Canadian destination and is considering more in the future, it seems to me that Edmonton would be a good choice.

I think it's worth mentioning that KEF can easily be reached from YEG with a MAX 8, be it Swoop, Flair, Lynx, Icelandair, or whomever. Anybody doing it would have to be in partnership with Icelandair for feed on the east end, but it's definitely something to think about.
 
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Monthly passenger stats November 2022​

Terminal​

  • Terminal Traffic: 498,602 passengers (4,865,199 Year-to-date)
  • Domestic 396,740 passengers (4,274,685 Year-to-date)
  • Transborder 59,400 passengers (370,696 year-to-date)
  • International 42,462 passengers (219,818 year-to-date)

Terminal percent growth (%)​

  • Terminal: 71.7% (142.6% Year-to-date)
  • Domestic 58.1% (119.7% Year-to-date)
  • Transborder 254.4% (1184.2% year-to-date)
  • International
    86.9% (606.2% year-to-date)

Fixed Base Operators (FBO)*​

  • 44,218 passengers (433,888 Year-to-date)
*FBO passengers are the passengers using the fixed base operators at YEG and not the main terminal. Most of this traffic serves energy and mining projects in the North.

FBO percent growth (%)​

  • 23.2% (7.4% Year-to-date)

Total passengers (Terminal and FBO)​

  • 542,820 passengers (5,299,087 year-to-date)

Total percent growth (Terminal and FBO)​

  • 66.4% (119.9% year-to-date)
 
Crazy to see YEG's international numbers so close to the decimated transborder numbers... wow.
 
Here is the load factor for all the US flights that operated from YEG in March (most recent data).

WestJet Phoenix 93%
WestJet Los Angeles 86%
WestJet Palm Springs 84%
WestJet Las Vegas 83%
WestJet Honolulu 80%
Swoop Mesa 78%
Swoop Las Vegas 77%
WestJet Orlando 75%
Swoop Palm Springs 57% (discontinued)
Flair Mesa 56%
Swoop San Diego 53% (discontinued)
Flair Las Vegas 44%
Swoop Orlando 44% (discontinued)
Flair Burbank 42% (discontinued)
Flair Palm Springs 39%

From: https://www.transportation.gov/poli...l-air-passenger-and-freight-statistics-report

Numbers up to June have been released. Flair (and Swoop) continue to struggle. Here is June:

United Denver 93%
WestJet Los Angeles 87%
WestJet Las Vegas 86%
Air Canada San Francisco 78%
Alaska Seattle 75%
Swoop Las Vegas 62%
Flair San Francisco 49%
Swoop San Diego 47% (discontinued)
Swoop Mesa 45%
Flair Las Vegas 43%
Flair Burbank 36% (discontinued)
Flair Nashville 28%
 
Numbers up to June have been released. Flair (and Swoop) continue to struggle. Here is June:

United Denver 93%
WestJet Los Angeles 87%
WestJet Las Vegas 86%
Air Canada San Francisco 78%
Alaska Seattle 75%
Swoop Las Vegas 62%
Flair San Francisco 49%
Swoop San Diego 47% (discontinued)
Swoop Mesa 45%
Flair Las Vegas 43%
Flair Burbank 36% (discontinued)
Flair Nashville 28%

Those are painfully scary for Flair but Denver absolutely crushing it as expected.
 

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