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Edmonton International Airport (EIA/YEG)

Very telling YEG did not suffer any cuts from Air Canada. There is simply too much air capacity out of Calgary for a city of that size and better opportunity elsewhere.
 
^ Also that.
Very telling YEG did not suffer any cuts from Air Canada. There is simply too much air capacity out of Calgary for a city of that size and better opportunity elsewhere.

Like I already said, it's hard to cut anything when there's no routes to cut. AC is very underserved at YEG and aside from the SFO flight, their only service here is to larger hubs at YVR, YYC, YYZ, and YUL. It's very bare.
 
^ Also that.


Like I already said, it's hard to cut anything when there's no routes to cut. AC is very underserved at YEG and aside from the SFO flight, their only service here is to larger hubs at YVR, YYC, YYZ, and YUL. It's very bare.

They also fly to CUN, YOW and YZF. It's interesting that they cut YYC-CUN but kept (and actually increased) YEG-CUN.

YEG-YOW is scheduled to return next spring, but is cut completely from YYC.
 
They also fly to CUN, YOW and YZF. It's interesting that they cut YYC-CUN but kept (and actually increased) YEG-CUN.

YEG-YOW is scheduled to return next spring, but is cut completely from YYC.

Yes, I should've specified that I didn't mean it literally. There's a few other seasonal routes that also compete strongly with other airlines. The SFO one is the only unique service they offer IIRC and the bulk of their operations at YEG are funneling planes to larger hubs.

It seems like Air Canada and Westjet have kind of come to an agreement, where Westjet claims the west, Air Canada claims the east, and they share Vancouver and Toronto. Although there's some outliers, like St John's has more Westjet flights.
 
I don't think Air Canada cutting these routes is going to get them to re-invest in YEG and YWG
Maybe or maybe not. It probably will be more up to some other airlines to do that instead, as has generally been the case.

Regardless, I agree with the previous comment, the fewer people in other western Canadian cities airlines try to funnel through Calgary the better for those other cities.
 
I don't see how Calgary loosing flights is bad for Edmonton. I can connect better at other airports, Calgary has always been a nuisance deal with. Sorry, not sorry at all.

Transportation options in one's home province are important and losing those is not positive for anyone, including YEG.
 
Regardless, I agree with the previous comment, the fewer people in other western Canadian cities airlines try to funnel through Calgary the better for those other cities.
WestJet's home base is Calgary, so that airline is always going to try to funnel you through their hub at YYC. (I still think the Alberta government deal that resulted in WestJet basing all its transatlantic and transpacific flights in Calgary, while doing zilch for Edmonton, was a complete ripoff.)

Air Canada is clearly de-emphasizing Calgary, but no other Western Canadian airport is going to benefit save perhaps YVR. The Calgary reductions aren't going to lead to an improvement in service from Edmonton, Winnipeg or heaven forbid Regina or Saskatoon (AC has abandoned much of its flying to those cities save service to its hubs of YVR and YYZ). They will lead to more passengers being funneled to and from existing AC hubs in YVR and YYZ.

Porter is a nice alternative for flights to Ontario (YYZ and YOW), but does zilch to improve connectivity from Edmonton to, say, the U.S. Midwest or Florida or the Caribbean. We already have one-stop options to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard through Pearson Airport. They're called Air Canada flights.

The one hope is POSSIBLY Flair. As an Edmonton-based airline, they are the only one which doesn't have a competing hub to funnel Edmonton passengers through. If any significant improvement in service comes, it may be Flair.
 
WestJet's home base is Calgary, so that airline is always going to try to funnel you through their hub at YYC. (I still think the Alberta government deal that resulted in WestJet basing all its transatlantic and transpacific flights in Calgary, while doing zilch for Edmonton, was a complete ripoff.)

Air Canada is clearly de-emphasizing Calgary, but no other Western Canadian airport is going to benefit save perhaps YVR. The Calgary reductions aren't going to lead to an improvement in service from Edmonton, Winnipeg or heaven forbid Regina or Saskatoon (AC has abandoned much of its flying to those cities save service to its hubs of YVR and YYZ). They will lead to more passengers being funneled to and from existing AC hubs in YVR and YYZ.

Porter is a nice alternative for flights to Ontario (YYZ and YOW), but does zilch to improve connectivity from Edmonton to, say, the U.S. Midwest or Florida or the Caribbean. We already have one-stop options to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard through Pearson Airport. They're called Air Canada flights.

The one hope is POSSIBLY Flair. As an Edmonton-based airline, they are the only one which doesn't have a competing hub to funnel Edmonton passengers through. If any significant improvement in service comes, it may be Flair.
American Airlines would also be a good opportunity for YEG. YEG may have burned that bridge with incentivizing over aggressive expansion from American only to have them completely leave, but in today's world they would be the perfect fit with US south and Eastern seaboard service, no vested interest in either Air Canada or WestJet and their existing hubs and would have the market nearly to themselves due to United Airlines' pullback from YEG.
 
American Airlines would also be a good opportunity for YEG. YEG may have burned that bridge with incentivizing over aggressive expansion from American only to have them completely leave, but in today's world they would be the perfect fit with US south and Eastern seaboard service, no vested interest in either Air Canada or WestJet and their existing hubs and would have the market nearly to themselves due to United Airlines' pullback from YEG.
I would be happy with at least one early-morning non-stop to AA's hub at Dallas-Fort Worth, although the real prize would be service to Chicago which United seems to have no interest in restoring. AA also has a hub there.
 

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