What are Alberta companies going to do???

[Hyster]

Just wondering what will happen when the Edmonton city center airport stops allowing scheduled flights from communities south of Edmonton. What are companies like Integra, BarXH, Airco, Sunwest, and anyone doing quikair going to do with their machines that are not flying?

Regards.

[bobcat18]

The City of Lethbridge has already started the fight against this and have already held meetings with EAA to discuss the fact that this plan will not be good for Integra.

I cant believe that the EAA would want to turn away the revenue from landing fees that they must charge Quikair as well as integra.

Not everyone will just merrily move over to the international. some may fold their tents and stop flying.

I am sure there will be more meetings in the future.

[Inthesoup]

In the big picture i wouldn't suspect that the landing fees from those companies would amount to a whole lot. I definately agree that yxd should stay open and that it will hurt a lot of smaller companies here in AB if they close it. Sometimes all you can do is shake your head though because they aren't gonna change thier minds about it if they already have longterm goals/ideas for the land.

[fatdumbandlazy]

Lets remember that this on effects scheduled runs to and from these cities. Charter flights are still allowed. Therefore companies like Airco, Sunwest, Borek, etc. that don't do those flights on a schedule won't be effected. They may do these flights regularly but on a demand basis.

Now back to closing YXD. What would happen to all the medevac flights out of there? On any given day there must at least 15-20 medevac flights into or out of that airport. There must come a point where Uncle Ralph comes and puts in his 2 cents.

[oldtimer]

That poor old "Close the Muni(City Center)Airport controversy has been going on for years. The ex mayor, Jan Reimer started it all back in the '80s. They have gradually been eroding service and facilities ever since they chased Canadian, Timeair and Air B.C. out of there. They cannot allow airlines with more than 9 seats in there brcause they would face lawsuits up the ying yang from the displaced incumbent airlines. They cannot close the airport because the land was willed to the city by an old and influential family (famous Tommy Fox, a celebrated old bush pilot I believe), to be used for aviation purposes for eternity. The city solicitors are trying to quash the will but have been mostly unsucessful. What they need is for someone to park an airplane either in the Kingsway Garden Mall or take out a school bus driving on the Yellowhead so they can declare the airport dangerous. A construction company almost did it many years ago when they parked their MU2 in the Royal Alex Hospital. They are claiming that the International airport is as convenient as any major airport in any major city and if they kept scheduled air service in the City Center, it will erode the International and Edmonton will become a commuter destination rather than an international destination. So a few small commuters will die, maybe Cathay or some other biggey will come. They have lost out to Vancouver and Seattle, but they keep dreaming. For those who have never been there, CYXD is totally surrounded by city. Airplanes landing on runway 30 pass over a very large mall just yards from the button of the runway. When the 737's were landing there, you could see the pilots in the cockpit windows from the mall. Pass over at 200 ft or less. The Yellowhead Trail, a major cross city highway is less than a city block from the departure end of the main instrument runway(34). Not a very healthy situation. Medevacs should not be inconvenienced much if they go to CYEG. The distance from CYEG to the University Hospital is greater but the highway is better and you do not have to cross the river which can be a bottleneck. With lights and sirens, maybe 10 minutes longer. In my opinion, thy will eventually solve the land problem and the property will sell like hotcakes. A major parcel of land in the middle of the city is worth billions. Downtown cannot expand south because of the river so north is the way to go. Jasper Ave is 100th ave. The airport is 114th. Close. Will the resident of CYXD survive? no. What is needed at CYEG? Get Alta Flights, FlightTech out of the FBO business and let someone who knows how to do it in there so itinerents have some services and everything will be just fine. The city of Lethbridge is small potatoes in the grand scheme and if they go away, no one will notice. Sad but true.

[OW]

I find it very sad to read comments from some who pretend to know about Air Service, the kind of things so often printed here.

What determines where an Airline will go?

The size of the terminal building? No
The enthusiasm of the local airport authority? No
The lack of other choices of where to land? No
The absence of debate over choices? No
The convenience of an airport for the passengers? No

The airlines don't care about these things. They care that there are passengers willing to buy tickets to get on their planes. They care that the airport has runways and facilities capable of supporting their aircraft.

The Edmonton Airport Authority was supposed to have been formed to work on providing better air service for Edmonton and the surrounding area.

The only thing that can drive better choices for passengers is the purchase of tickets.

The people of this province (individuals and companies) buy the tickets, and where they want to go determines what air service they need.

The Airport Authjority should be responsive to the wants and needs of the travelling public, and work to improve the facilities that are being used by them, not destroy them in favor of a dream they have no control over.

The best air service for travel to far reaching places will be provided at the airports (cities) where the airlines can best fill their planes. The rest of us must accept that and make arrangements to get to those airports to meet those flights.

How arrogant (ignorant) must we be to think that all the world must fly to our airport for us? Who the hell are we?

Edmonton is currently (at best) a commuter base which can be best served from the City Centre Airport.

The focus for the Edmonton Airport Authority should be to provide better services at the City Centre Airport to support the Air Service that the ticket buying public have been requesting.

200 passengers per day on QuikAir. Could be more if they were allowed to use 19 seat aircraft. Many people don't like to have to crouch to walk down the narrow isle of a King Air, but would be quite happy to fly on a 1900D.

Integra has increased their frequency over the past few years as well.

Imagine having to fly to Calgary to change planes, to fly to Leduc, to take a taxi or rent a car, to drive for half an hour to get to Edmonton. Would you go? Would you just drive all the way and skip the "convenience of air travel"?

If West Jet and The Big Red Elephant can't make a go of it on short runs within the Province...Who Cares?

They are the ones holding back the progress of the Airlines who are trying to provide the air service that Albertans are asking for.

The Leduc Airport should be turned into an Industrial Airport for freight, and the City Centre Airport should be revived as the commuter Airport for the Capital City of the Province with access to all other centres in the province.

Calgary has a longer runway and will soon have another. If Alberta is to maintain a HUB Airport at all, It can only support one.

As a lifetime Edmontonian, I support Calgary as the Provincial HUB, but only if The City Centre Airport can provide better commuter service to Calgary. The Northern communities would be well served if the commuter airlines would have flights to and through Edmonton (City Centre) and on to Calgary.

A Golf course/ Casino, Resort in Leduc is just a JOKE spelled Clements.

[slowstream]

One thing is for certain...............if it promotes the private sector/business the city will always go the other way!!!

Don't forget the Provincial Government, they may have enough influence yet....remember that many of these sleezzy politicians are too lazy to travel out to YEG for their flights.

[sprucemonkey]

Start up a "charter-sched" . It worked in NWOntario. Pretty much ran the bear out of the north.

[globeltd]

Oldtimer: look at your CAP 3. There's a reason why it says Blatchford Field. That's the family who still owns the land. I agree with most of your statement except for the part where you think "it is not a good situation".
There are airplanes that are more modern than you or I and can do the job of satisfying the client's needs. Why is this airport surviving despite ERAA's dictator's wishes. Read OW's thread and find out!

OW: RIGHT ON THE MONEY! and here's a couple of extras:
1. The great circle route from Halifax to Vancouver passes 60 nm
south of Calgary;
2. We do not have the population base in Alberta to support 2
International airports and Calgary is way ahead of Edmonton on
that one. Hence your suggestion on the commuter hub. To me
that's the only logical choice.
3. Ask any soil technologist and they will tell you that the location
chosen to build CYEG was a poor choice based on the composition
of the ground. So why did they still build it there? because the
land belonged to an MLA.
4. A that time, Bill Hawrelak was the Mayor of Edmonton. Now why
do you suppose that the contract for building this airport was
given to a contractor from Bonnyville? Because Valere Roy's
wife and Bill Hawrelak's wife were sisters? Ya think maybe???
Additional trivia: Valere Roy went on to form Shirley Helicopters.
I wonder with what money?
6. When Scott Clements forced Regional et al out of CYXD, he
created a monster (Clyve Beddoe) who would come back and
haunt him if passenger service was allowed to live, let alone grow
at CYXD.

That's what happens when you let an Air Force General run a civilian business. Can you spell M-I-R-A-B-E-L?

Coincidentally, Scott Clements was instrumental in the closure of runways at Namao, because knew he had the job at ERAA once he retired from the Forces and he did not want that airport to mire his plans of CYXD.

I could go on, but that's enough for now.

[wrc]

Most of your comments about the Muni are correct. Oldtimers idea about the city on the edge of the field is a joke. With that critirea, half the airports in the USA and Europe would be shut down.
As for WestJet, Clive is no monster, except maybe to Air Canada and thier fans. We (WJA) started into YEG as a niche market in 96 when the bulk of YYC-Edmonton traffic traffic was to YXD. If Canadi>n had been operating out of YEG to YYC, we would have gone to YXD.
I know most WestJetters would prefer we go to YXD as it fits our basic 'give the customer what they want' philosophy.
As for Clive, he's just doing his job. Since the ERAA has confined us to YEG, we're making the best of it.
My personal view is that if allowed into YXD, we could fill 12 737s a day each way but that won't happen, and Cathay (or any other International carrier) won't be flying into Edmonton YEG either.
Good point about ERAA. Having a General run a civilian airportmakes about as much sence as an airline pilot running a fighter squadron, diasterous.

[sprucemonkey]

I saw your buddy C on an AC flight today coming back from London (not YXU). Counting pax for some international runs?