CYXD is done

[ditar]

Just out of curiosity though, what do they want to put in its place? Anything cool?

Some sort of "vibrant urban community" which, once the smoke clears probably equates to a Wal-Mart, strip mall, and a bunch of overpriced condos.

[snaproll20]

The boondoggle performed on the citizens of Edmonton concerning the City Centre Airport would make an interesting book.
At the very first "meeting" between the Authority and the public, about 16 years or more ago, a number of advisory committees were set up at the instigation of the attendees. I am still waiting for my first meeting to be called. (None ever happened.) Then the first CEO was removed soon after his wife got a huge fee for decorating his office, expensively.
A U of A Professor was widely quoted as needing direct flights to Pittsburgh to promote Edmonton. Still waiting for that too.
A travel agency was widely quoted as saying Edmonton was fading because of no direct flights to major destinations. A quick check revealed that the travel agency did not even exist.
Absolutely no research was done about using Namao. It was all about penis-envy because Calgary had more international flights. Now that a high-speed train is being examined between Edmonton and Calgary, the old spectre will be raised because it will be faster to travel from Edmonton by train than to fly and Calgary will dominate.
What will they use the land for, someone asked? Reportedly, the ground is so polluted by fuel spills that they will have to replace the top surface before it can be used. There are also old coal mine galleries under there.
It was proven in the U.S. a few years ago that downtown airports are a boon to development. In one instance which I do not quite recall, a major company settled for Calgary because Edmonton's airport is too far out of town.
If the people running the show had had any interest at all in Edmonton, they would have asked for all the input they could get and do it right. Soon after it was formed, Calgary's airport CEO at a public meeting actually solicited phone calls. "Stop by for coffee and tell us what you want to see done," were the words he used. You could not even get a phone call returned by the Edmonton bunch.
Sometimes, I think we need the old stocks put back in use so malfeasance by officials can result in them being pinned there while we all get to throw rotten garbage at them.

[snaproll20]

Hey, wouldn't that have been a fine idea in Toronto recently?????????????

[2R]

Where they not trying to make it a full time race track as well ?

[alti2d]

I've been told by a military acquaintance that the buildings on the runway at Namao are temporary structures that were put there by the military. Temporary, though they've been there for longer than the original intended time frame, they are quite readily removable. So perhaps that is a future option.... of course driving tanks up and down that runway might require some structural rehabilitation before it could be used.

[double-j]

..

[Skydrvr7]

It is probably entirely fantasy at this point to even suggest that they could turn to Namao as the option for the future airport. It would have made so very much sense to have relocated operations to the Namao base back when they still hadn't done any expansions to the International. Namao has the advantages of great, long runways with the ability to take almost any loaded aircraft, great proximity to a larger percentage of the Edmonton region, including downtown, than the International could ever have hoped for. It remains relatively undeveloped in the general vicinity and with several repairs to the damage done by tanks and misplaced buildings, it could still be a great gateway for the Edmonton/ Northern Alberta region...too bad the powers that be placed all the Airport Authority's eggs into the International Airport's basket all those short-sighted years ago.

[culver10]

It drives me batty when I see our troops being bused from CFB Namao to the Leduc Regional Airport.

[golden hawk]

A U of A Professor was widely quoted as needing direct flights to Pittsburgh to promote Edmonton.

Ah yes, the heavily used Edmonton-Pittsburgh pairing. A 777 twice daily should provide enough lift! Just think how often Sidney Crosby could visit!

[Prairie Chicken]

I too signed the petition, but experience has showed that on-line petitions don't get much attention.

I truly hope this isn't the end ... but the writing has been on the wall ever since the EIAA took over. A sad day indeed.