[IanO]

'The intention seems more to try relieve congestion from all the current vehicle traffic, not to make travel time extremely fast.'

Bingo AND to potentially have workers commute in from Calgary et al. to help relieve labour pressure due to housing constraints.

 

[David A]

I agree. And I also cannot see Parks Canada approving the habitat loss necessary for a high speed rail line to Banff. A line to Jasper faces the same hurdle, but would impact an even larger area of habitat. And we're not just talking about habitat destruction - the parks are already bisected by multiple highways and railroads that fragment habitat and migration. The legal mandate of Parks Canada is to priortize ecological integrity first under the Canada National Parks Act.

Thusfar, the provincial government is not signalling any consideration to this reality. Or to ecological integrity in general.

I suppose the provincial government can ignore reality if they want, they sometimes seem good at that, but that does not change it.

There are a lots of hypotheticals in all this discussion about high speed rail, which also has no concrete plans yet and is unlikely to happen soon.

So whatever impact it may have on our airport or tourism is years or maybe even decades away.

 

[Surrealplaces]

'The intention seems more to try relieve congestion from all the current vehicle traffic, not to make travel time extremely fast.'

Bingo AND to potentially have workers commute in from Calgary et al. to help relieve labour pressure due to housing constraints.

Agreed. HSR to Banff is often mentioned and lumped in with general rail service, but a Japanese style bullet train to Banff isn't needed. Any reasonable rail service that does between 80 and 100kmh would do the trick. The highway between Calgary and Banff is so slow sometimes, that an 80kmh train would probably be faster anyway.

 

[MacLac]

Don't want to a Debbie Downer but no high speed rail is happening in AB under Saddlebags Smitty or Nenshi when he takes over the province....let's keep up with current events and realize that $27B of projected debt for the next 3 years is not gonna allow a train for rich Asians to get to Banff quicker....let us please end this foolish discussion....especially when the new BoyChild Mayor to the South is already complaining about YYC'ers paying too much in taxes...

Calgary mayor voices concern over Alberta budget’s changes to local property taxes

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas is criticizing the province over property tax changes announced in the 2026 budget.

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[Glenco]

^We are going to have to come to the realization if we want to maintain public services and build infrastructure for the future we are going to have to pay higher taxes. We cannot continue to rely on the price of oil.

 

[EdmTrekker]

Please keep to the purpose of the thread: EIA

 

[BrettB]

Statistics Canada published is monthly count of screened passenger traffic. It shows EIA's traffic was up 3% over January 2025, following a general trend at Canadian airports.

Domestic traffic was up 6.3%, while US traffic was down a little over 7% and international traffic was down 3.9% over a year ago.

These are passengers who passed through airport security and the table does not include arriving or connecting passengers.

Screened traffic	August 2025	September 2025	October 2025	November 2025	December 2025	January 2026
Total passengers	353,557	296,857	304,936	276,582	285,069	275,642
Domestic sector passengers	312,421	260,647	258,631	211,817	215,840	201,740
Transborder sector passengers	32,760	28,669	34,677	32,584	34,411	35,323
Other International sector passengers	8,376	7,541	11,628	32,181	34,818	38,579

 

[BASE]

Thanks for sharing, we still haven't seen December or January numbers released from YEG (which I find remarkable) but good to get a sense. According to total screened passengers YEG was down a little bit in December 2025 from December 2024. Good to see January numbers up though for a positive start to the year.

 

[David A]

Thanks for sharing, we still haven't seen December or January numbers released from YEG (which I find remarkable) but good to get a sense. According to total screened passengers YEG was down a little bit in December 2025 from December 2024. Good to see January numbers up though for a positive start to the year.

Interestingly, other international has now passed transborder passengers.

 

[David A]

Not sure if this is the solution, but agree the current duopoly has not served us well

Unfriendly Skies: Why Canada Needs Real Airline Competition | C2C Journal

Canada’s high airfares and poor service are the result of government policies that could be fixed by opening the market to international airlines.

c2cjournal.ca

 

[Edmcowboy11]

So my one observation about Edmonton International is despite it not being the biggest of airports it is definitely a comfortable airport to be in when traveling. I think the only thing they need to do at the airport is to look at some smaller amenities that other large airports have that Edmonton International could incorporate for minimal costs but improve the passenger experience that much more. Things as simple as charging stations at multiple locations would be very nice.
Another thing that would be nice to see and would help accommodate some passengers is washrooms that included at least one stall with modern bidets that you see in all washrooms in airports like that of Inchon and Hong Kong.
One other thing that I think would be an amazing addition to the airport is a small area with a booth where a passenger can either order a cab or a Lyft or Uber. When I was at the Manila International Airport, they have an area where you can order a Grab, the Philippines version of uber. Even if you did not have the grab app you could go to this area and Order transportation easily.
These ideas would be pretty simple to implement, willing to be that much for cost, but would be things that could help foreign passengers when they would arrive or pass through Edmonton International.

 

[Glenco]

New seating at gate 49 with plug ins

 

[Vanfan123]

Air Canada Rouge has started flights on the Vancouver YVR- Edmonton YEG - YVR route today.

 

[Dkeirle]

Don't want to a Debbie Downer but no high speed rail is happening in AB under Saddlebags Smitty or Nenshi when he takes over the province....let's keep up with current events and realize that $27B of projected debt for the next 3 years is not gonna allow a train for rich Asians to get to Banff quicker....let us please end this foolish discussion....especially when the new BoyChild Mayor to the South is already complaining about YYC'ers paying too much in taxes...

Calgary mayor voices concern over Alberta budget’s changes to local property taxes

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas is criticizing the province over property tax changes announced in the 2026 budget.

www.ctvnews.ca

As for HSR affecting YEG. It probably won't have much of an effect. Those who go YEG->YYC->* will keep doing so. Those who drive from YEG to YYC will keep doing so. some might take HSR to YYC, but it won't be a large amount. IMO, nothing changes for YEG.

As for HSR to YYC-Banff, I agree with others, it's not nice but not needed. Start within conventional rail, get the system in place, and upgrade to HSR later. Some sort of rail service is needed though. The traffic volumes are increasing every year, and every time an international flight is added to YYC, it adds more tourists to Banff.

 

[David A]

As for HSR affecting YEG. It probably won't have much of an effect. Those who go YEG->YYC->* will keep doing so. Those who drive from YEG to YYC will keep doing so. some might take HSR to YYC, but it won't be a large amount. IMO, nothing changes for YEG.

As for HSR to YYC-Banff, I agree with others, it's not nice but not needed. Start within conventional rail, get the system in place, and upgrade to HSR later. Some sort of rail service is needed though. The traffic volumes are increasing every year, and every time an international flight is added to YYC, it adds more tourists to Banff.

I agree it probably will not have much of an effect on YEG in the end. The Province has been somewhat consistent about talking about this so I feel it may happen, although at this point plans are vague or perhaps not existing yet.

So this is something that will probably not happen for 10 to 20 years at best. The YYC to Banff rail line which is proposed to not be high speed rail could happen in the earlier part of this range or a bit sooner.

If so, it may become easier to get to Banff, but the rail service may end up making the congestion there worse and ultimately making it a less desirable location for those who do not like overly crowded tourist destinations.