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I heard a spokesman for the airline association say allowing foreign owned airlines will see them concentrate on high yield routes and would not offer routes between Edmonton and Prince Rupert for example. I just about chocked on my supper.
Air Canada offers a whopping 5 destinations in Canada from Edmonton. What a fuck up airline.
 
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From most of Flair's largest bases, Air Canada has minimal network.

YEG's service from Air Canada is terrible, by far the lowest service to population ratio anywhere in Canada. Luckily WestJet has an okay legacy network out of Edmonton but where YEG really shines is the extensive network on both Flair and Swoop.
 
What really hurt Edmonton--and a lot of other Canadian airports--was the pilot shortage at United, even before COVID.

United used to really serve Edmonton well, with nonstops to Denver, Chicago O'Hare, San Francisco and Houston--all big Star Alliance hubs. The SFO service was dropped but subsequently revived by Air Canada. But most frustratingly the Chicago service never came back.

United had also made a major commitment to other Canadian cities, starting service to Denver and Chicago from Regina and Saskatoon, to Chicago from Thunder Bay and to San Francisco from Victoria. All of those services were subsequently cut, with United blaming a lack of pilots.

It would be so great to see a carrier step into the void and revive some of these routes. Frontier tried offering service to Calgary a number of years back but was pushed out because of heavy competition on the Denver route from (who else?) Perhaps the carrier could be attracted to serve Edmonton-Chicago Midway (Frontier is establishing a focus city at MDW). Frontier is looking to expand and has been pursuing Spirit...perhaps we can get a Chicago nonstop again and Regina and Saskatoon can see a return of service to DEN.
 
Edmonton International Airport10,187 followers1h • 1 hour ago

After nine years with Edmonton Airports, our President and CEO, Thomas Ruth, announced today that he will retire at the end of the year. Tom will remain as President and CEO, continuing to lead the organization until December 2022. Tom will work with our Board of Directors on a transition strategy to ensure the organization has the leadership and stability needed during his departure process. flyeia.com/Thankyou-Tom
 
Edmonton International Airport10,187 followers1h • 1 hour ago

After nine years with Edmonton Airports, our President and CEO, Thomas Ruth, announced today that he will retire at the end of the year. Tom will remain as President and CEO, continuing to lead the organization until December 2022. Tom will work with our Board of Directors on a transition strategy to ensure the organization has the leadership and stability needed during his departure process. flyeia.com/Thankyou-Tom

With all do respect to Tom, I hope the successful candidate brings more clout and experience than having previously worked at the Halifax airport. YEG seriously needs to step up its air service game (and I am not talking ULCC routes) to destinations like ORD, London, DFW, New York, etc. and work at improving relationships/ marketing to Air Canada. One of the comments shared with me from an exec at EIA is that they need to improve relations with Air Canada because not only have they been historically and publicly poor but the folks in Montreal know little about Edmonton and YEG.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done to not only repair what has declined pre-COVID then during COVID, but to build the air service up as the world returns to normal and I hope there is a candidate that can accomplish what has not been accomplished so far.
 
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Got this response back on the Plaza Lounge in the transborder area:

"Greetings from Plaza Premium Group!



We regret to inform you that our Plaza Premium Lounge (US Departures) is currently closed until further notice. Lounge management will continue to review the situation and hopefully, very soon we will be back to regular operational timings to enhance guests' airport experience and make travel better.

We would like to suggest you to check on our webpage: https://www.plazapremiumlounge.com/en-uk/landing-pages/we-care-for-your-wellbeing for the latest operating hours."

Hopefully "very soon" means weeks not months but I am skeptical. Lots of flights starting lately (i.e. Nashville w/Flair) or resuming (i.e. San Francisco w/ Air Canada & Seattle w/ Alaska) should help the case for it.
 
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