Calgary International Airport - New Terminal, Runway, Control Tower

[Acey]

WestJet has a lock on Calgary - Hamilton, and I think I said that on SSP when this was first announced. Not surprising at all that it's "deferred".

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Unfortunately the YYZ-YQY route seems to be doing well. Of course j have to fly it a few times this summer. Oh no, I couldn't still have the evening 705 or afternoon CRJ options like last year, just the Rougey A319

[KelVarnsen]

Edelweiss Air to Calgary starting (again) in 2016
http://calgaryherald.com/business/lo...ack-to-calgary

[CroFlames]

I'm not sure if it makes economic sense because of Calgary's small population, but I would rather have seen a South Calgary airport built instead of spending $2 billion expanding the existing one.

If you live in the south, I'm sure it's an extreme pain in the arse to get to an early morning flight at the existing airport.

[Acey]

In the event that your first airport has the ability to expand, which YYC did, it would make absolutely zero economic sense in every conceivable fashion regardless of population to build another major airport. Additionally, a second busy airport (ends up being the 3rd airport in the city) would seriously reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of YYC because an airport isn't the same thing as a mall and airplanes conflict with each other even when the airports are on opposite ends of a city as big as Calgary.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I'm not sure if it makes economic sense because of Calgary's small population, but I would rather have seen a South Calgary airport built instead of spending $2 billion expanding the existing one.

If you live in the south, I'm sure it's an extreme pain in the arse to get to an early morning flight at the existing airport.

Probably the most ridiculous idea I've read in a long time. Kudos.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Worst idea since someone wanted to ripe up the ctrain tracks and run bus after bus along the routes instead.

Just so poorly thought out.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Acey

In the event that your first airport has the ability to expand, which YYC did, it would make absolutely zero economic sense in every conceivable fashion regardless of population to build another major airport. Additionally, a second busy airport (ends up being the 3rd airport in the city) would seriously reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of YYC because an airport isn't the same thing as a mall and airplanes conflict with each other even when the airports are on opposite ends of a city as big as Calgary.

Well I'd like to see some evidence of it making absolutely zero economic sense in every conceivable fashion.

It seems to make at least a tiny bit of economic sense for Vancouver to have two international airports, as well as places like Toronto and Montreal having two apiece.

[Acey]

Vancouver doesn't, really.

Toronto's two airports were green lighted at pretty much the same time, the 1930s when there were a lot less hurdles to go through to build an airport. It'd be tougher now, i.e. dang near impossible. Look how well talks are going for a possible Peel Airport, or elsewhere to relieve YYZ. Pretty much nowhere.

Montreal's Mirabel Airport sees zero passengers and is arguably the biggest failure of a major airport in the history of North America. In fact it is. Source.

Soooo....

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Well I'd like to see some evidence of it making absolutely zero economic sense in every conceivable fashion.

It seems to make at least a tiny bit of economic sense for Vancouver to have two international airports, as well as places like Toronto and Montreal having two apiece.

Those airports tend to handle different type of traffic. In Vancouver the secondary airport is in Abbotsford and handles more local routes and international charters. Billy Bishop in Toronto is a stones throw away from Pearson, the smaller Buttonville municipal airport could close altogether soon and move operations to Pearson as well.

They're not set up to cut down on early morning commute times for people in the suburbs.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Acey

Vancouver doesn't, really.

Toronto's two airports were green lighted at pretty much the same time, the 1930s when there were a lot less hurdles to go through to build an airport. It'd be tougher now, i.e. dang near impossible. Look how well talks are going for a possible Peel Airport, or elsewhere to relieve YYZ. Pretty much nowhere.

Montreal's Mirabel Airport sees zero passengers and is arguably the biggest failure of a major airport in the history of North America. In fact it is. Source.

Soooo....

I'm aware of Mirabel. But Montreal also has Saint Hubert that is operational.

And Vancouver does really have two international airports. I've flown to Vegas from both YXX and YVR. And I've flown from Calgary to YVR and YXX numerous times.

Given that YXX obviously makes enough money to stay operational, I wondering if it would be something worth doing in Calgary. As I stated in the first post, I'm not sure if it makes economic sense.

However you seem positive. So I'm interested to know why a 2nd Calgary airport makes absolutely no economic sense. I am open minded.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Seems like a big ol' waste of time and money just so people won't have to drive an extra twenty minutes in the morning, which is the reason you gave.

I'm aware of Mirabel. But Montreal also has Saint Hubert that is operational.

Again, a smaller older airport that only does local routes served by one airline.

[Acey]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

However you seem positive. So I'm interested to know why a 2nd Calgary airport makes absolutely no economic sense. I am open minded.

Yeah I mean you can't use Abby in your argument, if you're trying to say you want an airport closer to south Calgary than YYC - it takes over an hour to get from downtown Van to the Abby Airport. Nobody in Vancouver proper is actually driving to Abby with any kind of regularity to fly out of there, because YVR is closer for all of them.

The "absolutely zero" and "inconceivable" are explained by fact that the YYC expansion happened because the airfield was at capacity. Thus, your goal is to spend money to increase the capacity of the Calgary airport system at as low a cost as possible, which is obviously by expanding your existing airport instead of starting from scratch. When I said "In the event that your first airport has the ability to expand..."

A) $2B gets you a lot more bang for your buck than to build a whole new airport because airside facilities already exist at YYC, such as the tower, etc.

B) Your second airport will also reduce the capacity of YYC, because of the way we currently separate airplanes.

C) For this airport to be closer to you than YYC, you'll now have 500,000 south Calgary residents fighting its construction. Good luck with this one in particular, given that YYC has room to expand and land was set aside exactly for that reason.

Each of these alone are insurmountable, but all 3? Inconceivable. Absolutely zero. Again, given that YYC had room to expand, there's no possible way you could justify spending more money to get less facilities, for an airport that does less to help your original problem of insufficient airside capacity.

[Resolute 14]

Even if we got to the point of needing a second passenger airport in Calgary, would it not still make more sense to expand on Springbank?

[psicodude]

Since when is a 30 minute drive "an extreme pain in the arse"? A lot of people in Calgary need to visit other cities in the world to gain an understanding of how easy we have things here.

[White Out 403]

The distance from YXX (which is Abbotsford by the way) and YVR is like building an a second airport in Calgary... in high river.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

This is interesting if only as a case study in people having their bad ideas pointed out to them in no uncertain terms, only to raise their defences and double down on said bad ideas.

FYI, comparing the Abbosford airport to a second Calgary airport would be more akin to suggesting they open another airport somewhere near High River. EDIT: and now I read Resurrection's post which I somehow completely missed.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

If you live in the south, I'm sure it's an extreme pain in the arse to get to an early morning flight at the existing airport.

Imagine how much of a pain in the arse it would be landing at the North Airport after flying in from Tokyo and then having to battle rush hour traffic or paying $25 for an express train to the South Airport to catch a connecting flight. Do you think the Calgary Airport Authority would be interested in selling that to airlines and customers?

[Jimmy Stang]

From today's Metro.

There’s an entire city between their homes and Calgary International Airport, yet some west-side dwellers say they can’t handle the constant racket of incoming and departing planes overhead.
“My house is not peaceful anymore. My neighbourhood is not peaceful anymore,” said Strathcona Park mother Cathy Hockenhull. “That was all taken away from me with no warning.”

http://metronews.ca/news/calgary/136...runway-opened/

I live in the far NW and I have noticed a definite increase of planes overhead. Usually heading North as they arrive, before looping back towards the airport once they are closer to Airdrie. BUT... they are almost always arriving, are fairly quiet, and seems to be at a pretty good altitude still. Inconvenience to me : none.

Does anyone live in Strathcona, Signal Hill, etc.? Is it really THAT bad? The quotes seem a little over the top, but then again, I don't live there.

Edit: And I should add - at the end of the article there are some cool maps that show the flight patters before and after the parallel runway opened, for both arrivals and departures. Worth checking those out if nothing else.

[woob]

I find people who complain about air traffic an odd breed. I mean sure, if the planes are all of the sudden 100 feet over your rooftops and you had no idea it was coming, complain a little. However, cities have airports, and sometimes those cities/airports get busier with time, meaning changes happen.