|
|
|
The impact for YEG is the possibility of handling more connecting traffic. It wouldn't be totally unreasonable to think YEG could potentially get a Westjet flight to Abbotsford.
Where is this taken
Good Earth Coffee is an Alberta-based company that has been taking over some of the old Starbucks spaces in Indigo and Chapters stores. It would be nice to have one at the airport.
The problem is that neither AC nor UA is likely to restore a non-stop on that route. And neither will WS because neither Edmonton nor Houston is a WestJet hub. What might be possible is nonstop WS service to Atlanta, which is the most important hub for WestJet's chosen U.S. partner Delta. A non-stop to ATL would provide one-stop access to most of the onward destinations (particularly in Latin America) that service to IAH would. Of course, the downside is that this does nothing for you if you (like us) are an Aeroplan member and prefer to accumulate in that program.
We've used Aeroplan for merchandise in recent years, because we were top-tier Air Miles members and got our flights that way. But once Sobeys left Air Miles, our ability to earn in that program pretty much vanished. So we've been drawing down our Air Miles balance for flights since the announcement. Once that's done, we'll be focusing our earning and redemptions on flights through Aeroplan.
It was the pilot shortage that killed a ton of service to and from Canada. United used to be THE preferred U.S. carrier in the West, with service to multiple destinations from Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, as well as to San Francisco from Victoria, to Denver and Chicago from Saskatoon and Regina and to Chicago from Thunder Bay. Much of that ended even before the pandemic. All that's left is the Calgary and Vancouver service as well as the Denver flights from YEG.
