EDMONTON – More details are emerging on what was behind Air Canada’s decision to suspend direct service from Edmonton International Airport (EIA) to London’s Heathrow Airport during some winter months.
In addition to demand reportedly being lower during that period, a recent announcement that Icelandair will start offering non-stop flights to Reykjavik, Iceland next March appears to have played a role – that’s based on a letter sent by an Air Canada executive to EIA’s CEO Reg Milley and obtained by the Edmonton Journal.
The new service was touted as an easy connection to more than 20 European destinations when it was announced in September.
But the announcement gave Air Canada “cause to revisit (its) YEG international operations,” according to the letter written by Derek Vanstone, Air Canada’s vice-president of corporate strategy for industry and government affairs.
EIA President and CEO Reg Milley, who received Air Canada’s letter Oct. 8, says that it is the airport’s job to attract new airline carriers. In his eyes, the direct service to Europe via Icelandair was going to work well alongside Air Canada’s Edmonton-London route.
“Was there going to be some competitive aspect between them? Absolutely. Absolutely, there was going to be some competition,” he admitted. “And in a really healthy economy like we got in Edmonton, competition is really good. We would never allow someone to come in and have a monopoly, no matter who it was.”
Milley adds that EIA is committed to getting its customers as much nonstop service as possible – something Edmonton’s Mayor-Elect, Don Iveson, would like to see, as well.
“Every direct flight out of Edmonton is important to us, especially a connection to western Europe,” Iveson said.
“You know, the prime minister is just finalizing this giant trade agreement with Europe and I think that’s going to mean more business between our city and western Europe.
And I would very much prefer for Edmontonians, and myself, to have the chance on our national carrier to get there. But if someone else wants to come in and take that business, that would be a big lost opportunity for Air Canada.”
Representatives from the federal government are weight in, as well.
“I think it’s a bit of petulance on Air Canada’s part, and that’s too bad,” said Edmonton MP Laurie Hawn.
Transport Minister Lisa Raitt, meanwhile, had the following to say: “Airport authorities are there to serve local needs and they should work with their airlines to make sure that they can provide services that are good for local residents.”
Air Canada has declined an interview on this matter, however, the company has sent the following statement to Global News:
“Air Canada has maintained year-round service from Edmonton to London for the past 6 years. Despite ongoing promotional initiatives, it has always been a challenge for the route to be profitable during the winter months. Reykjavik (KEF) is a hub airport that competes directly with London Heathrow for connecting traffic to many of the same points in Europe which is a factor in the Edmonton-London route’s year-round route performance. To mitigate the challenge of operating the route in the winter, Air Canada has taken the difficult decision to suspend the winter operation from Jan 8-Mar 28, 2014.”
Direct service to London from EIA is set to resume March 29 with five weekly flights; it’s supposed to increase to daily flights May 1 for the summer season.
You can read the full letter below:
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