Acey
Active Member
Landmark day for WestJet. For the first time, they will send more planes to Europe than Air Canada from Calgary. 960 seats across three Dreamliners... Paris, London, Dublin. Sunday is the only day of the week all three fly.
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Calgary International Airport
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
Chinook Arch
Active Member
All grown up and with the big boys now.
New customs kiosks promise faster international travel experience at YYC airport - Calgary | Globalnews.ca
International travellers passing through YYC Calgary International Airport will get through the customs process as much as 50 per cent faster, according to the airport authority.
globalnews.ca
Cowtown
Senior Member
April numbers for YYC. All three sectors have been doing well in 2019.
Alex_YYC
Senior Member
Strong numbers in all sectors. With new flights to CDG, and Dub international numbers should pick up even more.
Chowda7
Active Member
Proposed YYC Transit Link
livewirecalgary.com
Calgary airport transit plan set for public input - LiveWire Calgary
The Calgary airport transit plan calls for automated trains, a two-stage construction and has a price tag of between $900M and $1.8B. There's no timeline.
livewirecalgary.com
Cowtown
Senior Member
May Stats for YYC
Domestic: +3.4%
Transborder: +2.2%
International: +7.6%
May overall: +3.5%
Nice bump for international. I assume from CDG an d DUB being added.
Domestic: +3.4%
Transborder: +2.2%
International: +7.6%
May overall: +3.5%
Nice bump for international. I assume from CDG an d DUB being added.
Acey
Active Member
WestJet and Air Canada are both operating 14 weekly 787-9 to Europe. Air Canada's have 298 seats and WestJet are 320... and given that WestJet's flights appear to consistently be over 300 pax to all three destinations, they will likely carry more transatlantic passengers from Calgary for peak season than Air Canada for the first time.
Acey
Active Member
The white elephant of an overbuilt terminal just ran out of gates. Overbuilt, they said.
outoftheice
Active Member
What are the wait times like for customs these days? Have the new machines been helpful at reducing delays or are people still queued all the way up the ramps at peak times?
Acey
Active Member
Thankfully I don't typically see that gongshow of a customs hall. I'm told it's a bit better but I haven't personally seen how bad it is when all those heavy Europe flights come at the same time.
Cowtown
Senior Member
I guess I must be lucky in not hitting the peak times. The lineups haven’t been bad.
As far as the new machines go I went through with the new ones and it seemed a bit quicker.
As far as the new machines go I went through with the new ones and it seemed a bit quicker.
outoftheice
Active Member
Having just arrived today on WS 5 from Dublin I can report it's still a complete gongshow and the customs hall is way over capacity at these peak times. Some things I noticed today:
- There are new signs installed directing people to form a line for either 'Connections' or 'Baggage/Exit'. They are an improvement over what was being used previously.
- The new machines actually seem to slow down the processing time. Instead of people having an 8 hour flight to fill out their card and then just feeding it into a machine to be scanned they are essentially filling out the cards via the machines now. This had many people either seeking out assistance to get questions answered or sitting there scratching their heads as they tried to decide how to answer.
- There is easily space for another 10 machines to be installed but it does not appear that this will occur as the small walls the machines are all plugged into don't extend into this space where more machines could be installed.
- The green 'this machine is available' lights are at waist height which or course means nobody can easily see them from the line. The airport authority has multiple people trying to direct travelers to empty machines but they a: have the same trouble spotting the green lights as travelers and b: were spending a lot of time answering questions from people (see my previous point). By my observation there was at least 5 machines at any given point in time that were not being used for extended periods simply because in the chaos the people at the front of the line/airport employees didn't know they were open. The fact most grocery stores figured out years ago that having red light/green light poles that are 7 ft tall so everyone can see the second a self-service till becomes available works well and Canada Customs/the airport authority still hasn't means this madness will continue.
Anyways, those were my thoughts. I still can't believe how the brand new customs hall feels like it was designed for the YYC of 20 years ago. One positive thing though, when we arrived there were 2 AC widebodies, 1 KLM, 1 Transat and 2 Westjet Dreamliners all on the apron, it definitely gave the 'big time airport feel' and I think justifies the investment in the new international terminal (no matter how badly I think they screwed it up).
JonnyCanuck
Senior Member
I have been down to the U.S twice in the last month ... Denver & New Orleans. On the trip back from Denver, we were given custom forms to fill out on the plane. Then when we arrived in the customs hall, the machines were in use which confused everyone who already filled out the form.
Both times, the wait time was not that long but I don't think there were any European flights arriving at the same time.
I don't understand the picture taking process of the machine. You already have a passport with a picture why is another picture needed? To keep track of any physical changes since the passport was issued?
Acey
Active Member
The ramp is absolute chaos right now. Planes are seemingly unaware that their gate is occupied (which is happening on the regular now) and come barrelling down a one-way alley and can't back out. Looking at you, American.