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Calgary International Airport

CalgaryTiger said:
It must be of the highest priority to be a reliable airport to make connections in. Pearson has an awful reputation, if YYC (we should name this airport after someone) can be a reliable connection it can eat into Pearson's share from western Canadian connections.
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I always love the discussion of naming the airport after someone, as I think we should.

If were shooting for Prime Ministers do far we have Stephan Harper, and R.B. Bennet, if im being honest Calgary-Harper International has a nice ring to it. Poilievre is looking like he will win the next election so his name could be tossed in, in the future.

Other notables (more for fun) based purely off of who I can remember while sitting on my phone inside of a WestJet plane at (speak of the devil) Pearson

Calgary Bret Hart International Airport
Calgary Ted Cruz International Airport (LOL)
Calgary Tate McRae International Airport
Calgary Paul Brandt International Airport
Calgary Jerome Iginla International Airport (born in YEG but idc)
etc.
 
Also, YYC January 2024 stats are out, however slightly below 2019 stats:

Domestic: 853,940 [+5.0%]
Transborder: 265,893 [+19.4%]
International: 199,870 [+5.1%]

January 2024 Total: 1,319,703 +7.63%

Domestic is our laggard, TB has a difference of ~40 PAX and International is our biggest gainer.
 
AtlanticAvenue said:
I always love the discussion of naming the airport after someone, as I think we should.

If were shooting for Prime Ministers do far we have Stephan Harper, and R.B. Bennet, if im being honest Calgary-Harper International has a nice ring to it. Poilievre is looking like he will win the next election so his name could be tossed in, in the future.

Other notables (more for fun) based purely off of who I can remember while sitting on my phone inside of a WestJet plane at (speak of the devil) Pearson

Calgary Bret Hart International Airport
Calgary Ted Cruz International Airport (LOL)
Calgary Tate McRae International Airport
Calgary Paul Brandt International Airport
Calgary Jerome Iginla International Airport (born in YEG but idc)
etc.
Click to expand...
Either Harper or Joe Clark would make sense to me. Or Peter Lougheed?
 
If you're going to do Harper then you have to consider the actual first Prime Minister from Calgary, what did Harper do that was truly iconic to deserve such an honour, maybe his name is brought up as recency bias?

 
They'll have to wait a while before using Harper's name in anything. Montreal only renamed the Montreal airport in 2004, 20 years after Trudeau was last in office.
 
CBBarnett said:
I would be curious the breakdown of the international traffic in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto and what proportion is connections v. local destinations.

With no evidence I am just speculation - I could see all three acting as the primary connecting hubs (Toronto from everywhere, Vancouver from Pacific, Montreal from French-speaking nations). All three would likely have significant snow-bird traffic to central America as well. But all three would also have significant local demand due to large populations, notable and advanced tourism infrastructure, and huge immigrant populations connecting back to various locations for family. The share of international trips that are generated by these factors would be illuminating

I would agree that Calgary's likely growth angle is more about increasing the local and regional population to a level that attracts more trip demand.
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Montreal being more or less the only major airport in a French speaking province of 9M and within 2 hrs of another 2Million people on the Ontario side will get big numbers for connections and also local traffic. Almost everyone I know in Ottawa drives to Montreal to fly international.
Calgary definitely gets huge numbers via connections, but also being near the Rockies helps. Right now an issue with the parks is they're tapped out and it's hard to find hotel rooms, and for people staying in Calgary and driving there, it's not a great option either. I think if Calgary/Banff can get a solid rail transit system going they could grow the park tourism, while also increasing stays here in Calgary. Not just in Calgary, but the central areas of the city. With the trains leaving from downtown it should encourage more stays in the core areas, rather than out in suburban areas.
 
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artvandelay said:
Last Westjet flight I took was full of connecting passengers from Winnipeg, Edmonton, Sask, and interior BC.

It's much nicer to connect in YYC vs. Pearson for example so not really surprising.
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100% agree. Nothing against Toronto, but if I can avoid a connecting flight at YYZ I'll do anything I can.
 
trtcttc said:
They'll have to wait a while before using Harper's name in anything. Montreal only renamed the Montreal airport in 2004, 20 years after Trudeau was last in office.
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Perhaps I misremember what happened between 2006 - 2015, but I can't recall any notable policies or a notable level of popularity of Harper when he was PM. If the bar for naming is "lots of people in Calgary voted for a person" then literally any federal conservative politician - or any mayor in Calgary's history - would qualify.

Fully acknowledging naming something after a person is a purely political exercise, I would hope the bar should be reasonably high to be noteworthy enough to have an airport (or anything) named after someone. It's also very smart to wait until a person is dead a while so we know all the details of a public figure and don't accidentally name something after someone with baggage.

My vote is skip all this murky naming stuff, and just stay with Calgary International Airport. It doesn't need another name.
 
Surrealplaces said:
100% agree. Nothing against Toronto, but if I can avoid a connecting flight at YYZ I'll do anything I can.
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I haven't been to Toronto or connected through there since 2000. T1 was in early construction stage at that point. YYZ still seems to have horrible on-time performance metrics. I have lots of bad memories of sleeping on the floor there in the 80s and 90s due to delays.
 
CBBarnett said:
Perhaps I misremember what happened between 2006 - 2015, but I can't recall any notable policies or a notable level of popularity of Harper when he was PM. If the bar for naming is "lots of people in Calgary voted for a person" then literally any federal conservative politician - or any mayor in Calgary's history - would qualify.

Fully acknowledging naming something after a person is a purely political exercise, I would hope the bar should be reasonably high to be noteworthy enough to have an airport (or anything) named after someone. It's also very smart to wait until a person is dead a while so we know all the details of a public figure and don't accidentally name something after someone with baggage.

My vote is skip all this murky naming stuff, and just stay with Calgary International Airport. It doesn't need another name.
Click to expand...
Agreed that the name we have now is good. Although I agree Harper wasn't particularly impactful, he is one of the only 2 PMs to be from the city, the other being Bennett in the 30s. And as time goes on, most people's political career are remembered more fondly than when they are in office.
 
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