The Top Eight of ’08
EIA poised to lead the country in passenger growth for the
third year in a row.
We’ll move you—with a new brand and renewed
commitment:
Your international airport renewed its customer-focus commitment in
May 2008, when we launched the EIA—we’ll move you brand. It
represents the airport community’s re-energized focus on
delivering complete and effective customer service. “Whether
it’s through new air service options, time-saving technologies,
or more parking and restaurant options, our brand promise, we’ll
move you, is our commitment to great customer service as we build
Edmonton’s future airport,” says Reg Milley, EIA President and
CEO.
Expansion 2012: With our new brand came
confirmation of a different kind of terminal expansion. Now serving
1 million passengers more than the 5.5 million travellers the
current terminal was built to accommodate, Expansion 2012 will
double the number of aircraft gates and add some of the most modern
air travel infrastructure in the world. By 2012, EIA will deliver
one of the most innovative, hassle-free airport experiences
anywhere. While we work to build EIA’s airport of the future,
we’re equally focused on our customers’ needs right now. EIA
continues to offer new speed-enhancing technologies during
construction: the online web check-in portal at flyeia.com, hotel
web check-in areas, more check-in kiosks at more locations, and our
north terminal flow-through check-in desks, which greatly speed up
passenger flow.
Expansion 2012 Partners
Project Management: MMM Group
Apron Expansion
Prime Consultant: EBA Engineering
Construction Manager: Dufferin Construction
Terminal Expansion
Prime Consultant: Stantec Consulting
Construction Manager: PCL Construction
Office/Control Tower
Prime Consultant: Cohos Evamy
Construction Manager: EllisDon
Port Alberta: An all-in-one cargo transportation
system, Port Alberta is a broad regional springboard that will
connect air, road, rail and even sea links to offer a completely
integrated value-added shipping system for our region. This year,
Western Economic Diversification Canada demonstrated its support by
announcing a major development grant to drive the project forward.
The Port Alberta partnership with development agencies,
municipalities and others is poised to give this region one of the
most crucial inland transportation hubs in North America and
beyond.
¡Bienvenidos Mexicana!: Canadians love Mexico for
the sun and sand, and Mexicana can get you there with their
year-round scheduled service to Mexico City, and convenient
connections to resort and business destinations throughout Mexico,
and Central and South America. Since the route was launched in
June, this service has proved popular not just with sun-seekers,
but with business travellers, those visiting friends and relatives
in Alberta, and cargo shippers as well.
Eating on the fly: Forget the old jokes about
airplane food. EIA makes travelling a tasty experience with fresh,
healthy new choices for eating out in the terminal. In 2008 alone,
we opened a new Mountain Lodge restaurant, two new
Starbucks–including one in the US passenger lounge–and a Tim
Hortons post-security in the domestic passenger lounge. Next up: a
Chili’s, a Wok Box and a new full-service restaurant in our US
passenger lounge.
More Parking: EIA has made it easier than ever to
park at the airport, with lots of additional choice. In August,
1,000 stalls were opened in the new parkade expansion, followed by
2,700 new surface stalls in the popular new remote lot. This lot
was built to handle peak-season demand over the holidays and will
be made available on a regular basis later in the year.
US Quick Connect: EIA has quickly evolved into the
connecting airport for the significant northern development, now
acting as Canada’s economic engine. To ensure Edmonton is serving
our connecting passengers, US Quick Connect opened early December,
just in time for the holiday rush. Now, if you’re connecting in
Edmonton to one of our 10 non-stop US destinations, EIA’s US
Quick Connect offers the biggest travel perk of all: easy,
convenient connections. Connecting passengers can proceed from
their arriving domestic flight straight to US Preclearance, without
having to collect, then re-check luggage. It also allows connecting
passengers to enjoy the wide range of amenities in the domestic
passenger lounge.
More passengers, more routes, more often: Edmonton
lead the country in seat capacity growth with 7 per cent (March 08
vs. March 09), bucking the trend of declines across Canada. Another
strong indicator is EIA’s incredible 40 per cent US growth
compared to the 5 per cent average decline across Canada (excluding
Alberta). WestJet alone added 16 new flights to their Edmonton/US
schedule. Air Canada, Jazz and Star Alliance partner United
Airlines also increased their Edmonton/US service significantly,
including 45 per cent more seats than the previous year to their
five key US hubs of Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and
Las Vegas.
Finally, strong international growth helped fuel EIA’s biggest
passenger count in the airport’s history: almost 6.5 million
travellers journeyed through EIA in 2008. This 6.1 per cent
increase over the previous year is especially remarkable compared
to capacity cuts at other airports. Early numbers indicate that for
the third year in a row EIA lead the country in passenger growth in
2008, and may be the only Tier 1 airport in Canada forecasting
passenger growth in 2009.
Edmonton International Airport passenger statistics,
2007—2008:
Domestic passengers
2007: 4,936,592
2008:5,106,860
Increase: 3.4 per cent
US passengers
2007: 810,318
2008: 943,911
Increase: 16.5 per cent
International passengers
2007: 317,700
2008: 386,563
Increase: 21.7 per cent
Total passengers
2007: 6,064,610
2008: 6,437,334
Increase: 6.1 per cent
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Media Contact:
Michael Malone, Communications and Passenger Experience
Cell: (780) 910-8972 E-mail: mmalone@flyeia.com Web:
www.flyeia.com