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Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF
Guelph Airpark? Stratford? Hanover? All good options, but my money is on that grass airstrip off the 401 near the ONroute!

Coke
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Just confirmed.... the YHM info is dated information.  No decisions have been made yet.

Coke
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(06-20-2017, 04:57 PM)Coke6pk Wrote: Just confirmed.... the YHM info is dated information.  No decisions have been made yet.

Coke

that is great to hear. if people want a regular flight from here keep emailing them and sharing the love for YKF. The more demand they hear the more likely we get flights....
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To be honest, the route map is not inspiring. A direct YKF-OAK route is something that would have my co-workers on every available flight, and I'd personally use for a few times a year for pleasure as well. YKF-YVR-OAK, maybe; it's a bit indirect. YKF-YWG-YVR-OAK? Are you freakin' kidding? Toronto isn't that far away.

A well-timed YKF to the nearby hub of a US carrier (cough Southwest at MDW cough) would work, though.
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(06-20-2017, 04:57 PM)Coke6pk Wrote: Just confirmed.... the YHM info is dated information.  No decisions have been made yet.

Coke

That would be great news but how is it confirmed?  Can you provide any details?
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(06-20-2017, 04:57 PM)Coke6pk Wrote: Just confirmed.... the YHM info is dated information.  No decisions have been made yet.

Coke

It sure would be nice if they decided to use YKF as a hub. What may help is the HSR that the Ontario Guberment is proposing. LRT helps out too.

Actually, a good idea would be to have the LRT have a second, and less expensive, line by using the existing railway towards Breslau. Unsure if/how it could be done. I do recall the original LRT design consisted of two routes, the St. Jacobs to Galt route, and a 2nd route along Victoria street where existing tracks exist.

People need to be convinced why Kitchener is a better spot than Hamilton. That might be a hard thing. But I think the region has a lot more going for it than most realize. IN the "end" the biggest issue might end up being the NIMBY's coming out in full force to try to block it.

But I fully support it. I am almost directly below the flight bath, though well west of it, but I hear every craft, especially when it's more to the north and directly above me. Probably 1000' or so. But that could be a bad guess. Doesn't bother me though. I like the smell of gasoline in a lawnmower or outboard engine and I like the sound of lawnmowers and overhead jets. I'm weird.
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I don't think we'd be able to justify a train connection to the airport here for a very long time (I happen to think Victoria would be a good route in the future, but not the "near" future).

People in other communities don't seem to know where Waterloo International Airport is. My relations in London know exactly where Hamilton Airport is (take the 403 to the 6...), but not Waterloo. I really do think that the conversation would be a fair bit different had there happened to be an interchange at 401 and Fountain Street North.

I know that seems like a small thing, and it's not exactly hard to get to Breslau, but the Region generally has a reputation for being difficult for wayfinding for out-of-towners, and it is they who need to be demanding service from airlines at Waterloo. I have no big ideas about how to brand Waterloo as easy to get to and more convenient than either Pearson or Hamilton, or how to get that word out, but I think that's what's needed.
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(06-20-2017, 11:38 PM)kps Wrote: To be honest, the route map is not inspiring. A direct YKF-OAK route is something that would have my co-workers on every available flight, and I'd personally use for a few times a year for pleasure as well. YKF-YVR-OAK, maybe; it's a bit indirect. YKF-YWG-YVR-OAK? Are you freakin' kidding? Toronto isn't that far away.

A well-timed YKF to the nearby hub of a US carrier (cough Southwest at MDW cough) would work, though.

Even going to a nearby hub isn't all that useful if there are no agreements in place between airlines.

I consider a direct flight from Toronto to be roughly equivalent to a one-connection flight from Waterloo all else being equal. But if that connection is with a completely different airline, I'm almost never choosing it as an option. I either need to leave a really large safety margin for connection time or I have to risk a delay on one carrier resulting in a huge pain in the butt on another carrier - including the possibility of paying hundreds of dollars in extra costs.

It seems to me (and obviously these guys probably know more than me) that you'd have better luck starting with short-medium direct flights that have enough value w/o worrying about connections. Chicago, direct flights to sun spots like Orlando, Ottawa and possibly places like NYC, Boston, Raleigh, Washington, Montreal, Silicon Valley(?), etc.
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HSR, if built, is years out so I don't see it having any impact vis a vis decisions on YKF for the foreseeable future. I still think that, even though Hamilton is the more obvious choice, Jetlines could do better by choosing YKF because of the lack of competition. Hamilton could be a slog for them in that regard, at least on some routes.
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There wouldn't be a lot of overlap between that route map and the existing service at Hamilton, depending on what "sunspots" are served. Although I can't imagine anyone choosing to get out west with that service over West Jet, regardless of the price.

I agree with you, Sammy, about connections. I think the convenience of getting to fly out of Waterloo would be weighted less than the risk and inconvenience of making a connection, particularly through a U.S. airport. A direct flight from Pearson to Europe would be the more logical choice than a connection through New York, say.
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(06-20-2017, 11:17 PM)kevinchoi519 Wrote:
(06-20-2017, 04:57 PM)Coke6pk Wrote: Just confirmed.... the YHM info is dated information.  No decisions have been made yet.

Coke

that is great to hear. if people want a regular flight from here keep emailing them and sharing the love for YKF. The more demand they hear the more likely we get flights....

If it's not too late, emailing Jetlines about why you think YKF would be an excellent choice is a very good idea.  I have emailed them a number of times so they know there is some interest in YKF.  Because Hamilton already has a ULCC as well as other, more traditional airlines, people there may be blasé about another airline operating out of Hamilton.  If enough folks email Jetlines they will know that YKF supporters are anything but blasé. 
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(06-21-2017, 07:39 AM)MidTowner Wrote: I don't think we'd be able to justify a train connection to the airport here for a very long time (I happen to think Victoria would be a good route in the future, but not the "near" future).

An iXpress (or even regular) bus run to YKF would be fairly easy to setup and achieve much of the same goal.
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I think the most interesting thing would be to have airport 'shuttles' that correspond to some of the flights we already have with decent sized planes. So for example, before the Orlando flight in the winter a bus (or 2 buses) leave from the airport and does a route through Waterloo / Kitchener / Cambridge stopping at predetermined points. Same thing after the plane lands.

It's cheaper than a regular bus route and in a lot of ways more convenient. If you get people using that, it makes sense to start thinking of more regular options.
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(06-21-2017, 11:44 AM)tomh009 Wrote:
(06-21-2017, 07:39 AM)MidTowner Wrote: I don't think we'd be able to justify a train connection to the airport here for a very long time (I happen to think Victoria would be a good route in the future, but not the "near" future).

An iXpress (or even regular) bus run to YKF would be fairly easy to setup and achieve much of the same goal.

But keep in mind that Jetlines would be using YKF to mainly service Toronto.  They say the want to fly "point to point routes in lieu of a hub and spoke system."  That's the only reason they're looking at YKF and Hamilton.  So what they're interested in are ways to get to Toronto from YKF.
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If they're counting on getting business from people living in or visiting Toronto - I don't see how they can possibly make it work.

I don't think there's anything coming in the next 10 years that would make me even consider recommending it as an option.  Even the eventual (and still far away) all-day 2-way GO service will have no-service periods or periods with very infrequent service.

Edit: Basically all the reasons that we're talking about why we want to use YKF over YYZ would apply to Toronto people using YKF.
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