History
Transport Canada selected the current site for Edmonton International Airport and purchased over 7,000 acres (28 km2) of land. When the airport opened in 1960, its first terminal was an arch hangar. Today, it is in use by L-3 Communications. In 1963, a passenger terminal, built in the international style, was opened. It remains in use as the North Terminal. Artwork, fired by Alberta Natural Gas, adorned the departures area exterior. A large mural, commissioned by the Canadian government in 1963 for CAD$18,000 titled "Bush Pilot in Northern Sky" by Jack Shadbolt, remains to this day. An appraisal in 2005 indicated that the mural was worth $750,000, and a restoration of the mural was undertaken in 2007.
During the 1970s, the airport experienced a rapid growth in traffic as the city of Edmonton grew, and served approximately 2 million passengers by 1980. However, from the early 1980s until 1995, traffic declined. This decline was attributed to the continued usage of Edmonton City Centre Airport as well as to a slowing economy. Edmonton City Centre did not have the facilities to accept large aircraft, and airlines used City Centre to fly short-haul flights to hubs in other cities.
Growth returned in 1995. In a municipal plebiscite in that year, 77% of voting Edmontonians voted to consolidate all scheduled jet passenger service at Edmonton International Airport.
In 1998, the airport underwent a $282 million "1998–2005 Redevelopment Project". The three-phase project included the construction of a south terminal and central hall concept, a commuter facility, doubling of the apron, and a multi-storey parkade. This redevelopment project expanded the passenger capacity to 5.5 million.
By 2005, the expansion project was completed. However continued passenger growth triggered planning for another expansion.
In 2008, additional parking opened as a first phase of this second major expansion. Construction on this expansion continues to date.
In March 2010, the airport launched a campaign aimed at "repatriating" travellers who drive to the southern Alberta city of Calgary to catch their flights, rather than using Edmonton International. The campaign, poorly received in Calgary, uses television and radio ads featuring "addicts" recovering from their "Calgary habit", and advises Edmontonians that, "When you head south, so does your air service".
The airport hopes the campaign will help reduce the estimated 750,000 Edmontonions who drive to Calgary's larger airport, and therefore support more air service at Edmonton.
In Edmonton, citizens and businesses are upset that Calgary has more flights, despite the populations of the two centres being nearly equal. Calgary's larger airport is attributed to active hubbing by airlines like Air Canada and its Star Alliance partners, and WestJet.
Read more about this topic: Edmonton International Airport
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