Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport

[dennis]

The longer the wait for funding, the higher the cost will be probably with inflation and the cost of construction etc.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by Biff

I think this might be misleading. The old building was approx 65,000 sq ft and not meant to be a museum.

Exactly, the old museum for example had the old passenger lobby and observation deck. Both were not really usable exhibit spaces but they tried to make them work.

Originally Posted by plrh

I've heard aviation geeks complain that there are too many architectural things in the design and that they (not necessarily me) just want to see planes (and the building is irrelevant).

Well that is true to some degree I remember visiting the Pima museum and one hangar (exhibit area) was basically a free span warehouse and it was very plan and boring so an aviation museum needs to be a little more than just a garage for vintage planes.

Originally Posted by buzzg

It still seems like a bad location to me to have to go right into the airport – are guests going to have to pay $20 to park there for an event now, when it was free before?

The challenge is a key requirement for the aviation museum is access to airside operations at the airport in order to be able to better move planes around. That effectively limits where they can be located.

[bomberjet]

The airport in no way will be giving away free parking. Someone will pay for it. Parking is a major source of revenue for WAA.

[YWG-RO]

Did anyone get a pic of the BA 747-400 from earlier this week that made a medical diversion to YWG? Could be the last queen to grace our humble airport. Such a beautiful plane; can’t beat the upper deck.

[EspionNoir]

Originally Posted by YWG-RO

Did anyone get a pic of the BA 747-400 from earlier this week that made a medical diversion to YWG? Could be the last queen to grace our humble airport. Such a beautiful plane; can’t beat the upper deck.

Yeah rare chance

Hmm humble. What's humble? Our airport is beautiful

Hopefully the queen will grace more times in a formal matter in the future

[esquire]

Originally Posted by YWG-RO

Did anyone get a pic of the BA 747-400 from earlier this week that made a medical diversion to YWG? Could be the last queen to grace our humble airport. Such a beautiful plane; can’t beat the upper deck.

Korean Air Cargo 747s make the occasional appearance at YWG, so this BA diversion likely won't be the last 747 to show up here.

[roccerfeller]

Originally Posted by EspionNoir

Yeah rare chance

Hmm humble. What's humble? Our airport is beautiful

Hopefully the queen will grace more times in a formal matter in the future

It’s beautiful but it’s really small haha.

I presume that’s what he meant by humble - it’s a nice, pleasant, welcoming airport but small and it’s not frantic or rushed (a very good thing imo. The type of place you want to come home to after a lengthy trip)

[YWG-RO]

Well said.

[kattiff]

Hello everyone! Hope everyone had a good Xmas and a well wish of Happy New Year to all.

Thought I would update everyone about our little airport terminal from my friends who work in the building.

To start off the belt system.
The belt system and it’s security scanners have been failing in the airport for the past week and well almost two weeks right away as it is just over loaded with bags so the airlines have been telling their passengers to literally put bags on the oversize areas and then slowly certain flights can put bags on the normal belt when advised by the airport. Solution.. around February they will be adding another oversize for domestic/intl and another oversize area for us flights. Long term soluation.. they are debating about it but around April shut down the main belt and rip it apart and completely redo the belt system.. should take all of the next 6 months (if it goes well) and all airlines will use the oversize belts for that time. Apparently when the big belt failure happened the WAA was telling their employees in the terminal to help guide passengers to stop saying it’s the WAA fault and blame it on something or someone else or th airlines. Horrible eh. Ummm WAA it’s ur building airlines pay rent and well give u business, u think u could build something right.

Edmonton got a nice terminal that’s for sure. They built that thing right!

Gates. There are simply no gates at the Transborder area.... they look good on the display screens but airlines need time to log in, assign seats and page names. Sometimes they need like 1hr30min to start working a lfight which isn’t always the case because other flights delay or they have their policies to follow. So I’ve been told the gates in Transborder are no longer good during the winter. And yes Gate 2-5 can be used as US Gates and 2-6 are international arrival gates but they have 5 gates to use but have 7 to 9 planes sometimes on the ground waiting. And the stupid stupid corridor they say drive the employees mad playing musical chairs but musical doors with offloads and trying to board planes. They can’t mix passengers. Simply aren’t enough Gates during winter season. And for a bit the ground loading gates were being fought over by airlines as well as it was deemed not enough down there. I once watched WestJet board but played a door game with Sunwing Delta air Canada all trying to deplane down the corridor so dumb so sad to watch.

Check in hall. During the winter season with all the new flights and charters they have come to realize there isn’t enough check in counters for thr demands that certain airlines need. They need more space more counters. There is a rumour of the check in area being completely renovated/expanded as it has been deemed already not sufficient. Plus with the WestJet/Delta partnership they are suppose to move counters beside eachither soon and will make it very busy having all the busy airlines in front of thr belt system. The belt system that fails often which causes bags to be piled up behind the counters and that space isn’t wide enough already.

Canada Customs now has those machines at the request of WAA and it has been deemed not enough machines and makes lines quite long. Some flights have had to hold deplaning because customs is not big enough and the machines are slower for passengers to use so it makes the area congested quickly. Never any carts in the area ever also.

Some staff I have been told don’t feel safe in the building where anyone can walk into the building and do something or walk in take someone’s random bag or put a random bag on thr belt. So the security of it is quite bad when u really think about it.

On a positive note. Flair flights have been doing well. Toronto and Vegas are super busy. St Pete isn’t as popular they thought. Miami is picking up. My friends said the other airlines aren’t as full full or oversold since Flair started so that is a good thing. No idea how Swoop is but they have newer planes which people have said it’s positive. And Transat brings in the 321 so it’s bigger then the 737 they used before... right. That’s good.

Busy busy but just an airport having unexpected growth and hopefully they can fix it but my friends say the WAA is very difficult to work with and deal with. Noses held high like nothing is wrong but yet the staff in the building are suffering since WAA sucks every nickel out of everyone literally. Busy in the winter and summer it’s way more quiet but you need it built well in order for it to function well.

Thought I’d share what’s going on in the building and next time I fly through, I will appreciate it because of how hard the staff of the airlines and the security of passengers wanding us work to make it easier for travelers.

[GarryEllice]

Originally Posted by kattiff

Some staff I have been told don’t feel safe in the building where anyone can walk into the building and do something

Thanks for all the great info! I don't understand this comment though. How is it any different from any other building that anyone can walk into and do something, like a mall or cinema or university or supermarket? (Or any other Canadian airport!)

[Riverman]

The baggage belt was down when I came home on the 31st. The baggage handlers all looked pretty worn out.

[kattiff]

Originally Posted by GarryEllice

Thanks for all the great info! I don't understand this comment though. How is it any different from any other building that anyone can walk into and do something, like a mall or cinema or university or supermarket? (Or any other Canadian airport!)

That’s very true I’m just reporting what I’m being told... side note I think YYZ has their baggage claim behind the secure doors.

[Riverman]

^ They do indeed

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by kattiff

That’s very true I’m just reporting what I’m being told... side note I think YYZ has their baggage claim behind the secure doors.

Baggage claim yes. But the access to the belts is still pre security.

[DavefromSt.Vital]

Umm, YYZ baggage is behind an opaque sliding door and they occasionally have someone there to stop you from entering but often they do not. When meeting someone I have often walked straight in to help them pull luggage from the belt.

However, putting the luggage carousel behind a wall only prevents random people from stealing your laundry. If you want to prevent anything from happening on airport property you would have to push the security perimeter to the perimeter of the property and challenge people in their cars on the way in. I really don't think the "threat" level in Winnipeg justifies that.

[roccerfeller]

Originally Posted by kattiff

Edmonton got a nice terminal that’s for sure. They built that thing right!

You mean Leduc has a nice terminal

(I kid)

Gates. There are simply no gates at the Transborder area.... they look good on the display screens but airlines need time to log in, assign seats and page names. Sometimes they need like 1hr30min to start working a lfight which isn’t always the case because other flights delay or they have their policies to follow. So I’ve been told the gates in Transborder are no longer good during the winter. And yes Gate 2-5 can be used as US Gates and 2-6 are international arrival gates but they have 5 gates to use but have 7 to 9 planes sometimes on the ground waiting. And the stupid stupid corridor they say drive the employees mad playing musical chairs but musical doors with offloads and trying to board planes. They can’t mix passengers. Simply aren’t enough Gates during winter season. And for a bit the ground loading gates were being fought over by airlines as well as it was deemed not enough down there. I once watched WestJet board but played a door game with Sunwing Delta air Canada all trying to deplane down the corridor so dumb so sad to watch.

Are they not coming up on their supposed 11 year "4 gate" expansion for the transborder area?

As per their 2015 Master Plan it sounded like once they met "Trigger Point" criteria, which it sounds like they have in your post

https://www.waa.ca/uploads/ck/files/...erPlan0615.pdf

[esquire]

Good update, katiff... thanks!

It has definitely occurred to me too that our baggage claim area is exceptionally wide open. In many if not most airports, there is at least some separation even if it's just the doors in Toronto that Dave mentioned. In ours, you walk through the doors and it's all right there in front of you. But with the way it's designed, I don't know how you change that.

Also regarding the check-in area, I thought it was a little cramped right from day one. Now that the terminal is a few years old and passenger counts have grown, I'm not surprised that they're getting pressed for space. I wonder if the solution there is to eventually expand the whole works to the east to provide a bigger check in area and a bigger transborder (and TB security/US customs) area?

[GarryEllice]

Originally Posted by DavefromSt.Vital

Umm, YYZ baggage is behind an opaque sliding door and they occasionally have someone there to stop you from entering but often they do not. When meeting someone I have often walked straight in to help them pull luggage from the belt.

With the recent renovations at Terminal 3 in YYZ, the far end of the baggage hall is now wide open to the concourse. There's a little "do not enter" sign hanging above the opening, but I think that's for crowd control rather than security.

[DavefromSt.Vital]

Thank you re: Terminal 3 at YYZ. I haven't been there in a while as I usually use Terminal 1.

YUL has a tiny set of metal bars and a propped open gate with a sign that politely states do not enter and the occasional person to ask as well. Usually, people walk through.

In general, YWG's domestic baggage pick-up situation is not rare in Canada.

[Biff]

Originally Posted by Riverman

The baggage belt was down when I came home on the 31st. The baggage handlers all looked pretty worn out.

I’m pretty sure a tender just closed for the belt replacement project.