Calgary chasing direct flights to China

Jenny Guan has been in China's ballooning tourism industry for a decade and says travellers from her country are now willing to jet to Canadian destinations such as Calgary.

But, she notes, direct flights remain a big deal for people who face a gruelling 12-hour jet ride between Asia and North America. Some customers simply don't want to hopscotch between other cities before reaching their final destination -and will only consider non-stop trips.

"The significance is really big," said the senior account manager for Beijing tour operator CTS Mice Service Co., which specializes in assisting Chinese business travellers and met Friday night with Calgary tourism officials.

"It's convenient for consumers if they can take a direct flight from Beijing or Shanghai. A direct flight will cut the time to fly. It's more comfortable for the consumer."

The reality for Alberta, however, is that there are no direct daily air links between Calgary and cities in the world's secondlargest economy.

At least, not yet.

"Definitely, we're chasing more Asian connections," said the Calgary Airport Authority's chief commercial officer Stephan Poirier, who is in China as part of a weeklong trade mission led by Calgary Economic Development.

"The traffic does exist and because we don't have the (flight) capacity here, people just fly to Vancouver and connect and go. For us in Calgary, it's real bad because we want those passengers to go non-stop."

Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who is part of the trade delegation now in China, said Friday he's heard several Beijing business leaders lament the lack of non-stop flights to Calgary.

The broader issue, Nenshi said, is that there's a lack of available landing slots at the congested Beijing Capital Airport, which was the second-busiest in the world last year and handles about 74 million passengers.

Plans are underway to build the booming city a second airport in southern Beijing, with construction starting this year.

Calgary's airport, which added a direct flight to Tokyo last year as it also looks to expand into the Asian market, is Canada's fourth busiest with about 12.6 million passengers last year.

It's also planning a new international terminal, a $1.4-billion development that should be open by 2015, and airport officials want to add flights to Asia when that happens.

Nenshi said the current gridlock over getting a direct flight to Beijing stems back several years when Canada established a new air transportation agreement with China in 2005, but not a full "open skies" agreement that allows complete access to each other's markets.

A lack of landing spots means there will be no direct journeys to China's biggest city for the time being, but the groundwork is being laid for future routes.

"We need a direct flight," Nenshi said after a series of meetings with Chinese oil companies and business officials. "If the money is there, they will come."

But Poirier warns it's "going to be very difficult battle to fight to get a slot at the Beijing airport. They're full and they just can't take anymore."

The issue is unfolding as Calgary is now home to offices for China's three state-owned oil companies, which have employees who jet back and forth to the corporate headquarters in Beijing.

Oil executives in China's capital who have met with the trade delegation say it's a hassle if their workers can't get easy access to the province and have to take connections through Vancouver or Toronto, said Alberta Finance Minister Lloyd Snelgrove, who is also on the trip.

"They do not have the time to sit in Vancouver for four hours," he said of the Chinese business travellers. "If you're going to be a big player, you need direct flights."

Last week, Air Canada officials noted the relatively new non-stop flight between Tokyo and Calgary is progressing, but nothing is on the books for Beijing to Calgary.

"No decision has been made on that end," said Air Canada spokeswoman Angela Mah.

"Any opportunities we have to start new service would be based on demand, as well as aircraft availability."

Provincial trade officials say a daily flight is complicated and needs a long-term commitment, but other options such as starting a weekly charter are being examined. Flying into smaller "second tier" cities from Calgary is also under consideration; China has more than 100 centres with a population of more than a million people.

But it's not just business travellers seeking a direct link into mainland China. Tour operators say it would make a big difference to tap into the Chinese marketplace, as Canada now has the ability to market directly to these tourists.

And China is expected to have 100 million travellers journeying outside the country by 2020.

"I think it's just something we have to get," George Brookman, chief executive of Tourism Calgary, said of the direct flight issue.

"This is a massive market. There were 57 million Chinese tourists last year, and 56 million were travelling inside Asia, so the rest of the world is fighting over a million tourists, you might say. But I think the business opportunity would be really enhanced if we had a direct flight from Calgary to Beijing."

Other businesses note a direct flight would help fill some of the gap from a downturn in travellers from other counties.

"Having the ability to get direct flights to Calgary would open not only additional business for tourism, but that very lucrative incentive travel market," said Francisco Gomez, a regional vice-president for Fairmont Hotels, which operates iconic facilities in Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper.

"It's a huge issue . . . to have direct access."