“KLM 679 heavy, the winds are 340 at 10 knots, cleared to land runway 35R.”
“Roger, clear to land 35R, KLM 679.”
It goes without saying that 2020 has been… a year.
COVID-19 has turned things upside down, and the aviation industry is no exception.
But now, as flights slowly relaunch around the world, there’s
one route that’s worth looking at a little bit closer.
In late October 2020, Dutch flag carrier KLM resumed service to Edmonton, Canada, except
as part of a triangle route, flying Amsterdam-Calgary-Edmonton-Amsterdam.
Calgary and Edmonton are the two largest cities in the Canadian province of Alberta, situated
about 300 kilometres apart, and are each home to over a million people.
In 2019, each city had their own nonstop flights to Amsterdam.
Calgary’s flights were daily, and Edmonton’s were usually 3 to 4 times a week.
Obviously, both routes were stopped entirely for a while,
but Calgary’s flights did resume in July.
Although triangle routes aren’t exactly a new concept - they’re an easy way to serve
two cities that are relatively close together - but they’re not so common when it comes
to transatlantic flights to and from Canada, especially in 2020.
So what’s the deal with this flight?
Well, as COVID-19 began to spread throughout Canada in March, the federal government imposed
widespread travel restrictions, including a mandatory 14 day quarantine, which is still
in effect, among other things.
They also restricted overseas flights to all but the four busiest airports in the country:
Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary.
These four airports make up the vast majority of overseas flights into Canada anyway,
with some limited exceptions, seasonal or otherwise - those being Ottawa, Quebec City,
Whitehorse, Edmonton, and a few others.
So, where does KLM factor into all of this?
Well, essentially, this triangle route is KLM’s way of getting around
this four airport restriction.
At the time of uploading, because it’s 2020 and anything can happen, KLM flies Amsterdam
to Calgary 5 times a week in total, with 3 of these being to Calgary only, and the other
2 flights stopping in Edmonton.
Passengers flying from Amsterdam to Calgary will just clear customs as they usually do,
and then do their time in quarantine.
However, passengers continuing on to Edmonton will clear customs, and assuming they have
no symptoms , will then reboard the aircraft for that short hop to Edmonton.
And, under Canada’s current restrictions, that is still allowed - if you’re arriving
on an international flight and are connecting on a domestic flight to go home or to your
place of quarantine, that’s fine, but you can’t stop anywhere once you leave the airport.
So, Amsterdam bound passengers from Calgary will board as well, the aircraft flies from
Calgary to Edmonton, Edmonton bound passengers leave, and start their quarantine.
Calgary passengers continuing to Amsterdam stay on board, while those departing from Edmonton
can finally hop on board as well.
Departing passengers aren’t subject to quite the same restrictions as arriving ones are,
and so the outbound flight can leave Edmonton without any other issues,
at least, on the Canadian side of things.
The flight between Calgary and Edmonton though isn’t available for booking since KLM doesn’t
have the rights to carry passengers domestically in Canada.
Trust me, I’ve looked.
The idea of a triangle route involving Calgary and Edmonton isn’t a new concept, either.
Back in the late 90s, Martinair operated a similar routing, serving both Calgary and
Edmonton in one flight from Amsterdam as well.
Even up until March happened, Air North from Canada’s Yukon Territory was also operating
a similar route, flying Whitehorse-Edmonton-Calgary-Whitehorse, or vice versa.
So, triangle routes in and of themselves are not necessarily a bad idea - they’re just
very uncommon when it comes to overseas flights to and from North America,
especially in the last few years.
The disadvantage for foreign airlines is usually the fact that they can’t make any extra
money off of the domestic leg.
There’s also the extra expenses associated with flying an A330 on a 20 minute flight.
In this age of codeshares and connections, and everyone wanting non-stop flights, it’s
definitely an interesting workaround.
Although passenger demand is certainly not what it used to be, it’s not unreasonable
to say that this flight is supported by a fair demand for cargo.
In late spring and early summer this year, Edmonton hosted quite a few cargo charters
primarily related to Covid.
Being Alberta’s capital, and with all the businesses that rely on connections like this,
it kinda makes sense.
Plus, if KLM’s going through all this effort of organizing a route like this to keep serving
Edmonton, they must have a pretty good reason for it.
All in all, KLM’s way of getting around Canada’s restrictions is certainly unique,
and yet, still entirely legal.
With the new EU travel restrictions though, we’ll have to see how long this route lasts,
but it is still another peculiarity of 2020.
*A330 noises*
As always, thank you very much for watching this video!
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