Building a longer runway is also a safety measure. But the likelihood of more than the odd seasonal flight with a connection elsewhere in Canada flying direct to Europe or Asia is pretty slim, hence the reluctance of government to fund the project.

Airlines are just too limited in their route growth abilities and will continue to focus their energies on major ports with code-shared spoke flights.

Heck, even American Airlines flies to Chicago from Seattle before departing for Asian destinations like Beijing. It makes no sense, but that's an example of how airlines are operating in order to fill as many seats onto as many flights as possible.

That being said, we're quite lucky to have two major airports within close proximity to Victoria (in Canada and the US, to boot) that have virtually the entire world covered with direct flights. It's an ideal situation.

Here's where I would argue with your logic, Mike. If there are x number of passengers who travel to Europe each year, some will fly out of Vancouver, some Seattle. The airline that can get islanders to commit to their direct flight, may end up with much more flexibility on their other routes. I think it may yet happen. Let's see how forceful Richard Paquette's replacement will be in moving the island agenda along.

Our runway is long enough for a larger jet to take-off with a stop-over elsewhere in Canada before departing for Europe, but as we've seen there is no interest from any airline to operate such a flight.

The airport authority even said that with a runway extension larger aircraft could operate out of Victoria, but they would be stopping at another airport prior to flying to Europe.

Like I said before, the odd seasonal flight might take off from Victoria, but that would be it. Edmonton is a good example of a relatively large city not being able to attract more than a handful of direct international flights because of Calgary's relative proximity. Many international airlines favour Calgary and then use codeshares to disperse other travelers. In fact, Edmonton is starting to suffer from Calgary stealing air travelers and the airport authority has created a campaign to curb the exodus of flyers dubbed Stop the Calgary Habit.

While I like the idea of a direct flight to a European hub I don't think it is realistic in the short-term. I think the most growth potential is more direct flights to the USA. If I am going to Europe, I don't mind stopping in YVR or SEA but I really find it annoying to have to connect to go to LA or Chicago. We really need to get US Customs Pre-Clearance at YYJ.

US pre-clearance is part of the 5-year plan, I think, so it's definitely on its way.