The organizers of Edmonton’s comic expo took to social media on Monday to air their frustrations over relatively few direct flights between the city and Los Angeles, home to the majority of the celebrities who headline the annual event. The Edmonton Expo posted an “update” to several channels to explain celebrity cancellations and “why it’s happening”: a “lack of direct flights between L.A. and Edmonton creates significant challenges with their filming schedules.” “The celebrities genuinely want to be in Edmonton with you, but the limited direct options and connecting flights make it incredibly hard with their production schedules,” organizers said in the post. “We hope flight availability to Edmonton changes in the future.” Four celebrities of the 30 scheduled to attend the expo Sept. 18-20 have cancelled their appearances: Rob Colletti, John Noble, Catherine Tate and David Wenham. Andrew Moyes, the vice-president of the company that has been staging the Edmonton Expo since 2012, said Tuesday the cancellations have been “a little bit more prevalent in our Edmonton market because there’s less inventory of flights” and that the social media post led to discussions with the Edmonton International Airport (YEG) about the issue. “We do a three-day show, so we have limited flexibility to make all the stars align to have these appearances move to completion, (but) I’m really encouraged by the conversation that this has opened up,” Moyes, of Fan Expo HQ, told CTV News Edmonton. “We’re passionate about our community, we’re passionate about Edmonton, and we’re really looking forward to continuing the conversation with other city partners (and) with YEG to see how we can make this easier and ultimately collaborate again with the goal of delivering that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our fans to meet their heroes.” The airport told CTV News Edmonton in a statement on Tuesday that there are six direct flights to L.A., and that WestJet offers non-stop flights between the cities around the Edmonton Expo: Sept. 16, 18, 19, 20 and 23. There are also several flights with layovers in major airports in Vancouver, Calgary, Denver and Seattle. The airport said it “remains focused on strengthening Edmonton’s connections to Los Angeles and other key markets. “YEG continues to work closely with our airline partners to advocate for the air service our region needs and can support,” it said in the statement. “Airline routes and schedules are ultimately determined by individual carriers based on factors including passenger demand, aircraft availability and broader network considerations.” Fan Expo HQ stages celebrity expos around the globe, including several in the United States and five in Canada, including the upcoming Fan Expo Canada, which is slated to run Thursday through Sunday in Toronto. Eight of the 52 celebrities originally slated to attend Toronto’s show have bowed out, including Alec Baldwin, Carla Buono, Robert Davi and Martha Plimpton.
