Calgary International Airport III

[hollywoodcory]

WS held an event at the gate for the resumption of service to DUB. It was to mark "10 years of service to Ireland" which is true for the airline, but it was implied they've been flying there from YYC for 10 years?

Last I checked YYC-DUB was launched in 2019, which was only 5 years ago.

---

Also looks like UA has added a 4th flight to DEN on 2 Sundays in July (Stampede week).

[Nick]

WS had 737 service to Shannon from either YYT or YHZ, I forget. It was because there was a maintenance contract in Shannon and this brought planes there.

[ace.yyc]

There was no real implication at the event that they had been flying YYC-DUB for 10 years.

[hollywoodcory]

I was more so referring to the social media posts afterwards, its since be deleted and corrected but the original tweet YYC is quoting said "We are celebrating 10 years of service between @flyYYC and Dublin." but it got changed to "between Canada and Dublin."

https://twitter.com/FlyYYC/status/1785380107085025463

Internally it was mentioned the event was to celebrate the "re-launch" of flights to DUB, which was even odder.

[hehehe]

Originally Posted by hollywoodcory

I was more so referring to the social media posts afterwards, its since be deleted and corrected but the original tweet YYC is quoting said "We are celebrating 10 years of service between @flyYYC and Dublin." but it got changed to "between Canada and Dublin."

https://twitter.com/FlyYYC/status/1785380107085025463

Internally it was mentioned the event was to celebrate the "re-launch" of flights to DUB, which was even odder.

Seems very odd to have a celebration event for a seasonal resumption of a route but who am I to judge

[Tobuz]

When might WestJet realistically announce their actual Winter 24/25 routes and schedule?

(They are selling seats through March 2025 already, I suppose using some assumptions about what routes and schedules might be in the future — but with WS booking anything more than a few months out always is always super risky.)

Last year, IIRC, they didn’t finalize their winter routes until late July … really, really late by “major carrier” standards (but perhaps not compared to vacation carriers and charters). It’s also super late for travellers who want/need to reserve their own accommodations before they book up.

We’re looking to nail down both a big ‘late fall’ trip and a sunny family meet-up at Christmas as soon as it’s feasible. (Accommodation bookings hinge on flight availability.) But any November or December booking made now for WestJet is hypothetical at best! I’d like some certainty about routes and schedule.

So, when they might announce?

[hollywoodcory]

Originally Posted by hehehe

Seems very odd to have a celebration event for a seasonal resumption of a route but who am I to judge

Guessing it was just a mix up, as it was communicated at the same time as the planned celebration events for KEF and ICN

Originally Posted by Tobuz

When might WestJet realistically announce their actual Winter 24/25 routes and schedule?

(They are selling seats through March 2025 already, I suppose using some assumptions about what routes and schedules might be in the future — but with WS booking anything more than a few months out always is always super risky.)

Last year, IIRC, they didn’t finalize their winter routes until late July … really, really late by “major carrier” standards (but perhaps not compared to vacation carriers and charters). It’s also super late for travellers who want/need to reserve their own accommodations before they book up.

We’re looking to nail down both a big ‘late fall’ trip and a sunny family meet-up at Christmas as soon as it’s feasible. (Accommodation bookings hinge on flight availability.) But any November or December booking made now for WestJet is hypothetical at best! I’d like some certainty about routes and schedule.

So, when they might announce?

Probably in July again. The 787 routes (the long haul ones) may get finalized within the next few weeks.

Though with S24, they seemed to do it in waves, so maybe the same will happen for winter.

[Tobuz]

Originally Posted by hollywoodcory

Probably in July again.

Argh. For what we're aiming to book (and the number of things we need to coordinate to plan our two trips) July is aggravatingly late.

I think AC typically rolls out each year's winter sched and routes in May of every year (so we can probably expect their 24/25 version to come out pretty soon).

Why does WestJet lag 2 months behind?

Edited to add: Another airline announcing now (not at the end of July!). Today (May 3) Delta did another significant winter route announcement — sun destination flights (Caribbean and LatAm) from Detroit, Boston and Atlanta - plus additional Mexico service from LAX. Schedules are being loaded, and flights are becoming bookable. Westjet: c’mon. Stop being so late to announce.

[hehehe]

Originally Posted by Tobuz

Argh. For what we're aiming to book (and the number of things we need to coordinate to plan our two trips) July is aggravatingly late.

I think AC typically rolls out each year's winter sched and routes in May of every year (so we can probably expect their 24/25 version to come out pretty soon).

Why does WestJet lag 2 months behind?

Edited to add: Another airline announcing now (not at the end of July!). Today (May 3) Delta did another significant winter route announcement — sun destination flights (Caribbean and LatAm) from Detroit, Boston and Atlanta - plus additional Mexico service from LAX. Schedules are being loaded, and flights are becoming bookable. Westjet: c’mon. Stop being so late to announce.

I suppose it gives them more time to plan and see the performance of their routes to make a more optimal schedule. Even AC has recently been making more changes with shorter notice (mainly frequency reductions/additions) after the rollout of their schedule.

[hollywoodcory]

Starting today, FCO joins the daily club.

Next week will be a busy week for route resumptions with WS returning to EDI, DEN, ORD, BOS, YYG, YQT along with launching KEF, ICN, YDF

Originally Posted by Tobuz

Argh. For what we're aiming to book (and the number of things we need to coordinate to plan our two trips) July is aggravatingly late.

I think AC typically rolls out each year's winter sched and routes in May of every year (so we can probably expect their 24/25 version to come out pretty soon).

Why does WestJet lag 2 months behind?
.

This is how they've been doing it for years. Also as I suspected they began making changes this weekend, removing 4 routes. So I suspect we will get small changes here and there before the full schedule release in July.

I imagine we'll get official word on whether NRT is going year-round shortly too.

[hollywoodcory]

^Seems the WS winter 787 schedule is being updated this weekend. A few changes are already showing in the GDS via DL and VS codeshares.

HNL shows a 789 2-3x weekly, similar to last winter.

[hollywoodcory]

WS has officially extended NRT to year-round. Last time we had year-round service to Asia was winter 2018/2019 when HU was still around. ICN comes back in April 2.

CDG has also been upped to daily in the winter too. FCO now resumes March 31 at 5x weekly (rather than 2x).

Also CUN increased to 2x 787 on certain days. Guessing this is to free up 737s.

Other 789 routes include HNL, PVR and LHR.

[ace.yyc]

Either YYZ or YVR will likely be losing their winter CUN/PVR 787, I imagine.

[hollywoodcory]

Originally Posted by ace.yyc

Either YYZ or YVR will likely be losing their winter CUN/PVR 787, I imagine.

YVR has already lost both the 787 routes it had the previously winter. Seems they’ve opted for double daily YYC-CUN instead.

[ace.yyc]

I have a feeling it's because they want the 787s here for contingency purposes, to go to NRT, LHR or CDG if required.

[Cage]

Unless I'm reading the schedule incorrectly, WS appears to have 1.5 spare 789s in their new winter schedule. Here are my calcs:
1. YYC-LHR
2. YYC-CDG
3. YYC-NRT
4. YYC-CUN & YYZ-CUN
5. YYC-CUN & YYC-HNL
6. YYC-PVR & .5 spare
7. spare

What happened to YYC-OGG on the 789?

[hollywoodcory]

Originally Posted by Cage

Unless I'm reading the schedule incorrectly, WS appears to have 1.5 spare 789s in their new winter schedule. Here are my calcs:
1. YYC-LHR
2. YYC-CDG
3. YYC-NRT
4. YYC-CUN & YYZ-CUN
5. YYC-CUN & YYC-HNL
6. YYC-PVR & .5 spare
7. spare

What happened to YYC-OGG on the 789?

YYC-LHR Daily
YYC-CDG Daily
YYC-PVR Daily
1st YYC-CUN Daily
YYZ-CUN Daily
2nd YYC-CUN 6x weekly (X3)
YYC-NRT 3x weekly (Wed / Fri / Sun)
YYC-HNL 3x weekly (Thu / Fri Sat)

Presently OGG isn't planned on the 787, but its possible it could be added later. Last winter it was the opposite, OGG showed initially and HNL was added when the winter schedule came out.

[outoftheice]

WestJet's capacity purchase agreement with Pasco for Link flying will officially end in October. Pasco laying off all YYC based flight crews. WestJet Encore will begin operating all former Link routes at the end of October.

[YYCguys]

Originally Posted by outoftheice

WestJet's capacity purchase agreement with Pasco for Link flying will officially end in October. Pasco laying off all YYC based flight crews. WestJet Encore will begin operating all former Link routes at the end of October.

Laying off, or offering a base transfer? If laying off, hopefully WS can scoop them up and offer them Encore positions!

[Nick]

Does Encore have any more aircraft orders? Wikipedia doesn't have anything.