Canadian Airport Thread II

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

With the arrival of the winter schedule, we are back down to only two Air Canada departures to YYZ daily from YQM. There are at 0510 hrs (!!!) and 2145 hrs. Obviously the only option for making connections in Toronto is the 0510 flight, but, Jesus Christ, you would have to wake up at 3 AM in order to make your flight. I mean, why the fuck even bother going to bed!!!

Ah, the joys of the hub and spoke system if you are a peon living in one of the outer colonies........

I'm not sure this can ever be fixed. It's the tyranny of geography (all hubs are one time zone West of the Maritimes). It would really only get better if Halifax somehow turned into a major hub. And that's not happening anytime soon.....

For a city of 160k, YQM isn't doing too badly.

[casper]

Originally Posted by thewave46

Halifax Airport welcomes beleaguered New Brunswickers into its warm embrace. Just a couple of hours away by road. Give in to its convenience, its many choices. Yes, one has to rub elbows with uncouth Nova Scotians, but they’re not so bad. You can commiserate about the evil Central Canadians with them.

In all seriousness, AC Express is having some pretty serious pilot shortage issues, so admitting defeat at outstations for the time being instead of trying and failing operationally (schedule flight, then cancel) is probably a better plan.

A few weeks ago I went through Halifax Airport (been years since I was last there). I came in on PAL flight from NFLD operated by PAL for Air Canada. What was weird is the PAL Q400 had very tiny overhead bins. Smaller than Air Canada Jazz or WestJet. It could hold your personal item but not a normal carry-on.

When I left it was the morning AC flight to Vancouver. Weird seeing all the bars open serving beer and spirits that early in the morning. You must have more liberal liquor laws than other places. Make for a good number of options to commiserate about the evil Central Canadians, us Westerners are happy to join in.

[harls]

Booked a flight from Ottawa to Winnipeg the other day for Christmas. Almost no direct flights left, unless you want to leave at 6 am. Everything else from Ottawa goes through Pearson, Montreal or Calgary.

I managed to get a YOW-YYZ-YWG flight there, and a direct flight back.

[q12]

Halifax is thankfully finally seeing some relief from the U.S. pilot shortage as American Airlines and Delta Airlines are returning with daily non-stop service to LaGuardia. Only Toronto Pearson, Montreal and Halifax will have service to the brand new LaGuardia Terminals B & C.

• Video Link

A new 2x Daily on Delta Airlines from YHZ to LGA . American Airlines is also adding 1x daily YHZ to LGA. Halifax-NYC is actually shorter than Halifax-Toronto.

Beginning in June 2024 there will be four scheduled daily flights from YHZ to NYC airports:





Where you can connect to from New York LaGuardia:



2024 non-stop to the U.S. Northeast from Halifax Stanfield:

Boston

Air Canada 1x Daily (78 seat Q400)
American Airlines 1x Weekly Seasonal (80 seat E175)

New York area airports

Air Canada EWR 1x Daily (78 seat Q400)
American Airlines LGA 1x Daily Seasonal (80 seat E175)
Delta Airlines LGA 2x Daily (80 seat E175)

Philadelphia

American Airlines 1x Daily Seasonal (128 seat A319)

Washington Reagan

American Airlines 1x Weekly Seasonal (80 seat E175)[/QUOTE]

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by thewave46

The 779 is more aimed as a A380/747 replacement; it's a step up from the 777-300ER in capacity. It's probably too large (and still isn't flying yet) for an airline like AC.

Not really. The 777-8/9 are perfect 77W replacements. The A350-1000 doesn't quite cut it, in terms of capacity (that's a weird sentence to say in and of itself, but keep reading).



AC will need the 777-9, especially at capacity constrained airports like YYZ and YUL. In fact, I'd be flabbergasted if they didn't order it eventually. Now don't get me wrong. This is not to say they will not order the A350-1000. The latter has less capacity than the 777-9, but a lot more range, which will come in handy for AC, especially on the ULH routes to India, as you say. The 77W cannot fly those missions at the moment, which is why they are mostly flown by the 789 and 77L. Even the 777-9s range won't cut it (see link below). So I think there is definitely a place in AC's network for the A350-1000, as it can carry more passengers than the 789 and 78X, significantly further than both. But make no mistake, AC will need a sub-fleet of 450 seater machines, and the 777-9 fits that bill perfectly.

https://www.boeing.com/commercial/777x/

Either way, TS or AC, it's safe to say it will be a Montreal based carrier ordering the first Canadian A350. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if both of them operate the type, eventually. But I agree about TS. The A330-900neo makes more sense for them.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

I'm not sure this can ever be fixed. It's the tyranny of geography (all hubs are one time zone West of the Maritimes). It would really only get better if Halifax somehow turned into a major hub. And that's not happening anytime soon.....

Before the pandemic there were pretty good options to destinations around North America, the Caribbean, and Europe, with plans for some flights farther afield like one to China.

The airport is somewhat inconveniently located for the city but the flip side of that is it's relatively easy to get to for a lot of people around NS and the Maritimes.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

I'm not sure this can ever be fixed. It's the tyranny of geography (all hubs are one time zone West of the Maritimes). It would really only get better if Halifax somehow turned into a major hub. And that's not happening anytime soon.....

For a city of 160k, YQM isn't doing too badly.

Before the pandemic, Moncton was served by Dash turboprops via AC, and, because of their smaller PAX, flight frequency was greater. We used to have 4x daily service to Toronto, 3x daily service to Montreal and 1x daily to Ottawa via AC.

Since the pandemic, the Dash aircraft have been retired and replaced by jet service (different metal and different PAX depending on the time of the year). We may have more comfortable flights, and faster air travel, but, at the sacrifice of flight frequency and convenience. Now we have 3x daily to TO in the summer (2x daily in the winter), 2x daily to Montreal and no flights to Ottawa (although the Moncton-Ottawa route is covered by Porter and PAL).

Most of the places I would like to travel to aren't really served directly from Halifax either (unless you are talking about Boston, New York, Philadephia or Vancouver). A connection would still be required, and this would be compounded by a 500 km return trip by car, parking fees +/- a hotel stay. Really, for me, the only times I ever used YHZ since moving to Moncton was for flights to Europe.

And, yes, for a city it's size, Moncton does OK for flights. Here is a current flight destination map:

Screen Shot 2023-05-14 at 12.04.48 PM

Of course, about half of these routes are seasonal.

[q12]

Well Halifax and Ottawa each have 15 destinations served by Air Canada's network (including Express and Rouge seasonal).

Calgary now only has a total of 12 destinations served by Air Canada (including Express and Rouge seasonal).

[SpongeG]

I am grateful afaik Canadian airports provide free Wi-Fi, we just used LAX and there is no free wifi at all and the food there is so expensive.

[hollywoodcory]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I am grateful afaik Canadian airports provide free Wi-Fi, we just used LAX and there is no free wifi at all and the food there is so expensive.

I was just at LAX too and there was free WiFi. It even worked surprisingly well.
https://www.flylax.com/lax-wifi

Food is expensive and over priced at all airports.

[SpongeG]

my phone plan includes unlimited data in the USA but when I tried wifi at LAX all I could get directed me to pay for it. We usually try to avoid having to make any connections through USA airports, they are so aggressive and mean down there.

[nname]

Originally Posted by hollywoodcory

I was just at LAX too and there was free WiFi. It even worked surprisingly well.
https://www.flylax.com/lax-wifi

Except that it's only free for 45min...

===================

Anyways, some AC update over the last 2 weeks:

S24 changes
YYZ-YQY upgrade to mainline A319. I don't remember YQY ever get mainline service?
YUL-ZBF reduce to 4x weekly year-round. Maybe this is another the route that's at risk of being cut from AC's network altogether, after YYF?

W24 changes
The primary schedule once again shows some flight number reorg, for the 500 and 900 series:

YVR-DEN move down to 576/578
YYZ-HNL no longer in schedule
YYZ-IAH move up to 590/592
YUL-SEA move down to 596

Not sure what's the reason for this move... make more room for 6th daily YVR-SFO or 3rd daily YVR-HNL?

YUL-MBJ move up to 920
YUL-CUN move up to 922
YYZ-SJD move down to 976
YYZ-PVR move down to 988

So now the CUN and SJD flights from YVR/YYZ/YUL are all grouped together. PVR are still at random places, unless they kick MEX out and move the YVR flight down. One thing of note is that while they bother reorg the 900 series, they didn't make any extra room for new European XLR routes. So either they'll need to move them again for S25, or they have a completely different plan?


PS. first post on a new II thread!

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by nname

Except that it's only free for 45min...

===================

Anyways, some AC update over the last 2 weeks:

S24 changes
YYZ-YQY upgrade to mainline A319. I don't remember YQY ever get mainline service?
YUL-ZBF reduce to 4x weekly year-round. Maybe this is another the route that's at risk of being cut from AC's network altogether, after YYF?

W24 changes
The primary schedule once again shows some flight number reorg, for the 500 and 900 series:

YVR-DEN move down to 576/578
YYZ-HNL no longer in schedule
YYZ-IAH move up to 590/592
YUL-SEA move down to 596

Not sure what's the reason for this move... make more room for 6th daily YVR-SFO or 3rd daily YVR-HNL?

YUL-MBJ move up to 920
YUL-CUN move up to 922
YYZ-SJD move down to 976
YYZ-PVR move down to 988

So now the CUN and SJD flights from YVR/YYZ/YUL are all grouped together. PVR are still at random places, unless they kick MEX out and move the YVR flight down. One thing of note is that while they bother reorg the 900 series, they didn't make any extra room for new European XLR routes. So either they'll need to move them again for S25, or they have a completely different plan?


PS. first post on a new II thread!

A few comments:
-YQY would have had AC mainline service until probably circa 1990 on DC-9s.

-AC are obligated to continue serving ZBF as it was one of the dozen or so cities Transport Canada put a condition on of restarting service to as part of the COVID-19 bailout. They're keeping the bare minimum of service in order to meet their obligation. ZBF the airport itself is in a pretty dire financial situation: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...nces-1.6952158

I wish before locking the old thread, the mods would have linked to the new thread. Took me a couple of days to figure out what had happened and where to locate the new thread.

[nname]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

-AC are obligated to continue serving ZBF as it was one of the dozen or so cities Transport Canada put a condition on of restarting service to as part of the COVID-19 bailout. They're keeping the bare minimum of service in order to meet their obligation. ZBF the airport itself is in a pretty dire financial situation: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...nces-1.6952158

I believe the restriction no longer applies since AC already repaid. I think YYF was also one of the regional routes they suspended during pandemic and forced to restore, yet they still dropped it.

But it's likely harder for them to drop ZBF since they're the only one serving it and it may require approval. YYF still serve by 8P to YVR and WS to YYC.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by nname

I believe the restriction no longer applies since AC already repaid. I think YYF was also one of the regional routes they suspended during pandemic and forced to restore, yet they still dropped it.

But it's likely harder for them to drop ZBF since they're the only one serving it and it may require approval. YYF still serve by 8P to YVR and WS to YYC.

That's true eh. I'd forgotten AC had cancelled YYF during the pandemic.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/air-...tections%20for

The suspended destinations slated for a return no later than June 1 include, Bathurst, Comox, Fredericton, Gander, Goose Bay, Kamloops, North Bay, Penticton, Prince Rupert, St. John, Sydney and Yellowknife. Air Canada must also work with third parties to restore service to its permanently cancelled destinations.

[samuelx88]

Flair will start flying YYZ-YQB starting the 6th of may, 3X weekly.
YEG/YHZ-YQB no longer seem to be available anymore next summer.

[Dominion301]

AC's CRJ retirement lasted all of 4 days. They're back flying again tomorrow. I see a YUL-YOW rotation, YOW-DCA & YOW-EWR. Didn't look beyond those but would be surprised if there's a couple more out of YUL.

[JakeLRS]

Originally Posted by samuelx88

Flair will start flying YYZ-YQB starting the 6th of may, 3X weekly.
YEG/YHZ-YQB no longer seem to be available anymore next summer.

YVR-GDL new for summer 2024, 2x weekly
YVR-SFO now daily
YYZ-JFK gets bumped to daily next summer
YKF-YXX gets bumped to 6x weekly

YKF-YLW, YQG-YHZ, YQG-YVR, YXU-YHZ, YXU-YWG are no longer options on the drop down menu. I’m sure we’ll see more summer adds throughout the winter.

[Zmonkey]

Originally Posted by JakeLRS

YVR-GDL new for summer 2024, 2x weekly
YVR-SFO now daily
YYZ-JFK gets bumped to daily next summer
YKF-YXX gets bumped to 6x weekly

YKF-YLW, YQG-YHZ, YQG-YVR, YXU-YHZ, YXU-YWG are no longer options on the drop down menu. I’m sure we’ll see more summer adds throughout the winter.

What is the demand /driver for YVR - GDL?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Zmonkey

What is the demand /driver for YVR - GDL?

Cheap Mexican labour for the farms in the lower mainland?

We get charters every year at YQM from Mexico filled with workers for our seasonal fish plants.