Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW)

[fanofYOW]

As per their social media posts, looks like Porter's hangar opening ceremony is today.

Edit: Here's the PR: https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...intenance-Base

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by mxg308

Looking forward to my Rouge flights to YQB on Wednesday mornings at 12:45am and my return flight from YQB Sunday mornings at 12:30am this upcoming winter! Jokes aside I assume these are repositioning flights and maybe AC gets lucky and gets a few revenue passengers.

That's cool. May as well try and sell a few seats on what's essentially a repo flight...but good luck doing so with a $388 one-way fare. Delayed departures aside, a 0045 departure must be earliest in the morning YOW's ever had for a scheduled departure.

The YOW-YQB leg might actually carry a few pax as connections will be possible with decent or very good connection times from YYZ, YTZ, YHZ, EWR, IAD & ORD. There's also some 8-14 hr connections if someone going from like YWG wants to spend the day in Ottawa before continuing to YQB.

In the other direction, it's the equivalent of westbound redeye connections.

While browsing for connections for these unique flights, I didn't realize that the AC346 YVR-YOW will still be a redeye this winter. I don't think YOW's ever had a winter season redeye before.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by fanofYOW

As per their social media posts, looks like Porter's hangar opening ceremony is today.

Edit: Here's the PR: https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...intenance-Base

When I drove by Saturday evening, both sets of doors were open and there was an E95 in each one.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by fanofYOW

As per their social media posts, looks like Porter's hangar opening ceremony is today.

Edit: Here's the PR: https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...intenance-Base

“Porter currently has 33 Embraer E195-E2 in our fleet with an order of up to 100, and we expect delivery of the 47th aircraft by the end of the year,” Michael Deluce, CEO Porter Airlines, told CityNews Ottawa. “Porter will continue to develop our network in YOW to destinations across Canada and in the U.S., utilizing both the E195 and Dash 8 aircraft.”

I have to assume (like others have said), that LAX & SFO (perhaps not daily each), LAS (perhaps not daily), an additional Florida market (in the winter at 2-4 weekly), and additional frequency on MCO, YVR, and perhaps FLL is in the near term outlook (3-9 months).

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by MountainView

I have to assume (like others have said), that LAX & SFO (perhaps not daily each), LAS (perhaps not daily), an additional Florida market (in the winter at 2-4 weekly), and additional frequency on MCO, YVR, and perhaps FLL is in the near term outlook (3-9 months).

Quoting myself... I know, sorry.

But I have to wonder, and would like other opinions, if Porter announces YOW-LAX or SFO, would AC and UA announce something in retaliation? I am not up-to-date on UA fleet, but I know AC is having some A220 issues and general fleet squeeze. I feel like that is the best aircraft for a potential retaliation on the LAX route.
OR - would they hope that Star A fliers continue to connect via YYZ or ORD for westward flying.

[Rhb]

Originally Posted by MountainView

Quoting myself... I know, sorry.

But I have to wonder, and would like other opinions, if Porter announces YOW-LAX or SFO, would AC and UA announce something in retaliation? I am not up-to-date on UA fleet, but I know AC is having some A220 issues and general fleet squeeze. I feel like that is the best aircraft for a potential retaliation on the LAX route.
OR - would they hope that Star A fliers continue to connect via YYZ or ORD for westward flying.

AC using a Dreamliner to YVR is their response to these direct (future) flights IMHO. It also helps AC in their ability to price below Porter Airlines direct flights to US west coast.

[Rhb]

Ottawa airport passenger volume numbers are out for April 2024.

https://yow.ca/en/corporate/airport-...ssenger-volume

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by Rhb

AC using a Dreamliner to YVR is their response to these direct (future) flights IMHO. It also helps AC in their ability to price below Porter Airlines direct flights to US west coast.

Thanks! The Dreamliner throughout the winter is definitely a positive for what you said.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by Rhb

Ottawa airport passenger volume numbers are out for April 2024.

https://yow.ca/en/corporate/airport-...ssenger-volume

If I read the numbers right, YOW up 12% when you compare Jan-Apr 23 with Jan-Apr 24.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by MountainView

If I read the numbers right, YOW up 12% when you compare Jan-Apr 23 with Jan-Apr 24.

Good estimate - +12.6% in April and +13.6% YTD. Here's the full breakdown:

Sector / Apr-23 / Apr-24 / % Change
Dom: 232,650 / 237,243 / +2.0%
TB: 52,247 / 73,984 / +41.6% - beats the previous April record of 71,958 from 2013
Int'l: 28,488 / 41,562 / +45.9% - 3rd best April (2015 was the record with 45,155) - pretty good considering WG ended their season early April instead of at the end of the month
TTL: 313,385 / 352,789 / +12.6% - recovered to just behind April 2010's 356,707

Sector / YTD 2023 / YTD 2024 / % Change
Dom: 874,275 / 870,231 / -0.5%
TB: 199,702 / 313,556 / +57.0%
Int'l: 190,729 / 253,418 / +32.9%
TTL: 1,264,706 / 1,437,205 / +13.6% - currently on pace for 4.65 million pax

If PD more than replace the lost WS & F8 transborder capacity this winter, there's a chance the 2012 record of 775,040 could be broken, but May-October will need to average 60k/month. Not sure if that's possible between UA's increasing capacity, AC's cut capacity and PD's increased capacity (6x vs 3x daily this summer, incl 1x E95). There's no pre-pandemic DL or AA anymore of course.

April % of traffic recovered vs 2019 / YTD vs 2019
Sector / Traffic % recovered April 2024 vs April 2019 / Traffic % recovered YTD 2024 vs YTD 2019
Dom: 73.8% / 73.2% - huge laggard until PD hits their summer peak
TB: 108.6% / 111.0%
Int'l: 129.1% / 114.3%
TTL: 83.7% / 84.9%

12 Months Rolling / % Change vs Year End 2022
Dom: 3,198,855 / +18.1%
TB: 689,987 / +262.5%
Int'l: 379,571 / +277.1%
TTL: 4,268,413 / +42.3%