Atlantic Canada airport thread

[Lobster chucker]

Originally Posted by sailor734

I thought YSJ was 3 a day with 4 in the summer?
The Beech 1900 was actually configured for 18 I think......19 and up requires a flight attendant

I think you’re right. They had the first officer come back to do the briefings. That actually makes it closer to 1500 flights a year

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by Lobster chucker

I think you’re right. They had the first officer come back to do the briefings. That actually makes it closer to 1500 flights a year

I actually enjoyed flying on those little 1900's. With the open cockpit if you took the front RH seat on the early morning flight you got a lovely view of the sunrise. ....and I always enjoyed being able to watch the landing through the windshield.

The only plane that's more fun is flying Cape Air's 402's when you get the co pilot's seat.

https://www.capeair.com/about_us/cape-air-fleet.html

[q12]

Originally Posted by sailor734

I actually enjoyed flying on those little 1900's. With the open cockpit if you took the front RH seat on the early morning flight you got a lovely view of the sunrise. ....and I always enjoyed being able to watch the landing through the windshield.

The only plane that's more fun is flying Cape Air's 402's when you get the co pilot's seat.

https://www.capeair.com/about_us/cape-air-fleet.html

Here's a review of the Saint John - Halifax (Air Canada Express operated by EVAS at the time) route back in 2018







https://princeoftravel.com/reviews/a...hn-to-halifax/

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by sailor734

I actually enjoyed flying on those little 1900's. With the open cockpit if you took the front RH seat on the early morning flight you got a lovely view of the sunrise. ....and I always enjoyed being able to watch the landing through the windshield.

I flew on one of those exactly once, a last minute substitution on an Air Canada flight from Montreal to Moncton perhaps 15 years ago. I actually sat in that seat and had a good view of the horizon bouncing around on final approach into YQM. It made me nervous.

And, I have actually flown (taken the yolk of) a plane before (with a friend who is a pilot).

[TitleRequired]

Out of curiosity, I reviewed westjet link, a feeder airline in BC that has a similar puddlejump arrangement like yhz<->ysj.

Comox to Vancouver is as low as 159$ one way, tax and fees included, with tiered pricing.
Nanaimo to Vancouver is as low as 89$ one way, ditto.

Tiered pricing has significant restrictions, and baggage fees on cheaper fares. The higher fares are fully refundable, name change etc... Flight durations are on the same scope.

This provides an additional datapoint on where the pricing could be. Non-tiered pricing can exclude price sensitive customers, at the detriment of lower yields.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by TitleRequired

Out of curiosity, I reviewed westjet link, a feeder airline in BC that has a similar puddlejump arrangement like yhz<->ysj.

Comox to Vancouver is as low as 159$ one way, tax and fees included, with tiered pricing.
Nanaimo to Vancouver is as low as 89$ one way, ditto.

Tiered pricing has significant restrictions, and baggage fees on cheaper fares. The higher fares are fully refundable, name change etc... Flight durations are on the same scope.

This provides an additional datapoint on where the pricing could be. Non-tiered pricing can exclude price sensitive customers, at the detriment of lower yields.

Exactly what we need to know. There’s no reason SJ to Halifax should cost $500+ round trip. Almost everyone will drive if they can at those prices. This isn’t what the Saint John Region needs… we need new connections on budget carriers to places like Montreal, Boston, and New York.

Our best hope remains Flair Airlines. The only budget carrier that’s stuck with YSJ, unlike Porter, and Swoop.

It’s in all Canadians best interests for these ultra low cost carriers to stay in business.

Saint John’s airport won’t be saved by a Porter connection to Boston via Toronto. If Porter devised a route that went Toronto-> Saint John/Fredericton -> Boston, then they might actually be on to something.

The Fredericton-> Toronto-> Boston flight might be one of the stupidest flights I’ve ever seen. You can literally drive there quicker than this flight.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Our best hope remains Flair Airlines. The only budget carrier that’s stuck with YSJ, unlike Porter, and Swoop

Porter is not a ULCC. It is a mainstream airline.

Flair is circling the drain. It will be gone by the end of the year.

Pascan is not the answer to SJ's woes.

The chances of attracting a US regional airline to YSJ are virtually nil.

Of all the options available, I would look at attempting to woo Porter back to YSJ. I think there is some growth potential there, what with hubs developing at St. Hubert and Ottawa.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Porter is not a ULCC. It is a mainstream airline.

Flair is circling the drain. It will be gone by the end of the year.

Pascan is not the answer to SJ's woes.

The chances of attracting a US regional airline to YSJ are virtually nil.

Of all the options available, I would look at attempting to woo Porter back to YSJ. I think there is some growth potential there, what with hubs developing at St. Hubert and Ottawa.

^Agree completely with those points.

If anything Porter is a semi premium product in some respects. Also, Porter is still in expansion mode and from what I've read has some capacity to add feeder routes in terms of aircraft availability. What's still holding them back is lack of pilots. Given WestJet's stated policy on eastern Canada I'd say Porter is not only YSJ's best option it's perhaps the only option as things stand right now.

[TitleRequired]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Exactly what we need to know. There’s no reason SJ to Halifax should cost $500+ round trip. Almost everyone will drive if they can at those prices. This isn’t what the Saint John Region needs… we need new connections on budget carriers to places like Montreal, Boston, and New York.

Yeah, I recall the westjet ceo at the time saying their competition is the bus services, not Air Canada. A carrier with that mentality is what we need, or at least one with a functioning yield management system to fill planes or at least tiered pricing to differentiate differing customer classes; and their differing willingness to pay.

I'm more focused on flying to Europe than the US, but would agree that a connection to Boston or NY could be useful for getting pretty much anywhere in the world.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by TitleRequired

Yeah, I recall the westjet ceo at the time saying their competition is the bus services, not Air Canada. A carrier with that mentality is what we need, or at least one with a functioning yield management system to fill planes or at least tiered pricing to differentiate differing customer classes; and their differing willingness to pay.

I'm more focused on flying to Europe than the US, but would agree that a connection to Boston or NY could be useful for getting pretty much anywhere in the world.

Connecting through NYC or Boston overseas only makes economic sense if you can get there from SJ on the same carrier or a codeshare partner.

Back in the day when AC and later Air Atlantic flew the YSJ-Boston route connecting onwards to other US destinations or overseas never made financial sense compared to going AC via TO or Montreal. That's when the whole "drive to Maine and start there thing" started to become popular. I once drove to Portland for
a trip to LA and saved literally thousands on each of 3 business class tickets compared to the AC fare

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by TitleRequired

Yeah, I recall the westjet ceo at the time saying their competition is the bus services, not Air Canada. A carrier with that mentality is what we need, or at least one with a functioning yield management system to fill planes or at least tiered pricing to differentiate differing customer classes; and their differing willingness to pay.

I'm more focused on flying to Europe than the US, but would agree that a connection to Boston or NY could be useful for getting pretty much anywhere in the world.

An overnight bus to Boston from Saint John would be a great option, and completely realistic compared to bringing back passenger rail.

I hope we can get Porter Airlines back to YSJ, but I don't see why some people are so quick to write off Flair. If they could make a winter flight between Saint John and Orlando work, they could probably make a summer flight between Saint John and Boston or New York work as well. That type of flight could be quite the boost to tourism in Saint John, unlike the Orlando flight that was all about getting New Brunswickers down to Florida, and not vice versa.

Flair's Orlando flight was quite an impressive connection for YSJ. I for one will not be rooting against Flair Airlines... keeping my fingers crossed they stay a float and prove their naysayers wrong.