I could be wrong, but I think the flights are maxed on the Chinese side, so almost no chance for Hainan to return. Any increase in flights would certainly result in more for YVR before YYC.

YYC-China will probably have to wait for WS to get more 787s.

As per the assertions by a couple eastern based contributors a few posts back. True YYC does have a smaller O/D population to draw from. It also has the whole prairie region and the rest of the western Canada to feed its “quirky” flights. It’s drawn heavily to fill its unique flights to BCN,FCO and other European/Asian destinations. They have done quite well. I have no doubt US travellers will also help fill the GRU flight as well since there are no other direct options from the western part of the US. YYC like all hub Airports exists because of connections to all its destinations. I doubt this will be any different.

There is alots of direct flights allowed from the Mainland Chinese side to Canada, almost all covid restrictions are gone. Chinease carriers have the capacity to add Calgary 3 times a day if they wanted, they don't want to. There focus is Vancouver and Toronto.

With Visa potentially going away and a push for more trade with China which will be focused on agra and energy that may help Calgary get something from the Chinese side.

I have never understood this deserved thing you always see online with aviation. Our company has worked with aviation for 16 years, literally not once has anyone brought up deserved in real life.

Airlines do not care what cities deserve. Not Air Canada with Toronto or Montreal or Calgary with WestJet. They want to minimize risk, max out profits. They are looking at where other airports are, how easy airports are to feed, staff issues, deals they get with airports, where airplanes are best utilized etc etc etc.

Sure airlines will try things, but its all in the context of long term profits and how to use there assets in most efficient manner.

Why does Westjet do well in Calgary? They had an airline who took a shot in part of the country that was going through a massive boom, massive corporate spend and was a high cost area of the country and they took off. They could probably expand Toronto today, but likely make more money elsewhere with the same planes.

Air Canada really turned Toronto into a HUB when Toronto airport got a new CEO from Hong Kong and said Air Canada should have 0 landing fees (which happened for 10 years). 10 Years later Toronto turned into a global hub.

I always wondered by Porter had a crew base in Thunder Bay.

Closure of Porter Airlines crew bases to affect 60 pilots in Thunder Bay, Ont., and Halifax, N.S.
Union says decision will affect 28 pilots in Thunder Bay, 32 pilots in Halifax
Sarah Law · CBC News · Posted: Jan 23, 2026

The upcoming closures of Porter Airlines’ crew bases in Thunder Bay, Ont., and Halifax, N.S., will affect 60 pilots, according to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

Porter says the closures, which come into effect this May, are part of its “transformative growth plan” as it looks to consolidate crew bases at its hubs in Toronto and Ottawa.

“After considering various scenarios, we found that consolidating crew bases in these two cities is the most effective way to organize crew and operate flights,” a spokesperson for Porter said in a statement to CBC News....

...The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 4061, which represents more than 1,200 cabin crew at Porter, says the decision will affect about 60 of its members, including 26 flight attendants in Thunder Bay...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thund...lots-9.7057905

Well the difference between GRU and existing WS flights is:
LAX-YYC-FCO or LAX-YYC-NRT makes sense
LAX-YYC-GRU ....??? That's almost like connecting at YYZ for YVR-China flight

The only draw it will have is from Western Canada like YEG and especially YVR.. and maybe the north-western part of US like SEA. It may work for Asia but the flight doesn't seems to timed too well for both directions. AC could easily come and spoil the party by adding YVR-GRU and provide much better feed, if they want to.


No, they are currently maxed out. Why do you think MU and CZ only fly twice-weekly to YVR? They wanted daily, but they are capacity restricted.

From what I've seen, HU still holds the right for YYC-PEK. But now they are restricted to 2x weekly, and they chose to split it to 1x YVR and 1x YYZ. If they got more right, likely they'll choose to fill YYZ to daily and YVR to at least 2 or 3x weekly before even thinking about YYC.

No other Chinese airline currently have right to any other YYC route.

Beyond the cost of getting to/from the airport at YQT or YHZ, I can't imagine the above statement is correct. I've never heard of an airline forcing deadheading crew/employees to pay to do so.

YHZ are the first of the 8 main airports with 2025 year-end results:

December:

Sector / 2019 / 2024 / 2025 / % Change vs 24 / vs 19
Dom: 260,139 / 226,262 / 232,943 / +3.0% / -10.5%
TB: 21,581 / 24,831 / 21,116 / -15.0% / -2.2%
Int'l: 2,925 / 19,589 / 20,996 / +7.2% / +617.8%
TTL: 284,645 / 270,682 / 275,055 / +1.6% / -3.4%

Full Year:

Sector / 2019 / 2024 / 2025 / % Change vs 24 / vs 19
Dom: 3,524,167 / 3,222,284 / 3,271,046 / +1.5% / -7.2%
TB: 361,348 / 316,448 / 343,257 / +8.5% / -5.0%
Int'l: 302,928 / 441,053 / 526,181 / +19.3% / +73.7%
TTL: 4,188,443 / 3,979,785 / 4,140,484 / +4.0% / -1.1%

While YHZ has recovered to 98.9% of 2019 traffic, the traffic mix has changed quite a bit between domestic and international, while transborder hasn't changed much. Also, YHZ's record year was actually 2018 at 4,316,079, so 2025 recovered to 95.9% of 2018's total. YHZ got hammered in 2019 by the MAX grounding.

[QUOTE=nname;10543380]Well the difference between GRU and existing WS flights is:
LAX-YYC-FCO or LAX-YYC-NRT makes sense
LAX-YYC-GRU ....??? That's almost like connecting at YYZ for YVR-China flight

The only draw it will have is from Western Canada like YEG and especially YVR.. and maybe the north-western part of US like SEA. It may work for Asia but the flight doesn't seems to timed too well for both directions. AC could easily come and spoil the party by adding YVR-GRU and provide much better feed, if they want to.


Obviously LAX isn’t an obvious choice (not to mention they have a GRU flight already with LATAM). There are 10’s of millions of people who live within a 2-3 hour flight to YYC that can connect one stop that can fill the plane. The timings of the flight aren’t great, but give it a chance to work. Maybe they can get better times in the future. WS sees a market with YYC-GRU. There are many ways to fill it up. Can’t think of any 789 flights overseas on WS metal from YYC that haven’t worked. Only two out of YYC that don’t exist anymore (AMS, LGW) stopped because of lack of metal. End of the day they might know what they are doing??

There won't be a a lot of draw from the US for YYC to GRU, but there will be some draw for closer cities like MSP or SEA. Most US passengers will go to another American hub to go to GRU, but depending on schedules and prices some may end up going through YYC even if it's not the most efficient route. Every overseas WS flight from YYC that I've taken always has a few Americans. For GRU, hard to say, we'll see.

True. Most of the draw will come from Western Canada as a whole. The population of the 4 western provinces isn't much less than Ontario which serves GRU via YYZ, and is more than Quebec + Maritimes, which serves GRU from YUL so the population is there. It's tight but I think it's enough.

They won't though. It's only a better feed for people coming from southeast Asia, but those people don't need to go through YVR for that, they have dozens other hops. AC would need a larger source of Canadian passengers.
Is it a good fit for WS out of YYC? maybe not, but it's a better fit WS from YYC than AC from YVR.

MSP or anything east... well you just need to plot the route on a map to see what's the issue of that.

DL would want to feed the passengers to their ATL hub, and AC will try to compete aggressively to feed into their YYZ/YUL hub, plus AA through DFW or UA through ORD. Comparing the distance, through ATL or ORD is almost the same as direct flight, through DFW is +7.5%, through YUL is +8%, and through YYC for WS is +37%!!!! No matter what WS do, there's no way to compensate the extra fuel burn for that...

As for Asian connection... SE Asia is probably too much of a detour through NA and going through Middle East is a much shorter route. It's all about Japan, Korea, and part of China...

WS appears to be at least partially publishing its S26 this weekend. Some of it is already visible via codeshares.

Only seems to go up June 21. Guess it’s being done in patches to gauge US demand?

There is other earlier than expected results in post 3985, my fellow statistically minded friend :)

I agree YVR would be better than YYC for connecting passengers from those countries, but relying on connecting passengers is not enough for AC to do a direct to GUR, as those countries have lots of options to get to GUR.

Agree, Calgary YYC - China flights ✈️will return in a few years time when (WS) WestJet gets deliveries more Boeing 787’s✅.

Even Montreal YUL Canada’s 3rd busiest airport doesn’t have a direct flight to China currently- (pre pandemic they did on Air China) & when YUL - China resumes again in a few years time, likely will be (AC) Air Canada flying it✅.

Why thank you. I missed that one. :P

WS updated its S26 schedule, updated until June 21. Several more US routes got yanked during that time period:

YYC-HNL
YYC-OGG
YEG-ATL
YEG-SEA
YLW-SEA
YVR-BNA
YVR-SFO
YVR-SAN
YVR-BOS
YVR-MCO
YYZ-LAX

At the same time, YYC-BOS is upped to 10x weekly.

Kelowna Passenger Update and Terminal Expansion
 

YLW Kelowna International just posted their Dec 2025 passenger numbers. They had a record year at 2,315,432 passengers for 2025!


Also Kelowna's new terminal expansion opens this week.
• Video Link

https://www.travelpulse.ca/news/airl...calgary-mexico

Some interesting new routes from AC. Mostly Toronto and Montreal to Latin America with some additions for Europe. Also some winter flights from Calgary to Mexico.

Flight From To Departs Arrives Days Season
AC962 Montréal (YUL) Quito (UIO) 17:40 00:10 (+1) Wed, Fri, Sun Dec. 4, 2026 – Mar. 26, 2027
AC963 Quito (UIO) Montréal (YUL) 09:00 15:15 Mon, Thu, Sat Dec. 5, 2026 – Mar. 27, 2027
AC960 Toronto (YYZ) Quito (UIO) 17:55 00:10 (+1) Sat Dec. 5, 2026 – Mar. 20, 2027
AC961 Quito (UIO) Toronto (YYZ) 09:00 15:10 Sun Dec. 6, 2026 – Mar. 21, 2027

Year-Round Europe Flights from Toronto
As of late October 2026, Air Canada will operate year-round flights from Toronto to Manchester and Copenhagen.

Europe flight schedule:
Flight From To Departs Arrives Days Effective
AC908 Toronto (YYZ) Manchester (MAN) 21:00 09:00 (+1) Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun Oct. 25, 2026
AC909 Manchester (MAN) Toronto (YYZ) 12:00 15:05 Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat Oct. 26, 2026
AC828 Toronto (YYZ) Copenhagen (CPH) 21:15 10:15 (+1) Tue, Thu, Sat Oct. 27, 2026
AC829 Copenhagen (CPH) Toronto (YYZ) 11:45 14:45 Wed, Fri, Sun Oct. 28, 2026



New Calgary Sun Routes (Winter 2026–27)
Air Canada will add new non-stop winter service from Calgary to Mexico beginning in December.

Calgary sun flight schedule:

Flight From To Departs Arrives Days Season
AC2120 Calgary (YYC) Cancun (CUN) 08:30 15:50 Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun Dec. 11, 2026 – Apr. 11, 2027
AC2121 Cancun (CUN) Calgary (YYC) 16:50 21:00 Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun Dec. 11, 2026 – Apr. 11, 2027
AC2122 Calgary (YYC) Puerto Vallarta (PVR) 10:50 16:40 Tue, Thu, Sat Dec. 10, 2026 – Apr. 10, 2027
AC2123 Puerto Vallarta (PVR) Calgary (YYC) 17:40 21:45 Tue, Thu, Sat Dec. 10, 2026 – Apr. 10, 2027

https://www.aircanada.com/media/more...mexico-routes/

A321XLR base at YYZ will enable MAN and CPH to go year round.

Interesting that UIO is 3x weekly from YUL but only 1 weekly from YYZ. They must be seeing stronger demand to Ecuador from Montreal, and/or the European connections to Spain out of YUL make more sense.

On a A321XLR. Hopefully reverts back to a 787 for summer 2027.

Perhaps, but remember, with SAS no longer in star alliance, and no longer providing onward feel like they used to, the XLR might now be the best fit for Canada-CPH, even in summer.

The fact it's only 3x weekly XLR service in winter definitely means a daily XLR from both YYZ and YUL in summer is within the realm of possibilities, and probably the ideal capacity to Denmark proper.

Don't know if this is the first time Air Canada calls YUL a global hub, but either way, nice to see YUL join the ranks of YYZ and YYC ! It took some time and effort, but we finally managed to equal the - 7 dreamliner strong - global hub of Calgary.....:notacrook:

AC's YUL-BER is also being increased from 3 to 4 weekly for the summer.

Just missing PVG and PEK back to really emphasize that :)

It's ok. The YYC global hub doesn't have PEK or PVG either ! We can breathe a sigh of relief, for now....;)

Montreal has a larger Spanish speaking population than Toronto. Not sure which countries the speakers are from.

Welcome to the club :)

Heyyy, we have LTO though! Even if you've joined the global club I bet you can't beat that!!!

Man Latin America must be booming for demand, even if GRU is sketchy from YYC there must be something in the air, metaphorically and literally...

Or just that AC is trying to find some use for all the widebodies that are now too big for MIA, MCO, FLL, etc. There are only so much widebodies AC is willing to send toward YVR base. They've sent 2 from the east this winter and only getting 1 back for summer. Unless there are some cuts, looks like they will be sending 2 again next winter.

I'm more curious how AC is going to fly the two Mexican route from YYC. Are they going to base a few Rouge crew at YYC? Since the 8:30am flight to CUN is too early for them to fly from YVR, unless they are planning to add a Rouge flight from YVR to YYC at 4:45am...

It will most likely be YVR crew that do them, built into a multi day paring.

That would suck. No PE on the XLR it looks like. Not shoehorning my 6'5 frame and both our ample keisters into economy for an 8 hour flight lol. In looking at this summer for comparison's sake, SAS charges a good 60% more for PE than Air Canada on the same night. Oh well, it's all hypothetical until the booking window opens this fall anyway.

Latin America is definitely booming, with no sign of abatement, at least for AC.

I don't know if I said this here or on airliners.net, but I think WS chose correctly to go to a LATAM hub. They just chose the wrong hub. They should have started with LIM instead of GRU. It would have been 1500nm shorter (over 3hr flight time) each way ! Plus LIM is a better connecting hub, especially if your end destination is western or Northern South America. A vast majority of connections from GRU to other South American points involve a backtrack.

Choosing Medellin as their first foray into South America was a bit weird as well. We'll see if their route planning department made the right decisions soon enough.

A bunch of new Porter routes being announced for this summer today.

YYZ-BOS
YYZ-YQB (again)
YOW-YQG
YOW-YSB
YOW-YLW
YHM-YYT
YHM-YWG
YUL-BOS
YTZ-BNA

^nice.

I just got the Porter MC and look forward to their Western expansion and love their partnership with Alaska in the meantime.

YSB and YQG to YOW have long been talked about in terms of getting them connected to the rest of the PD network beyond YTZ's offerings. I wonder if Propair will continue to serve YSB-YOW-YUL with no security via the FBOs?

The YQB-YYZ schedule makes no sense without an additional daily E95 going somewhere out of YQB:

YQB-YYZ:
PD 188 1055-1230 X6
PD 190 1715-1850 D

YYZ-YQB:
PD 189 0830-1000 X6
PD 191 2035-2205 D

Word on the street is Eithad is coming to YYC later this year.

Calgary Herald reporting it

https://calgaryherald.com/news/calga...-flight-to-uae

It’s legit, now bookable:

EY29 AUH 08:45 - 12:20 YYC 789 2457
EY30 YYC 18:05 - 19:00+1 AUH 789 2457

Big year for YYC gaining South America and the Middle East.

You guys me to it. There were rumors of YYC to the middle east and I was a bit skeptical, but it's legit. :cheers:

I knew the province wanted it, we have clients in the industry, and I didn't think this was going to happen. I am legit surprised by this.

It does say 789 in that timetable you quoted

Yep. Still early in the morning here. :haha:

That’s great! Etihad Airways 787-9 are perfect for Calgary YYC - Im guessing they use a mix of their 226 / 290 seat 787’s for YYC✅.

Congrats YYC.

YEG just got seasonal to Kamloops, so there!

Brazil and now the middle east. Major scores for YYC.

A 226 seat config would certainly make sense to ensure little to no payload restrictions. This makes more sense than DXB where EK would struggle to get out of YYC on a 359 with a decent payload in the summertime.

Huge year for YYC and YHZ. Mind you, all of the 8 major airports this summer are gaining new transatlantic routes + YQB, so you could say it's a big year across the country.

Fair Points , although Etihad Airways 226 787 seater as additional 8 First Class Cabin Seats - (that would be a tough sell out of Calgary YYC)

Their 290 seater 787 can do the YYC route just fine. Plus they can fly over Russia Airspace helps.

@Thenoflyzone can chime in with greater expertise on this subject, but YYC's high elevation might make the standard 290 seat layout challenging to operate to YYC in summer without taking a huge payload hit on the outbound.

True about the 8 F seats, but filling a few of those might be doable with oil traffic.

https://www.etihad.com/en-ca/news/fr...st-and-calgary

Was wondering what EY was going to do with its share of Canadian slots. Well it's now clear(er). EK and EY will split western Canada. One to YVR, the other to YYC.

Congrats to YYC. This one is a huge steal !

Lately EY has been launching service to secondary markets. Charlotte, Luxembourg, Palma and now Calgary. A clear strategy to steer clear of other ME carriers.

The presser only mentions 4x weekly. Wonder what they will do with the other 3x weekly frequencies (assuming the agreement with EK was to split it 7x/7x). Either they are keeping those frequencies in their back pocket, to see how YYC does, in order to be able to increase it to daily eventually if it's successful, or they are planning on increasing YYZ to 10x weekly. It could also be that EK is getting 10x weekly, and EY only 4x, but I doubt that's the case.

The presser only mentions business and economy class, so it seems it will be on a 290 seater.

As for the B789 and YYC's altitude, according to Boeing's ACAP document, with typical engines, and on a cool day (around 9 celsius), the payload hit is only 10,000 lbs. It's not too bad. If it's closer to 23C, the hit is 20,000 lbs. If EY has the high-thrust engines, then there is no payload hit, even on days it's 25 celsius.

Considering the B789 can carry 90,000 lbs of payload on YYC-AUH, a 20k hit (assuming typical engines) in summer is manageable. They'll take pax/bags, and less or no cargo.

If WS can do YYC-GRU with a 320 seater, EY should be able to do YYC-AUH with a 290 seater, especially if they can fly the great circle route over Russia. The route is only 540nm longer than YYC-GRU. And as I said, the cooler temps in November will surely help, at least for the start of the route.

Both these routes will benefit from a bit of tailwind as well.

Find it funny EY's presser mentions " the only nonstop link between the Middle East and Western Canada".

It won't be for long. EY is revealing their hand more than 9 months out.

EK presser for their YUL launch was on 24 april 2023, and the route started 5 July 2023. Only 2.5 months later.

Wouldn't be surprised to see EK announce YVR and start the route 2-3 months later, similar to what they did with YUL. So EY will definitely not be the only carrier to western Canada, and might not even be the first Middle-Eastern one.

A 3 month head start is a bit tight, though. 6 months is better. So if EK announces in the next little while, with a 6 month head start, they can still beat out EY.