General Aviation Thread
 

I'm creating this new general aviation thread for any discussions on airlines, airports and flights outside of Ottawa.

Anything related to the Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW) should go in the original thread:

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...84#post9961084

For anything related to the Gatineau Airport:

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...hlight=airport

This may be old news but Toronto-Pearson and Montreal-Trudeau are the top 2 in the world for airport delays:

https://facesmag.ca/toronto-and-mont...irport-delays/

Judging by the seat map of my summer trip with AF, seems like the flights to and from YOW from CDG are full. You'd think AC would be smart enough to re-instate YOW-FRA (and other services from other non-hubs) instead of continuing to increase capacity in YYZ and YUL. It's no secret that people are doing their best to avoid those two. This would at least take some pressure off traffic in these two airports and they would actually be able to compete with AF. We may be unimportant scum to them but these unimportant scums are paying ~$200k+ per one-way flight to/from CDG that you'd think they'd want.

AC has said this entire time "post-pandemic" that they are going to build their hubs back up to 100%, with YYZ, YUL, and YVR.

The morning YOW-YHZ on AC Jazz is basically a feeder for YHZ's B38M flight to LHR. I was on the flight, connecting to YYT, and it seemed like half the flight strolled over to the LHR gate.

As mentioned before, AC only has 8 B788's which would be perfect for LHR/FRA from YOW. It would be tough to get an A330 here since they are based in YUL. Our best bet is filling the AF to CDG, and waiting for AC to receive A321XLRs, or LH / BA wanting to fly to FRA or LHR/LGW. I'm sure the airport authority has been in contact with them.

Given that they've been deploying Dreamliners on YOW-YVR, a rotation of YVR-YOW-Europe-YOW-YVR would make sense. Probably better use of the aircraft than when they used to have the Rapidair flight on the 767.

YVR-YOW-Europe would be getting too far from base. That plane is usually on an Asian/Australian turn from YVR.

The rapidair flights used to be to reposition the 767 back in YYZ. So, LHR-YOW-YYZ, and then YYZ-YOW-FRA. Where the other did a FRA-YOW-LHR routing... but then went back to YYZ.

So you'd have FRA-YOW-LHR-YOW-YYZ.
And another plane did YYZ-YOW-FRA-YOW, etc.

That was the original excuse to build back up the hubs yes. But in the past few months they’ve been adding brand new routes. YVR-DXB (for example) I guess is more important than building back what once was in their non-hubs. If they wanted to, they would free up a 788 for YOW-LHR somehow. Or forget about the 788, they can deploy the MAX. I truly believe they are moving more towards hub-spoke like the major US carriers. If we get more than LHR and FRA with these XLRs I will be very surprised. Now that my main hope of AF serving YOW has come true, my second hope is BA with codeshare with PD.

Building back-up YVR is definitely more important to them than building back their non-hubs.

YVR-DXB replaces DEL since AC can't economically fly that route without overflying Russia, whereas Air India who flies the route, does overfly Russia. AC is starting a codeshare with EK (Emirates) and the Canada-UAE bilateral has been expanded. So this route makes lots of sense for AC. Think of it as a one-for-one replacement with DEL.

Is this unfortunate for YOW? Definitely.
But AC can do whatever is best for their business.

Happy 17th birthday to Porter: https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...896281080.html

Here's to the next 17!

Reminder: any aviation news not directly related to YOW goes here.

Thank you.

Well one direct flight out of Ottawa this year, but it's back to YUL for March break. $1900 savings for 4 people will get me every time.

Mods: please move the referenced post and any ensuing discussion to the correct thread.

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=254988

Thanks.

Done :tup:

Kind of late to be booking for March Break. We booked on the new Porter flight to MCO months ago. My wife did the booking, so I’m not sure the exact price, but it was reasonable.

Here's some YRO news. Ingenium, for the Canada Aviation and Space Museum have added a de Havilland Canada Buffalo CC-115 to their collection (DHC-5 on the civil side).

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...876935946.html

https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/228..._115.jpg?w=600

Saw this from Porter today for those looking to use Porter (and transat) to get to Europe

https://i.imgur.com/8ms52k4.png

That's a match made in heaven. In your face, Air Canada! I'm still boiling that Westjet was allowed to buy Sunwing, but this softens the blow a little.

Air Canada lands last in on-time flights in ranking of North American airlines
Canada's biggest carrier landed 63% of its flights on time in 2023

The Canadian Press
Posted: Jan 02, 2024 3:09 PM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Air Canada notched the worst on-time performance among 10 large airlines in North America in 2023, according to a new report.

The country's biggest carrier landed 63 per cent of its flights on time last year, placing it last among the continent's 10 largest airlines, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm.

That means roughly 140,000 planes rolled up to the gate more than 15 minutes after scheduled arrival.

The score was five percentage points below the second- and third-lowest carriers, JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines.

Canada's other major airline, WestJet, placed seventh in North America with a score of 69 per cent.

<more>

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air...time-1.7072663

NO! :uhh:

And in other news, Air Canada stock drops 3.82% today, after news that it was the worst North American airline in terms of on-time performance.

The market was surprised? :runaway:

I wonder how much of that was AC’s own fault vs. delays caused by outside factors at two of its hubs YYZ and YUL.

Is that it?

All Canadian airlines face the same weather conditions and such. Not an excuse. If anything, they should be better equipped to deal with outside factors.

They reap what they sow. AC contributes to the crowding at YUL/YYZ by shoving everyone they can through there.

Very good point. It truly amazes me the lengths they'll go to just to avoid boosting service at YOW.

I recently got a change in message for transatlantic flights I have booked in May. They pushed the arrival time back without changing the departure. I am guessing their solution is to build more cushion into the schedule.

Just an FYI to those who haven't already seen, Costco is selling $500 Porter certificates for $450. Some easy savings if you already know you're flying with them. Can also get an e-certificate on costco.ca.

Flair Airlines owes $67 million in unpaid taxes as CRA opens door to seize carrier's property
Airline's CEO says the company and CRA have agreed on a payment plan

The Canadian Press
Posted: Jan 29, 2024 2:45 PM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

Court documents show Flair Airlines owes the federal government $67.2 million in unpaid taxes, prompting the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to obtain an order for the seizure and sale of the carrier's property.

The money relates to import duties on the roughly 20 Boeing 737 Max jetliners that make up the budget airline's fleet and "which were needed to meet the travel demand in a post-COVID world," CEO Stephen Jones said.

However, he said the Federal Court order obtained by the tax agency in November has no impact on the carrier's operations, which have expanded over the past year and ramped up competition with rival airlines, and that the company has agreed to settle the debt.

"We have a mutually agreed-upon payment plan with CRA to pay these importation duties, and we are current with that plan," Jones said in an emailed statement to CBC News, adding that the terms of the deal are confidential.

<more>

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/fla...rder-1.7098045

Do you think with Porter - Air Transat, we might see more flights direct to YOW with Transat with transfers to Porter's new fleet based here?

I don't think Transat has the fleet flexibility in the summer to offer anything from YOW - Europe right now. Their partnership will focus on YYZ/YUL connections (hence new western Canada routes on Porter to YUL) for the 2024 summer.
Perhaps an LGW route in 2025 on Transat would be a possibility.

That's a shame. So the issues with on-time performance and overcrowding at YYZ/YUL will continue, and even outside players aren't creative enough to try something different.

It's not necessarily their creativity. In my opinion, any likely many others, Porter is creating enough feed along with YOW's O&D to generate a feasible LGW route for example. Let's not forget, AC flew to LHR off mostly O&D for years (pre-pandemic obviously). The issue with Transat is that a third of their fleet may be ground this summer with known issues on their A321 engines (an aircraft that can, and does fly, trans-Atlantic from YYZ/YUL.

article regarding engine issues

Flight help
 

Hey everyone I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but me and my friends were looking to go on vacation using a vacation package to Punta Cana, and we wanted to leave from Ottawa, but we kept finding more resort deals from Montreal or certain resorts that only have deals from Montreal. Does anyone know somewhere I can look, like a website or such, or any advice? it would really nice to leave from Ottawa instead of Montreal.

Try tripcentral.ca but it's usually better to buy direct from the tour operator, like Sunwing for example.

Welcome to the forum! :cheers:

Go to a site like selloffvacations.com (on at least an iPad but better a full computing OS). Enter your trip details and search, then when the initial results appear perform additional filtering by nonstop/direct flights only. You can do other filtering as desired too (star rating, price, amenities, etc.).

Another interesting option is Costco travel, if you’re a member. They often offer upgraded rooms or other non-standard inclusions, including Costco shop cards.

Looks like PUJ is served nonstop from YOW on days 1=Mon, 3, 5, 6, 7 by either AC, Transat, or Flair (6). No idea if Flair does packages or flights only.

flight help
 

thank you I've been a long time viewer of the threads:cheers:

Thanks for the information. That website is great. Another thing that could be the reason I can't find a trip is because we planned it to be in October and buy the tickets by August. For example, there's a resort called Riu Repbulica where you can't find any package for it when you want to leave from Ottawa, but when you say you want to leave Montreal, you can book it. which is quite unfortunate as its a resort that we are leaning towards doing.

Make sure you read lots of recent reviews of the resorts. I have had multiple friends go to various resorts this winter so far and they have had lots of complaints about shoddy service, resorts not very clean and a real shortage of drinks and food (wine and potatoes were a common shortage).

As for time of year, yeah outside the winter, the options are usually limited to the major airports like Montreal and Toronto. The package deals from the regional airports usually don't ramp up until well into November or even in December for some.

Agreed. Even then a resort that was good last month can become bad this month. Of course part of the issue is how well they can solve problems. It’s difficult to avoid problems all together, but the key is can/will they fix it or will they ignore it, and let it persist.

So far I see service to PUJ from YOW commencing October 30 with Transat. I’m not sure I see any advantage to booking this soon for something so far out, especially not in a peak season.

Thanks for the help from all of you. I should've clarified that we aren't booking right now, but we were confused with why we can't book this resort from Ottawa but we can from Montreal, hence why I came here for help, but knowing these tips, website, and dates that you guys gave will help a lot. :tup:

Royal Air Force demonstration team The Red Arrows announced a late summer visit to Canada to commemorate the RCAF 100th Anniversary. In addition to their airshow performances at CFB Greenwood, Toronto and London, they will be at the Gatineau airshow Sept 6, 7 and 8. They will also be doing a flypast over Ottawa on Sept 4 as they arrive in from Toronto. In their 2019 tour, they also travelled with an A400M Atlas transport aircraft as well, so odds are they will have one of these along this time as well.

The RCAF Snowbirds and the USAF Thunderbirds will also be performing that weekend, so this will be an incredible show to be at. And most of the performers will likely be based at YOW (Snowbirds might be on the ground at Gatineau as in years past).

If anyone is planning on flying the YOW-CDG route with AF over the next year or so, until March 10 you can sign up for this credit card and get a year of Flying Blue silver status, which gives a free checked bag, free seat selection and priority check-in and boarding. The first year annual fee is waived. Note the card itself doesn't have any of these benefits, just the status given upon signup.

https://brim.flyingblue.ca/card/signup_en_2

I did a YOW<->FLL trip recently using Porter, some thoughts below:

* Booking - having a daily (currently 8x weekly) nonstop flight to South Florida is super convenient. Porter was slightly cheaper than Air Canada and had far more options for nonstop flights, it was a no brainer to book with Porter
* Parking - we had pre booked a parking spot at YOW's long term outdoor parking (P4) but when we arrived the entrance was blocked with a lot full sign. This actually worked out well as we parked at the indoor lot (P1) for no extra charge :)
* Check in / security / customs - The check in / baggage drop off time at YOW was <10 mins, the time getting through security and customs line was slightly longer, ~20 mins
FLL check in was much longer, I would say ~30 mins for check in, although security was quick (<15 mins). There appeared to be no benefit of checking in online as it's the same line up for everyone. It would be nice if Porter installed kiosks so we can print baggage tags and skip the line like Air Canada does at many airports
* Gate area - YOW was packed and didn't have many options for dinner so we chose to eat on the plane. Given the demand for transborder flights I hope YOW will expand the transborder section and add more food options. FLL had a restaurant and a few fast food places
* Flight Experience - We had a lot of turbulence on the flight to FLL. Seat belt sign was on >90% of the flight. In flight service was abruptly stopped so no meals were offered. My wife was hangry and kids were upset, although it turns out my toddler enjoys turbulence!? The flight attendants were cranky gossiping and complaining about passengers quite loudly. At one point they shamed a passenger for walking to the bathroom on the speaker, then a few minutes specifically told parents to stop taking their kids to bathroom. I understand the turbulence was bad but we felt it was unprofessional. The return flight to YOW was better but we still felt Air Canada has better service.

Overall Porter has definitely won me over with their non stop flights from YOW. I will prefer Porter going forward for domestic and Transborder flights. So long Air Canada and Star Alliance.

But the flight experience matters much more to my wife and her preference is still Air Canada. Although she did agree that given a non stop Porter flight versus an Air Canada flight with a connection she will choose Porter.

Random question but does anyone know if AF's A350s have their Bluetooth-enabled IFE screens? I'm determined to watch movies with noise cancellation on my upcoming flight, and don't want to end up stuck using the junk provided earbuds like I usually do. If no BT, which kind of adapter (if any) is needed for a 3.5mm jack? 2 prong or 3 prong? TIA, haven't been able to find consistent info online.

Edit: should've mentioned I'll be in Y if that matters.

On my recent flights on the A350 it was possible to connect your mobile device to the IFE for use as a remote control, and to browse other info locally like the map and entertainment options. I did not see the ability to connect a Bluetooth device like Airpods etc. The headphone connection was a standard 3.5mm jack. They provided a basic pair of headphones of course, but I used my older Bose wired headphones.

I didn’t have a need to try, but presumably connecting your own device to the IFE (like a phone, tablet) allows you to stream movies etc. locally, thus allowing you to use your own wireless headphones.

You can also purchase a Bluetooth 3.5mm adapter and pair your earbuds with it! I have done this numerous times on AC flights. Just make sure it's an output one... and not an input (i.e., take sound from your phone and put it through car speakers via the aux mic port). You want to take the sound from the 'tv' and push/output it to your earphones.

Thank you both! The BT 3.5mm adapter is a great idea that I hadn’t considered.

Here's an interesting piece about Embraer:

Air Canada voted one of the worst airlines in North America
WestJet sat a little closer to the middle of the pack, coming in fifth out of seven for premium economy and seventh of 11 for economy

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
Published May 09, 2024 • 2 minute read

Air Canada ranks below most other major North American airlines on customer satisfaction, with airfares a particular sore point, according to a new survey.

The country’s largest carrier placed last in both business class and premium economy, the poll by consumer analytics firm J.D. Power found.

In economy class, Air Canada placed ninth out of 11 peers, beating budget carriers Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines.

WestJet sat a little closer to the middle of the pack, coming in fifth out of seven for premium economy and seventh of 11 for economy.

“With Air Canada, people were not as happy with the value for price paid,” said Michael Taylor, who heads J.D. Power’s travel division. That’s one of six factors rated by passengers, alongside other factors including digital tools, airline staff and onboard experience.

“They basically expected more for the cost of their tickets,” he said.

Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines notched the highest scores, a result Taylor attributed to their investment in staff training and recruitment.

“Flight attendants at Delta actually have these smartphones _ they call them ‘hand-helds,’ but they’re basically smartphones _ that let you see details of the guest in each individual seat and their history with the airline. So the staff can ask them how their trip compared to the last one or if their specific needs are met,” Taylor said in an interview.

“You can’t be nice to all 185 passengers on a plane. But you can be really nice to five or 10.”

Meanwhile, Southwest aims to “hire for attitude” and encourages cabin crew to let their personalities “shine through,” Taylor said. “Just let them be themselves instead of reading from a script.”

Air Canada pushed back against its low score, stating that it has earned high marks for service in various rankings.

“This is one of a number of customer-based rankings and it should be noted that in others, many that use much larger sample sizes, Air Canada has performed very well,” said spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick in an email.

He pointed to recent laurels for service, staffing and onboard entertainment from the Skytrax airline review website, the Trazee Travel site, its sister publication Global Traveler Magazine and the Airline Passenger Experience Association.

J.D. Power’s online survey polled 9,582 customers between March 2023 and March 2024.


This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2024.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/canad...north-america/

WestJet delays integration of Sunwing to 2025
Both airlines will continue with 'business as usual' for winter flight schedules

Christopher Reynolds · The Canadian Press
Posted: May 21, 2024 3:12 PM EDT | Last Updated: May 22

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...elay-1.7210154