YYZ-PVG now also a 789, same ad YVR. Was a 777-300 previously. Smart move by AC, luckily their fleet had that flexibility.] so they can stay in a market but adjust as needed. YVR has 2 daily CA 777-300s that are codeshared by AC so they can afford to downgauge a bit and still have that *Alliance capacity.

A lot of route cut, and 1 route addition for this week's AC schedule change:


Mainline mid/long-hual equipment changes:
YYZ-SFO 789 replaces 77W (revert of last week's change)

New Rouge Route:
YYC-YXU 1x daily AC1698

Rouge Frequency Removed:
YYZ-YLW 1x daily

Express Frequency Removed:
YYZ-JAX 1x daily (route removed)
YWG-YXE 2x daily (route removed)
YWG-YQT 1x daily (route removed)
YUL-YUY 2x daily

Good news about the comp meals in economy, that was a must, as with blanket and pillow. For what it's worth I thought the IFE screen on Air Canada was fairly big, I have no problem with that... how much bigger is WestJet's?

AC Economy - 9", Westjet - 11.6"
AC Premium - 11", Westjet - 13.3"
AC Business - 18", Westjet - 18.5"

AC brags that they have the largest screen in business in north america, guess that will change.

Also I don't think AC Premium Y has self serve bar like westjet?

No one cares about colour shades or screen sizes. If Calgary-London is 1$ cheaper on AC, that's what they're flying.

I should clarify that the comp meals and seat amenities in Y are only on transatlantic flights, not domestic.

The bar itself isn’t self serve. The snacks are though.

Does this mean AC still has a 77W to deploy somewhere?

That depends - has it been fixed yet?

The one that suffered the tail strike is still out of service?

Nope, it's back in service

Then that answers my question.

WestJet bails on Terrace-Calgary connection
Cites low passenger numbers

ROD LINK Feb. 21, 2019

WestJet is cancelling its twice-weekly Terrace-Calgary direct flights, just six months after introducing the service.

“While we understand this may come as disappointing news for the community, the route was not performing to expectations and as a result the decision was made to discontinue the service,” said WestJet official Morgan Bell Feb. 20.

The service cut the travel time between the Northwest Regional Airport and Calgary to just over two hours, avoiding having to fly to Vancouver first for a connecting flight.

...

https://www.interior-news.com/news/w...ry-connection/

The news release also says:

This isn’t the first time WestJet has tried and then cancelled direct flights to and from Calgary.

It and Air Canada both offered the direct service in 2015 at the height of liquefied natural gas development speculation in the northwest but both withdrew when passenger numbers failed to live up to expectations.

WestJet’s Bell did add the airline is adding two flights to and from Vancouver this spring to bolster connections to and from that major hub.

“During peak season, WestJet will now operate 15 flights per week between Terrace and Vancouver,” she said.

Airlines are so odd in starting and ending routes like that, it shows sometimes they just have aircraft and want to use it somewhere. And then other times they start a route just because someone else is doing it. I feel like the newly announced YYC-YXU Rouge route fits into this category. They are just trying to take something from WS, but I don't think it will work, and could think of many other leisure routes that could be done other than YYC-YXU. But apparently is just to find a place for the LAS rotation, but still...

Flair suddenly cancels many US flights, screwing up people's vacation plans. It always amazes me people will roll the dice on these outfits:

Canadian carrier Flair Airlines has suddenly suspended some of its flights to destinations in Florida and California as of next week, leaving some customers in the lurch.

The Kelowna-based airline, which only recently expanded its service to include U.S. destinations, surprised many of its customers with the unexpected news this week.

Flair customers have complained that March break holiday plans have been thrown up in the air because of the sudden decision, which apparently only includes destinations in Florida and California...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/fla...ions-1.5028320

Reminds me of JetsGo around Marchbreak.....14 years ago.

The sudden arrival of two ULCC on top of established AC and WS was a recipe for issues IMO. Yes this is like Jetsgo, and Harmony, and Canjet etc. I am not sure why these startups think they can just make it work. Honestly there isn't even a year round non-stop on any carrier between YVR and YHZ, two of the major centres of this country. I know it is a long distance etc etc but still, if even that can't be done, how are all these other minor route pairings supposed to be profitable?

I wish I knew more about aircraft economics, because it stills baffles me that Air Canada would put a daily Rouge on YYC-YHZ and not even consider a non-stop between YVR and YHZ, there has to be something with that extra distance that just trashes the economics of it. You'd think AC would at least do it as a summer route, considering WS does it, and YVR is supposedly an AC hub

The Rouge A319s dont have the range to fly YVR-YHZ and the 767-300 is way too big to be deployed on that route. The 737MAX could do it so maybe when those are all delivered you might see AC try it with that aircraft.

I think it’s more the economics of the traffic available between YYC (& YEG) and YHZ. Just within my family and group of friends…..lots of ties to Alberta and I can probably say that for many others here in the Atlantic Provinces. Not so much with BC.

Before the slowdown in the oil industry.....there were even nonstop between Ft. McMurray and Newfoundland.

I think for domestic or transborder non-Rouge route, AC want to run at least a seasonal daily, or not doing it at all?

Daily 7M8 is probably too much for YVR-YHZ, especially when WS also running the route.

Of course they do. Winter headwinds on the westbound leg might be an issue, but a summer seasonal route should be doable, with little to no restrictions.

YVR-YHZ is 2398 nm.

Rouge A319s have a 2,800 nm range. Newer frames have even better range.

Is there any demand for that? I don't know they'd be able to fill the seats :shrug:

Not according to ACs website

2,760 NMs?

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...ard/fleet.html

2760 miles. Not NM. ACs A319s were built as 70000kg variants for domestic service. Their range is about 500-600nm less then the 75500kg variant. The addition of Sharklets would help the range a bit as well but not all are equipped as such yet.

Coincidentally, according to great circle mapper YVR-YHZ is exactly 2760 miles. Right at the limit of the Rouge A319s. So westbound legs would be payload restricted.

Post-CP merger, AC flew YHZ-YVR seasonally for a few summers on a mainline 319.

Expect to see YHZ-YVR launch sometime after the CSeries/A220 arrives on property. Would imagine it'll be summer seasonal only though.

Very surprised to see YWG-YXE cut, not so much for YQT-YWG, especially with the withdrawal of DH3s from the west. WS at 2x daily Q400s became the dominant player on the route.

As for YYZ-JAX is that a seasonal cut or permanent?

Also removed for W19.

I was thinking the same thing about YHZ-YVR on a C series.

This was posted on airliners.net last month:

A220-300 (C series) possible destinations include Halifax-Vancouver.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dw5cM7EWoAAV7TE.jpg
https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1413095

Do me favor bud..

Go on AC's website, and tell me what the range of their mainline A320 is? What about mainline A319s?

Now compare them to the Rouge A319 range you found. Notice anything peculiar?


Rouge has several 75500 kg A319s. C-FYJG, C-FYJE, C-FYKW, C-GBHR, to name a few.

Do yourself a favor. Stop doubting what I tell you.

2800 nautical miles.

Im not your bud and i will disagree with you if i so please. Contrary to your exceptionally high opinion of yourself, there are others in this world and on this forum that know a thing or two.

That's the problem.

1 thing. Maybe 2. In your case, its doubtful of the latter.

Distracted by the fact a Canadian organization is using a map that isn't slanted so much we look like we're in the Arctic. :haha: You can see how far east we are, and how Halifax is near the halfway point for us going to Toronto. Nice stuff, Air Canada. :D

Ottawa seems a strange choice for us? Almost all of my connections have been through Toronto or Montreal.

YOW-YYT is about O&D, not connections.

Also, there is a reason why YOW has flights to every single provincial or territorial capital except Victoria. Government traffic plays a key role to fill these flights.

YOW-YYT is currently a summer seasonal E190 route, and considering that the A220 at AC will replace the E190 (and A319), it's only natural that YOW-YYT is considered as a potential A220 route.

Montreal_seattle would be nice.

I know there isn't a massive amount of traffic between YVR-YHZ, but there is enough. These are two major centres, one is an AC hub. It just seems like a very big gap in their route network, so obviously aircraft economics are to play. If AC can operate a daily YYC-YXU, neither of which are AC main hubs and YXU being not on the same level as YVR or YHZ, seems odd they would get that route over YVR-YHZ

Indeed. The only future alternatives are a significant upgauge to a 320 or double daily on a E75 or CR9. I'd hazard a guess that YOW-YYT is no more than 15% connecting traffic.

Well YXU-YYC is at least two hours shorter than YHZ-YVR and without YXU-YYC, your only options currently to fly west of YXU on AC are to backtrack to YYZ or even further east to YOW or YUL. Compare that with YHZ where there is no backtracking regardless as to whether you connect at the YUL or YYZ hubs or at YOW or YYC to fly YHZ-YVR. YHZ-YVR will come back once a bunch of 223s are on property.

This week's update:

New Long-Hual Routes for W19
YVR-AKL 4x weekly 788 AC51/52 Eff. Dec12
YUL-GRU 3x weekly 789 AC96/97 Eff. Dec11
YYZ-UIO 3x weekly 763 AC1950/51 Eff. Dec8

Other Minor Changes (compared to last year - some already announced)
YVR-DEL 1x daily 789 (was 6x weekly)
YYZ-SCL-EZE 6x weekly 789
YYZ-HNL 3x weekly 789 (was 2x weekly 763)
YYZ-VIE 5x weekly 789

Route Removed (convert to seasonal? or Rouge?)
YYZ-MXP 3x weekly (Eff. Oct27, 19)

Latest S18 changes
Conversion to Rouge
YYZ-PDX 1x daily 319 AC1840/41

Flight number change
YUL-CCC 2x weekly AC1750 -> AC1752

I was just talking about YVR-AKL over on the YVR thread.....that was a Freudian slip indeed.

YUL-GRU is surprising. Only a 2 hour turn at GRU. A 16h45 arrival at YUL. Not as good as an early morning arrival, but it surely beats leaving a frame sitting in GRU for 10+ hours.

This change is due to an similar callsign issue with AC1650 (YUL-MIA) 2 weeks ago. Having similar callsigns on the same frequency at the same time is never a good thing. We flagged it to our SMS department, and AC changed CCC's flight number.

Interesting about the YYZ-UIO.... didn't think there was an existing bilateral air transport agreement between Canada and Ecuador, although maybe there is a new one that hasn't been officially announced yet....

In regards to YYZ/YUL-FCO.
The route operates from both cites until the first week of January and will resume February 28th 2019. So it’s not really a change.
Only MXP goes seasonal.

Regarding FCO, that has always been the case iirc. This was the first year they tried MXP year round, evidently it wasn't overly successful. Not to mention next year will have air Italy on the route, it would have been a blood bath.

WS adding summer seasonal YXU-YUL Encore service.

WS3438 YXU 10:20 - 11:45 YUL Daily DH1 (Starting June 24)
WS3439 YUL 12:15 - 13:49 YXU Daily DH1 (Starting June 24)

http://westjet.mediaroom.com/2019-02...N-and-Montreal

Nice! I was thinking about a trip to NZ for next winter, so I'm quite glad that AC has decided to start the route. I prefer transiting via Canada over the US too.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7893/...9df1616b_m.jpg

Adding Saskatchewan's two letter abbreviation SK in front of Saskatoon's airport code YXE is annoying and desperate? ...most people that use Skyxe are more annoyed about the fact you can uber to the airport, but the airport doesn't allow uber pick up at airport to maintain taxi company's monoploy at Skyxe...

I'd hate to see how you'd feel then about airport branding for Phoenix's airport code PHX (Sky Harbour International) or Seattle-Tacoma's SEA ( Sea-Tac International). They use extra letter's as well for airport branding, PHX even uses the word Sky like Saskatoon does.

Saskatoon's airport is still called John G. Diefenbaker International but no one there ever says they are going to 'Diefenbaker' to catch a flight the same way that people say they are going to Pearson or Heathrow to fly. Probably because Diefenbaker is most usually referenced to city's biggest park, or the largest lake in Southern Saskatchewan. Also the fact Prime Minister Diefenbaker wasn't much for Canadian aviation, killing the Avro Arrow half century ago.

I do like the irony of the Star Phoenix newspaper satirist referenced, Phil Tank's twitter handle is after all @thinktankSK :rolleyes:

So something that I've been wondering about is why there seems to have been so little air traffic from London ON and southwest Ontario generally to date. Do most people go to either Pearson or the US, or travel by car/bus/train to their destinations? When I lived in KW, going to Pearson was a real pain given how unpredictable the 401 would be. Sometimes you were there in an hour, and sometimes it took 3 if there was an accident. I can only imagine how much worse it would be if you were starting out in London or somewhere further like that. Not to mention how expensive getting to Pearson was! (~$100 / trip using a private car back in 2009).

Given the population levels, it just seems surprising that the passenger levels are so low relative to other parts of the country.

Interested in peoples' thoughts.

There are 10 departures from London to Pearson on Dash 8-100s and Q400s daily on both Westjet and Air Canada.

I'm not sure how the price differential works out as compared to parking at Pearson, though. For a single traveller, flying from London and connecting at Pearson is probably the better deal. If you're taking a family, parking at Pearson is probably the cheaper option than buying tickets for 4.

Keep in mind that Windsorites can simply drive across the border to travel in the US via DTW airport and Londoners also can head to Hamilton for flights from there.

Westjet takes on Air Canada over London-to-Montreal route

Third announcement of new service this year for London International Airport

CBC News · Posted: Feb 26, 2019

WestJet will be offering direct flights between London and Montreal starting on June 24 of this year.

The airline will provide the seasonal service through its regional carrier, Encore until Oct. 15.

"We continue to see robust use of our service between Montreal and Toronto and are aware that many of these guests travel to and from London," said Brian Znotins, WestJet's vice-president network planning and alliances in a media release Tuesday.

WestJet will compete with Air Canada for the route. Air Canada began daily year-round flights between the two cities last summer.

...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/londo...real-1.5033883

I give it a year...

Now official.

https://aircanada.mediaroom.com/2019...Brazil-Flights

Truly amazing stuff happening at YUL.

AC is clearly counting on O&D and Canada/Europe connections to make this flight work. Unfortunately the arrival time back in YUL is too late to connect with the Asian departures, including NRT. But as I said, better this than to leave a plane sitting in GRU for 10+hours.

https://aircanada.mediaroom.com/2019...from-Vancouver

AC/NZ want to establish a joint venture. Considering they will be the only 2 carriers operating between the two countries (and will therefore have a monopoly), wonder if it will get approved.

https://aircanada.mediaroom.com/2019...o-from-Toronto

Also, YYZ-HNL converts to mainline, 3x weekly

https://aircanada.mediaroom.com/2019...o-and-Honolulu