I though MSP was a decent airport the last few trips through.

MSP is very nice and very easy to navigate.

MSP is where "Airport" (1970) was filmed. The core of the initial first phase of the airport is still very preserved - however changed. :)

I find MSP pretty good.

SEA has its problems. If you are coming from Calgary (pre-clearance) it is not bad. If you are connecting from Victoria (what I do) the issue is international arrivals is into a remote terminal. US boarder control can be pretty good given they have the automated machines. It can also be very painful if you arrive at the same time as multiple international arrivals. Once you clear it is two separate people movers to get over to where Alaska has domestic flights.

HA is eyeing new routes to the east coast after 2017. YUL and YYZ were mentioned on a slide at an investor day presentation, along with PHL, IAD and BOS.

Interesting.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/busine...ts-in-2-years/

October update:

1.YYZ - 27,982,740 +6.9% (from September)
2.YVR - 17,206,481 +4.8%
3.YUL - 13,247,689 +4.6%
4.YYC - 13,035,840 +1.57%
5.YEG - 6,105,218 -0.7%

LAX is the worst airport I've ever had the misfortune of travelling through. I had to fly back to Calgary via LAX in February, and aside from the nightmare of passing through customs (why, oh why does the US insist on making even transfer passengers pass through customs?) when I cleared customs there was absolutely ZERO signage indicating where to go for my connecting flight, and I had to wander around for more than 15 minutes before I could even find a member of the airport staff to ask where to go. Absolutely unacceptable for such an important airport.

I've been through Logan a couple of times and while it's old I never found it to be particularly terrible.

Denver's airport is huge, but well laid out and is overall an excellent experience.

SFO is fantastic.

The primary runway at YYT has been re-opened following construction. The CAT 3 system will be operational by 2016.

• Video Link

Are there any estimates on the air traffic that YYC will have once the international terminal is compete and operational? From the look of it once YYC gets that additional capacity it has a good chance of becoming the clear third busiest airport in Canada for the foreseeable future.

I am hopeful they add a direct flight to Turks and Caicos from YYC once the thing is open. Is there anywhere we can see a list of new proposed international routes from YYC or are they all still being sorted out?

Should YYZ's numbers say 37... and not 27...? They've always been roughly double the count of YVR. Therefore they should be pushing 40M and YVR 20M.

Regarding YYC ive checked out their thread many times and I see more reductions/cancellations than new flights being added due to the economic downturn. Granted many are domestic reductions. A local Calgarian can correct me.

I doubt it is a capacity question. The economic downturn simply has an impact on YYC's stats...

The YYZ number is correct.

http://torontopearson.com/en/gtaa/statistics/#

So you think airlines aren't serving YYC to it's full potential due to lack of room at the terminal building?

And that airline route planners walk into a new terminal building and say..."you know what, this is a beautiful extension they did. Let's add some routes out of here....! "

That's not how the commercial aviation business works. It's all about market demand. If there was demand to PLS out of YYC, someone would be flying it. And if YYC-PLS does come to fruition, it will certainly not be because of the new international wing !

:yeahthat:

Plus it's not like YYC is the only airport expanding at the moment...

Those numbers are only up to and including August. Based on current growth rates, it's slated to reach around 41 million this year.

KLM change according to Airliner Route

Amsterdam – Edmonton 4th weekly service in summer scheduled from 02MAY16, instead of 05JUL16

Also airline route showing all the routes we thought were 789s (YEG/YYC) as A330s. Any idea what that's all about?

Yes I do!

KLM is putting the 787-9 on the YYC and YEG routes starting next November.

So until then, 333s and 332s will be plying these routes.

YYZ October Stats
 

YYZ has finally released October figures... Although no wonder it took so long having to count so many passengers.... ;)

Oct was up 4.3% and YTD is up an impressive 6.6% clearly leading all Canadian Airports (well the "major" ones that I look at anyway).

YYZ is in a league of its own this year and no sign their growth will be letting up.

YTD to the end of October was ~ 34.8 million which is up over 2.1 million pax compared to the same period last year.

http://www.torontopearson.com/en/gtaa/statistics/##

On a side note but a throw back to the old days.

When the lights go out.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/...pots-1.3357013

YUL leading the way when it comes to October growth (6.8%) but that 6.6% YTD is, like you said, in a class of its own.:tup:

Sault Municipal Airport has processed 200,000 passengers so far this year. This is the highest amount of passengers who have gone through the airport since its opening.

Most of the increase in passengers through the airport is from Porter's flights to Billy Bishop.

Video of the construction site of th new international terminal.

• Video Link

Nice vid.

On another note.....

Canada-Australia expanded their bilateral air agreement, something that was long overdue.

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1025239

"Under this expanded agreement, capacity available to Canadian and Australian airlines for services to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth will increase from 3,000 to 6,000 seats per week for each country effective immediately, and then increase to 9,000 seats starting in December 2016."

With this agreement, AC should have no trouble going daily on the new YVR-BNE service. Could also see a double daily YVR-SYD next December, or a YVR-MEL.

Thenoflyzone

Brussels airlines to Yyz after Jet airways switched scissor hubs.

CBC reports that Bombardier's 'C'-Series jets have achieved certification! :tup:

YUL welcomed passenger number 15 million today.

:cheers:

Excellent news! here's the press release..... :)

http://press.brusselsairlines.com/br...inental-growth

Also, YYZ processed its 40 millionth passenger for this year, on Dec 14th.....

http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases...561796401.html

The year of the milestones....

YYZ - 40 million +
YVR - 20 million +
YUL - 15 million +

75+ million pax through our three largest airports alone; not bad for a country with a relatively small population.

Yes. 100 million if we take into account the top 5 airports. Not bad at all.

According to this site.... Air China wants to begin service Shanghai to Montreal in September 2016 7x a week ! With a Boeing 773 here is the link
http://www.chinaaviationdaily.com/news/49/49789.html

YUL 20 million by 2020? Hummmmmm would love to see that

Would loved to have seen a YUL-YEG-PVG.

Talking about 20M passengers... ;)

Also, that YVR-BNE route has already gone daily. Didn't take long at all.

The flight hasn't even started yet and it's already been bumped up in starting date and expanded from 3x weekly to daily. Talk about an overdue bilateral.

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/12/b...ouver-flights/

I am finding interesting about all of this is YVR is growing across airline and alliance boundaries. The Air Canada increases (combined with their joint venture partners) is really good. However it is not just Star Alliance, there are Skyteam and Oneworld members adding flights to new destinations, including secondary cities in China.

From an airline perspective, I'm curious about why St. John's isn't used more as an intermediate stop to and from Europe. Somewhat like how Vancouver is the hub that so many flights from Eastern Canada (and sometimes the US) stop at before continuing to Asia. Obviously the population is a lot lower, but is Europe's comparative proximity also part of the rationale - that there's no need to stop midway? Simply from a geographic perspective it would seem logical. Sure this is a dumb question, but I'd be interested in the reason!

It isn't far enough north, and it is less of an anchor for flights through origin and destination traffic. If it was 3 million people, it would be different I think.

There isn't a need any longer to stop for fuel before crossing the Atlantic, plus the route north over(-ish) the pole is more direct for the major population centres of Canada than travelling east for hundreds of kilometres, if not more, and operationally there isn't a compelling reason for stopping in a small market like St. John's before heading on to Europe.

YYT should consider itself lucky to have scheduled service to LHR, DUB and soon LGW. Plenty of cities in the States with a population 5 to 10 times larger with no service to Europe.

Adding to the list of Heavies at CYYZ, we had a Hi Fly A343 from Lisbon come in today. First time I've seen it, haven't looked to see if it's a regular schedule or refugee flight.

It was a refugee flight.

5K 671 Amman-Lisbon-Toronto

They most likely stopped in LIS for a crew change.

On a different note, Air China started HAV-YUL-PEK yesterday...and interestingly enough the flight from YUL back to PEK cruised at 32,000 the entire way to China. Cargo hold must have been full of rum and cigars, and also maybe one or two of those antique American cars... ;)

Hahahaha !! Funny

I Have a question.... Thenoflyzone u seem to know ur stuff .. I know Aeroflot has service to Havana from Moscow and now Air China PEK-YUL-HAV ...are those the only Asian airlines serving Havana.?

Aeroflot? Moscow? Asian Airline? :shrug:

Even if some of Aeroflot's home territory is in Asia, it is a stretch to call it an Asian airline and it's service to Moscow from Havana certainly doesn't count as an Asian flight.

As an aside, I looked at the Havana Airport's wikipedia page and noticed that it had direct service to Angola (one of very few airports in North America to have direct service to that part of Africa). It seems kind of peculiar, but apparently Cuba has quite a long history in Angola.

YUL November 2015 stats

1,056,235 +4.4%

Domestic: 450,501 +4.9%
International: 330,124 +3.3%
US: 275,610 +4.7%

YTD 14,303,963

Well considering most of Russia is in Asia ....anyway so Air China is the Only Asian airline serving Havana?

Don't be stupid ...it was a question...i thought it was considered an Asian airline ...most people think when we say Asian we automatically think only Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese etc...MOST of Russia is in ASIA.