If you wanted to be on WestJet metal you could connect through Saskatoon. However that would be silly but I am certain it will happen.

Saskatoon flight is 630AM, these MSP flights are timed to max connections in MSP with no real need for connecting traffic at the Canadian airports.

That makes sense. When I lived in Saskatoon there was a early morning and a mid-day MSP flight in the Delta and Northwest days. The early morning one was always more usefull.

Surprisingly there was a lot of connecting traffic onto charter flights into Northern Saskatchewan to bring hunters in from the US.

We will see if WestJet has the correct aircraft for that flight. In the Delta and Northwest days most of the year it was a small regional jet most of the year and then around hunting season they would substitute a 757 or A320 on the route. In hunting season you could easily spot the gate for the flight in MSP. A lot of the passengers were wearing high-end designer camo gear.

Low risk for WestJet, SK government has a subsidy in place.
https://globalnews.ca/news/9494751/s...apolis-flight/

Earlier this week WS formally announced YYC-CDG going year-round
https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/news/2...vice-to-paris-

The schedules were already loaded a few weeks back. 3x weekly.

Now to see what they do with the spare capacity unless 29x weekly is all WS is gonna do with the 787.

YYC-PVR, YYC-CUN, YYC-OGG, YYC-HNL, YYC-LHR, YYC-AMS are all previous winter uses. Plus YYC-CDG confirmed for this winter
Possibly YYC-NRT year round as well? Plus daily flights YYC-YYZ.
This is a pretty solid usage. I would assume most go in for maintenance in the low seasons as well

new Winnipeg Airport rumor

WestJet looking at doing Winnipeg to Detroit

Northwest use to do that flight on a weekend in the summer many many many years ago

How much money is WAA throwing at WS???

Flair is Canada's worst airline when it comes to passenger complaints, federal data shows

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/fla...ints-1.6863897

"Ultra low-cost carrier Flair is Canada's worst airline for complaints, with more than 20 per cent of its flights generating some sort of complaint to the Canadian Transport Agency (CTA), new federal data shows.

While gripes about air travel are not unusual, the CTA, the quasi-judicial body that regulates air transportation, found Flair had the dubious distinction of trailing all other major carriers on customer satisfaction in the first quarter of 2023.

In the January-March period, the CTA received 20.9 complaints for every 100 Flair flights. That compares to 10.7 for WestJet and 5.8 for Air Canada.

Lynx, a fledgling Calgary-based carrier, had 5.2 complaints per 100 flights" (which is lower than AC and WS)

Not surprising given that this quarter included the March Break aircraft fiasco where they had 4 aircraft seized at the start of the busy travel period

:previous:

Canada's very own Ryan Air!!! :haha: :D :rolleyes:

I'm very happy they don't currently serve YQM.

I have flown Flair, YYC-YYZ, and YYC-YVR several times for $100 round trip.
Flair has growing pains and mediocre service but if you want substantially cheaper flights you want Flair.

Like I said - Ryan Air. :haha:

Never been on Flair. I would never plan a trip in advance that involves Flair, but if I suddenly found out that I had to be in Calgary in two days for whatever reason and Flair was the cheapest option, I'd consider it. But I'll do my best to continue avoiding it.

YUL posted April 2023 numbers. First percentage based on 2019 numbers for the same month. Second percentage is Y.O.Y increase.

Total passengers: 1,584,495 +1.1% (+39.9% Y.O.Y)

Domestic: 479,919 -10.7% (+22.0% Y.O.Y*)
International: 737,409 +17.5% (+50.1% Y.O.Y)
Transborder: 367,167 -0.5% (+48.2% Y.O.Y)

2023 YTD: 6,106,687 -2.2% (+80.9% YOY)

https://www.admtl.com/sites/default/...s_avril_EN.pdf

So yes, you are reading that correctly ! International for April was nearly 18% above April 2019 numbers. It's also the first month where the total is above 2019 numbers for the same month. Also, YTD number is only 2% off of 2019. Pretty good stuff, considering how domestic numbers are still struggling to reach 2019 levels. Just goes to show how strong the international recovery has been.

* domestic Y.O.Y increase for April in the link is listed wrong. It says -15.1% when it should be +22%.

The largest intra Europe airline is Ryanair. They are about double the passengers intra europe as number 2.

People use Ryanair.

Europe has a large population base with cities that have the population to support point-to-point flight. They can support this ULCC model. That is not Canada.

We have a few cities that can support ULCC. The rest of the country can't. Places like Saskatoon, Victoria, St. John's, etc. just don't have the population to support daily point-to-point with 200 seat aircraft to every major destination. As a country we need a competitive environment operated by airlines that have the ability to make onward connections.

We can support the Southwest Model. We can support these tourist oriented airlines like Air Transat and Sunwing. But what we need is WestJet, Air Canada and Porter to be competitive airlines.

If Flair was willing to change their business model and start to do connections I would toss them into good book but right now their unsustainable.

Avianca has applied to start YUL with up to seven weekly flights according to the article.

In spanish:
https://www.aviacionline.com/2023/06...idos-y-canada/

AV was a mess in the last few years. Severe loses, bankruptcy, etc.

They seem to be on the right track now, with a possible return to profitability this year. Hence the possibility to resume/start some of these routes.

They had plans to launch BOG-YUL pre-COVID as well, but then AC beat them to the punch. Let's see if they follow through this time. Good news either way, as they clearly see an opportunity in YUL.

It will be amazing if they launch service. We already have service to 5 continents, but It will be even nicer if we have service by foreign carriers from all 5 as well !

Jetlines have the long distance travel contracts of 3 CFL teams for this season: Ottawa, Hamilton and Toronto: https://canadianaviationnews.ca/cana...nto-argonauts

Funny bilingual flight attendant whit a big Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean accent....

https://francoischarron.com/videos-h...MBCdCCua1Orq9E

Whoever wrote the press release was clearly unaware that the Argonauts are the current Grey Cup champions, otherwise they would have mentioned it...

Interesting, prior to now I had no idea that Canada Jetlines hauled around any CFL teams, let alone 3.

WestJet just announced a partnership with the BC Lions. I assume the Calgary Stampeders are with WestJet too given that they are a sponsor. So where does that leave everyone else?

Montreal Alouettes - still Nolinor, I think
Edmonton Elks, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers - ???

Swoop is out at the end of October.

https://westjet.mediaroom.com/2023-0...ement-ratified

Ethiopian - yet again - showing some interest as well.

https://airspace-africa.com/2023/06/...etwork-growth/

https://globalnews.ca/news/9758088/w...ts-down-swoop/

A mega blow to YHM and YXX if westjet doesn’t take over some of the routes.

Buh-bye Swoop! :haha:

• Video Link

Meh. Some other ULCC startup will jump in. Or Flair.

Flair, probably, especially with YHM since they did fly there initially before Swoop pushed in.

From a strategic point-of-view, the end of Swoop signals a continued retrenchment of Westjet.

In one sense, I get why they were trying to stomp Flair. In another, the fact that Flair still exists means that Westjet could continue to dump cash into fighting them and still lose.

Now the strategy just seems to let the airline mania that Canada goes through every once in awhile play itself out from their fortress hub in Calgary. Even better that Westjet management could give this as a concession to their pilots, I suppose.

I'm just not sure how long airline mania lasts. Interest rates are rising, fuel costs are rising, pilots are in high demand. Doesn't seem the optimal environment for a ULCC airline, but Flair keeps making it work. We shall see.

^ Flair has lasted a lot longer than I expected them to at the outset.

Another article on the Swoop phase-out (or should I say “integration”.

http://https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/westjet-swoop-1.6871478

Agreed, and I feel they'll stick around long-term as there is definitely a demand for at least one ULCC in Canada (having three, with Flair, Lynx and the soon-to-be-former Swoop, was a bit much imo).

I am less sanguine.

Successful airlines don't generally have aircraft repossessed, as Flair did in March. Maybe a fluke, but a worrying one.

I suspect the solvency of its backers will be key. Airlines tend to go splat rather quickly and dramatically when money gets tight.

But they might make it. Who knows.

LOL that was hilarious. As a bilingual anglophone, her franglais was better French than her French, ha!

Condor is suspending service to YXY for at least 2 years.

https://www.whitehorsestar.com/News/...ibextid=Zxz2cZ

Suspended because of Runway maintenance and Condor can't use the smaller runway with their aircraft.

Last year, YXY extended the second (shorter) runway to around 2010 m (6600ft), in anticipation of the work coming up on the main runway next year.

That length is good enough for 737s, but not for B767s or A330s going all the way to FRA.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6284785

AC announce year-round YVR-SIN 4x/week: https://media.aircanada.com/2023-06-...gapore-Service

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...876477928.html


AC19 Vancouver (YVR)-Singapore (SIN) Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat.

Starts April 3rd 2024

Great news for YVR!

Always found it weird that AC and SQ announced an expansion of their codeshare agreement mere weeks before SQ decided to cancel YVR.

AC was clearly interested in feeding this route, and was maybe caught off guard with SQ’s withdrawal. I think since they were able to see the number of pax coming off of SQ’s flights, they decided to launch the route themselves.

Good news for YVR, as they maintain nonstop service to a major city. SQ won’t be too happy about this I think.

Long lead in time before the flight starts, however. Wonder if its lack of frames or something else. Would have been perfect to start this route for northern W23 season I think, not S24.

Pacific Coastal adding YCD to the independent of WS route network.

Daily YCD-YLW and YCD-YVR south

https://www.kelownanow.com/watercool...ts_to_Nanaimo/

Time for some more rumors at YUL !

I'm seeing potentially 3 new foreign carriers at YUL for W23. Unlike the last time, however, none of these carriers can be characterized as major players.

If it happens, it will be narrowbodies. 2 destinations are already served from YUL, but one isn't.

It's also worth noting that the likelihood of all 3 starting service is slim. But hopefully 1 or 2 of them do.

Let the speculation begin. (I'll give 1 hint. It's not Avianca to BOG. At least not based on what I'm seeing.)

DM to SDQ for the one that isn't already served?

That's a very good guess. Can't confirm nor deny, however, until it happens, or doesn't. :)

Also, upon further review, its actually 4 foreign carriers.

All narrowbodies. 2 destinations already served, 2 unserved.

Jetblue YUL-FLL/MCO ?

DM to SDQ ?

None of the 4 are American carriers.

Some pretty good guesses over on mtlurb already...........;)

SAS YUL-CPH/ARN or Finnair YUL-HEL ?

Flair Airlines adds planes, aims to more than double in size
Ultra-low-cost carrier's Vancouver-based CEO reiterates aim to have 50 planes by 2027
By Glen Korstrom | June 14, 2023

Ultra-low-cost airline Flair Airlines today announced that it is leasing two new Boeing 737 Max aircraft, upping its fleet to 20 planes, five of which will be based in Vancouver this summer.

Having more planes should enable the airline to have more flexibility, and be better prepared to improvise if glitches arise in order to avoid delays and flight cancellations.

The news comes as speculation had been that the airline was in trouble, and could see a reduction in its fleet.

...

https://biv.com/article/2023/06/flai...re-double-size