AC adding new YUL-AMS 5 weekly

https://media.aircanada.com/2023-03-...Summer-Flights

AC launching summer seasonal YUL-AMS 5x weekly: https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...844382176.html

WS Network planners right now given their struggle to get summer AMS slots
https://media.tenor.com/gTl8-UKbIaoAAAAM/angry-mad.gif

Gov't should step in with cash for Flair to help them out. Flair is doing great work helping to create competition and break the oligopoly. They're the Freedom Mobile of Canadian aviation and we need to make sure they thrive.

I'm gonna hard pass on this one, sorry but none of my tax money should go into that airline. Especially an airline thats only 58% owned by Canadians.

In some ways I would prefer a stable oligopoly with consistent schedules and frequencies you can depend on.

So it looks like the ground handler for Flair and Sunwing in Ottawa is being kicked out by the Ottawa airport authority due to safety concerns.

I though Menzies was a major player in that space.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-air...rews-1.6314331

Absolutely not.

There's a limited amount of airlines a country with the population the size of Canada can support. Flair is finding that out the hard way (after some dubious ownership structure questions earlier).

I don't get this either. Isn't the Dutch government limiting flights at AMS again this year? Unless AC got these slots of some other airline like UA.

Flair has a failed business model. They are doing point-to-point into smaller cities in Canada with a relatively large aircraft.

Maybe you can make that work with sun destinations in winter or Vegas. But good luck with that on a route like Victoria-Ottawa or Saskatoon-Calgary.

Could also have gotten them from the LH group. But yes, the slots are being reduced at AMS. I believe a few airlines are potentially taking legal action over it too.

Can't imagine airlines who have been trying to get slots but failed (JetBlue recently threw a fit about it) will pleased with AC being able to somehow get additional slots.

So YOW kicks out Menzies, meanwhile YUL will get them soon. As they say in French, "changer le mal de place" !

Would be even funnier if Swissport or ATS (the two ground handlers YUL kicked out) end up getting the contract for WG and F8 at YOW.

Anyway, Flair is on borrowed time. Soon, they wont need any ground handlers at all ! They might make it past this week, but I'll be astonished if they make it past the end of the month !

So let me get this straight. You want taxpayer dollars to fund your $99 fares across the continent. In what world does that make sense?

The reduction in capacity only begins in November 2023, in line with W23-24 season.

As for this route, it's a pretty late announcement for a summer flight. Flights start in two and a half months.

So it's pretty obvious they only recently got the slots from someone else.

:haha::haha::haha:

So that means it's also too late for whatever major airline wanted to maybe start YUL this summer too. So next year?

How do you see this impacting KLM on this route?

AC has zero feed in AMS but has major feed at YUL.
KL has zero feed in YUL but has a massive global hub at AMS.

The kids will be alright.

Its not taxpayer dollars for $99 fares, its taxpayer dollars for breaking Canadian oligopolies. Flair, Freedom, EQ... promoting new challengers to the existing entrenched incumbents should be a top priority. I would favour a model whereby in telecom, banking, grocery, aviation, etc. (any industry with an oligopoly problem), there's dedicated extra taxes on incumbents to fund cheap loans and subsidies for new entrants.

So no need for a crib.. phew lol

Good to see this (along with TS).. competition helps. I love Schiphol and Amsterdam, great places. Hopefully it’ll push KLM to replace the 330s with 787s sooner.

I mean, AC has such a big fleet, and, as you say, with far less departures in winter compared to summer, it is only natural that you have "spare aircraft" built in during the winter schedule.

It's not like someone at AC HQ said "we need spare aircraft, let's buy some !" So there is a difference.

I think there are better government strategies in breaking the oligopoly, instead of dumping taxpayer money on shitty startups with bad ideas.

For one, the government can start by lowering rent/taxes on airports, or better yet, fully privatize them. It's far better for everyone involved.

KL threatened to cut YEG and YUL if the Netherlands went through with the plan to cut movements at AMS.

Now with AC starting YUL-AMS and competing with KL and TS for a slice of the Dutch pie, I just hope KL doesn't follow through with that idea. The silver lining for KL is that they are still the only carrier on the route to operate year round.

1. KL uses the A332 - their smallest widebody- and A333 on YUL-AMS. There is a reason for that. So upgauging to the B789 in the short term is highly unlikely, especially considering all the lift AF has from YUL (and YQB) to CDG, and their recent plans to launch YOW. That's a lot of seats for AF/KL in Quebec+Ottawa to AMS/CDG.

2. KL is retiring the A332 and A333 in 2025, so if they stick around at YUL, you will see them operating the B789 soon enough, which is their next smallest widebody.

Actually, since I posted about this rumor a few weeks ago, I learnt of another element that further solidifies my believe that it will happen. This being said, the timeline is up in the air, as far as I'm concerned. Like I initially said, a lot of key elements need to fall in place first. I saw a July 1 start date, but that doesn't seem realistic now.

This being said, whether they launch July 1 or November 1, once everything falls into place, I think this airline will launch the route. Let's see what happens.