Since you were wondering about YYC routes, here's one with 2019 data from anna.aero: YYC-PHX - 187,000 O&D pax - wow that's a lot!

https://www.anna.aero/2020/09/02/ame...-share-fallen/

Icelandair S21 adjustments. Looks like they only plan to serve YYZ.
https://www.routesonline.com/news/38...as-of-06sep20/

YVR, YUL & YEG appear to have been cancelled.

I'm certainly not surprised by Icelandair's schedule. Those flights reloed heavily on connecting pax, and the number of pax has gone down so much, even the direct flights can barely make a go of it. Let alone the market for people going to Paris via Reykjavik

We enjoyed our trips with them and I loved the 757.

Porter are pushing back their start date again, now planned to November 12th: https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...842702108.html

Lots of Sikorski and Electra water bomber action here at YCG lately. Have a decent size fire at Talbot Creek in the Slocan Valley they're attacking.

Sounds like a WS crew not knowing TC's infant mask policies caused a family to be humiliated and an entire YYC-YYZ flight to be cancelled. According to the article the airline then tried to blame the entire thing on the 3 year old that was not resistant to wearing a mask.

https://edmontonsun.com/news/local-n...f-d1a915e88790

I heard other passengers on the flight saying the ordeal was about the older daughter not the infant and the family is using the 19 month old to make it seem like WS made a big deal.

Sounds to me like there is more to this story.

Still nothing on WS and LHR service. At this point, it's highly likely they wont start LHR at all this winter. No sense in flying an empty plane across the pond.

Apparently even the older daughter was less than 3 years old, so according to TC regs, neither of them were required to wear masks.

https://tc.canada.ca/en/initiatives/...-air-operators

I think their October update is being loaded this weekend, so if LHR doesn't appear then it probably isn't happening. They also have 34 weekly slots at LGW to deal with too for this winter.

Of course the EU is taking its time to make a decision on whether to extend the waiver through winter, which is preventing airlines from finalizing their winter schedules.

It's very possible both AC/WS could be flying 'ghost' flights to protect their slots.

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It sounds like there's more to this story as most stories are saying the older daughter is three years old.

For AC, yes, especially considering they just got back 6 slots from CA for this winter season, which they most likely don't need.

https://www.acl-uk.org/wp-content/up...-TO-UPLOAD.jpg

As for WS, there’s no need to “protect” the slots. They are only valid for W20 anyway. Even if they fly double daily all season long and show a 100% usage rate, they have no guarantee to get the same thing for the subsequent seasons, which is why I think they might just cancel their plan to fly to LHR altogether this winter.

Their only saving grace is if they can lease out their LGW slots to someone else (doubtful with such a short notice and/or due to low demand), or if LGW waives slot guidelines. This way they might transfer their LGW flights over to LHR.

Delete: meant for YOW forum.

I was more or less referring to WS protecting it's LGW slots. They have 34 weekly slots there for the winter which is an increase to what they had a year ago. They could end up having to fly twice daily to the UK regardless of which airport they use.

Do they have to take passengers or fly the route they intended to in order protect the slots? Could they move a 319/737 there to Europe and fly empty (cargo) LGW/LHR-Europe flight, or even LHR-LGW or LHR-LHR flights (with help from other airline) in order to "use" the slot?

True. If they have to slot squat, they could probably do a LHR-LGW tag or they could do a real 5th freedom LGW-CDG tag and maybe earn a tiny bit of extra revenue. The costs would be marginally higher than the former...and could turn CDG into a year-round station in the process.

They can’t even fly YHZ-LGW on a 73G these days to squat. My guess is the slot waiver gets extended for IATA winter 2020-21 and all this becomes moot.

Honestly, I dont know what ACL (the slot coordinator for LHR and LGW, among others) is waiting for. They should have waived the rules several weeks ago.

Isn't ACL just basically a middle man and ultimately it's the EU/UK that has to issue the waiver?

You're right. It's the European commission that decides. No EU airport has waived the slot rules so far. The only countries in Europe that have waived the rules are non EU countries. (Russia, Israel, Ukraine, Turkey)

https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/pr/2020-09-03-01/

The conditions are an interesting read.

Test flights for redesigned Boeing 737 Max begin in Vancouver.

These tests are for EASA and they started 2 days ago.

Transport Canada already conducted tests in late August.

https://www.skiesmag.com/news/transp...7-max-testing/

Both TC and EASA tests have the same M.O. The plane departs YVR, goes over US airspace, completes the tests, and then returns to YVR.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/boe701