I think those are accessible to both domestic and international though.
I think the issue with YYC is the new international terminal. International flights are completely segregated from Transborder and domestic now. With so few international flights per day it doesn't justify its own lounge. The Plaza Premium lounge may have to suffice otherwise backtracking would be involved to use the domestic MLL.

Also forgotten from this list is :
YUL-ATH from 5 weekly to 6
YUL-BCN from 5 weekly to daily

I mentioned something on the YYC thread yesterday about this too, how AC does not treat YYC like a hub, it's just a large focus city. For instance, by next summer AC will offer non-stop international+transborder service to 36 destinations from YVR, and 26 of those are widebody service. YYC will have 14 destinations, and only 4 widebodies. Even YOW has more international+transborder destinations than YYC, and it is only a focus city... I know it's not just about international, YYC has a lot of local traffic, but that is more what a focus city behaves like.

My thought is that even though the dirty competition and wars between Westjet and AC are not around anymore, AC knows they have to keep up the appearance that YYC is still one of their hubs. If AC officially "de-hubbed" YYC, they would get tons of PR backlash and the Alberta vs. Eastern Canada talk would start, etc etc. And WS would play it up like crazy and position themselves as the YYC favourite and take even more away from AC. That's why I think AC prefers to just keep calling YYC a hub for appearance and keep the status quo, and just not add much new traffic to it. 3 hubs in a country like this is already enough, places with twice the population don't even have 3 hubs... This is what is actually on the AC website concerning it's hubs.. it doesn't even mention what Calgay's hub function is!

Air Canada’s four hubs, Toronto (YYZ), Montreal (YUL), Vancouver (YVR) and Calgary (YYC), offer Air Canada customers a simple, customer-friendly experience providing easy security clearance and smooth connections. With Toronto Pearson as the primary global hub, Vancouver as the airline’s premier gateway to Asia Pacific, and Montreal as the gateway to French international markets, Air Canada’s global networks connect easily to its extensive domestic and US transborder networks to offer convenient travel all under one roof at each hub.
https://www.aircanada.com/en/about/acfamily/ it's halfway down the page

What I want to suggest by coping from the Quebec city lounge is to have a Maple Leaf lounge that was jointly operated with AMEX and others. The operator could be Plaza Premium.

Could be wrong, but I think the Quebec city lounge does not use any AC staff to run it.

I think this Hub and Focus city model is more an American concept. Canada just functions differently.

Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax are all regional hubs in that the have feeder traffic and are a transfer point between the regional flights and mainline. If they are called Hubs or Focus Cities not certain it changes much of anything. The likelihood of de-hubing Halifax or Calgary or Ottawa or Winnipeg are remote. The same holds for WestJet.

Toronto plays a special role given its massive number of connections from the US and globally. Vancouver and Montreal play a special specialised role. Calgary, Halifax and Ottawa also have overseas flights. They will likely pick up more on a case-by-case basis. Calgary not to long ago picked up Tokyo.

If you try to impose a US hub model, you would do things such as drop the YXE-YWG flight and force passengers to connect in YYC or YYZ. That is not going to happen. That amounts to WestJet giving over the route to AC or AC giving over the route to WestJet.

Under a US model you would probably drop Heathrow as a destination from Ottawa, Calgary, Halifax and Saint John. Again it is not going to happen.

In marketing material AC looks like sometimes they want to talk about the big single hub or other times the three hubs or other times it is the top four or top five hubs.

Apparently, there were some changes in US to Canadian connections at Pearson in at least Terminal 1. You now clear customs almost as soon as getting off the plane, and are bussed across as there is still no sterile corridor for OSS. This is only in use for some flights that arrive apart from non OSS flights.

Question: what is the biggest Canadian metro* or busiest Canadian airport that your home airport does not have a direct flight to?

People are free to correct me, but I think that for YVR it's Quebec City by population, and YHZ by pax.

For YYZ it's Sherbrooke by population, and the busiest airport you can't fly to is YXS (Prince George)**


* - Hamilton, KW, St. Catharines, Oshawa and Abbotsford don't count for metro size.
** - Billy Bishop is busier, but doesn't count for YYZ.

WestJet tried out direct flights between YVR and YHZ this past summer. Not sure if they will be back in 2017.

The flight is 5.5 hours going east and 6.5 hours going west, with a 4 hour time difference. No matter what you do, the trip between the two cities is long and connecting to other flights would be challenging.

Aeroflot offers nonstop 8.5 hour flights from Moscow (SVO) to Vladivostok (VV0) for about $400 CAD.

For a lot of Western Canadian cities it is Montreal, surprisingly. YXE unfortunately doesn't have direct flights.

For Ottawa (YOW):
Largest by population without service: Victoria
Busiest airport without service: YYJ

I suspect that will be true for a lot of airports in the east. Interestingly, it is also the only provincial/territorial capital without direct service from Ottawa. All others have non-stop service (seasonal for Regina) save for Whitehorse which is a 1-stop flight via Yellowknife.

I do it regularly and don't find it challenging at all. Connections are excellent with several option available throughout the day.

I tried the non-stop YHZ-YVR flight this summer but much prefer the hour or so connections in either YUL, YYZ or YYC.......Time to stretch your legs!

I can depart YHZ at 6am and be in YVR at 950am with a quick change in YUL. Returning....depart YVR at 815am and in YHZ at 915pm. The red eyes are also convenient.....getting you into YHZ mid morning.

A 650pm out of YHZ will still get you into YVR just after midnight.

Even someone in YYT (St John's) and depart at 5am and be in YVR by 10am with a connection in YYZ.

Coast to coast in Canada is about the same as doing a Transatlantic flight.

Those two cities used to be linked, on and off, from 2005 to 2009.

Link in french only.

http://www.lapresse.ca/la-tribune/ac...nterrompue.php

WestJet is adding even more routes to Hamilton Airport, YHM passenger numbers are gonna spike big time for 2016.

WestJet says hello again, Hamilton

http://skiesmag.com/press-releases/w...ello-hamilton/

WestJet has announced that the airline will increase its capacity out of John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport by 40 per cent in 2017, with the return of non-stop service to Edmonton and Halifax and a new route to Winnipeg. Four-time weekly service to Edmonton returns Jan. 16 until Oct. 28. Daily service to Halifax returns Jan. 16 until Oct. 28. Three-time weekly service to Winnipeg starts Jan. 17 until Oct. 26.

“Our loyal guests in Hamilton have long asked for more destination options so we are delighted to bring back our successful Edmonton and Halifax routes as well as new addition, Winnipeg,” said Brian Znotins, WestJet vice-president, network planning, alliances and corporate development. “Besides adding access to WestJet flights to and from these four destinations, guests will also enjoy WestJet’s award-winning guest service and low fares. WestJet is extremely proud to once again offer our high-care service connecting communities and economies across the country.”

“We are pleased to hear that WestJet will be expanding its domestic service offerings from John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport starting in 2017,” said Vijay Bathija, John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport, president and CEO. “These services will provide more options for passengers in Hamilton and the surrounding area seeking to experience the ease and convenience of flying from Hamilton International to a number of popular Canadian destinations.”

By January 2017, WestJet will be offering 27 weekly departures to seven non-stop destinations out of Hamilton to meet increasing guest demand.

“It’s great to see WestJet growing in our region once again following their successful expansion of air service last year,” said Joyce Carter, Halifax International Airport Authority president and CEO. “Providing our passengers with additional travel options remains one of our top priorities and we look forward to WestJet continuing to play a crucial role in achieving our objective.”

This winter WestJet will offer 19 daily flights on 15 routes from Halifax Stanfield International Airport. Year-over-year in January 2017, the airline will have added more than 15 per cent additional capacity out of Halifax.

“Today’s [Nov. 14] announcement is great news for our community as with increasing levels of connectivity more opportunities abound,” said Barry Rempel, president and CEO, Winnipeg Airports Authority. “We are excited to be working with WestJet as they add routes to Winnipeg Richardson International Airport, providing more jobs and development potential for our city and province.”

With the addition of the non-stop Winnipeg/Hamilton route, WestJet will offer 25 daily flights on 20 non-stop routes from Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport.

When it comes to domestic connectivity, YOW might actually be the second most comprehensive "hub" after Pearson. True, you can fly to more domestic destinations out of YVR, YYC or YUL, but they're usually smaller cities in the same province/region rather than provincial capitals on the other side of the country.

There are non-stop flights in the summer between YYJ and YOW, but not year round. It is obviously a much further distance than to other capitals, and with Vancouver so close and with hourly connections, they probably think that suffices.

huh?

No there aren't, at least no scheduled flights.

Nevermind sorry I thought they had seasonal ones, and the new Air Canada website is awful in how they list flights! See link below. It makes it look like it's a non-stop flight, you have to actually click on it to find out it contains a Toronto connection! Very sneaky, their old site was always clear if there was a stop or connection!

https://beta.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco...#/faredriven:0

I can't see what you're looking at, but you can clearly see connections on the Air Canada website.

Edit: It doesn't show you same plane service with a stop, but those are direct flights, even if they're nonstop.

Yes once you click on the flight it shows the stop in Toronto, but on the initial search screen it appears non-stop which is what I was referring to.

Yeah, sorry for the confusion.