Wasn’t it December 22 that we hit 18 million? 12 days? More like 9 days left for 2017? Not 12.

Airports often approximate milestone passengers. If they know in real time how many passengers that have, airports stats would come out on the 1st every single month. It's after the monthly review that things sometimes change.

That would be my guess.

Well, Swoop's website is already online, and you can see the routes when you use the drop down from booking...

YXX-YEG
YXX-YHM
YHM-YEG
YHM-YWG
YHM-YHZ

IATA code: WO

Seems like all route would be 6x weekly except for YXX-YEG 3x daily

Except for YXX-YHM, all are existing routes on WS and are transferred over to WO.

Excellent news for YHM.

https://flyswoop.com/images/route-map.jpg
flyswoop.com

YYC numbers for 2017 are out. 16.3 million passengers. About a 3.8 percent increase from the year before.

I have to give Swoop credit, they're bringing some of the lowest base fares I've seen in years, probably since before JetsGo's demise in 2005. But oh, the fees...

Well, the lowest fare is basically free (you only have to pay the tax and fees). No one cat beat that. But then Flair (except last Dec's addition), Swoop, and Jetlines (according to their proposed route map) are essentially just flying the exact same routes...

I'm surprised they aren't flying to Montreal... seems like an obvious destination. They could easily fly to St Hubert airport no?

It does seem to be getting repetitive with all these YXX-YEG-YHM variants. I don't really ever see myself flying to YXX... the hassle wouldn't be worth it vs. just going to YVR.

Yeah, I agree. Seems like many of the price chopper start ups are flying out of Hamilton. You have to wonder when they will price themselves out. I fly to TO all the time for work, but Hamilton is a massive hassle. As cheap as they are, it doesn't take away from the fact that you're going to Hamilton and need to make other arrangements which can be just as costly; i.e. car rental.

^ I've only ever connected in YHM before but I'd consider using it to visit Hamilton/Niagara (I have family there). It's less appealing as a means of accessing Toronto, although I suppose it could work if you're willing to give up some time and money.

Abbotsford, on the other hand, sounds like a massive PITA if you are actually trying to get to Vancouver.

The one and only time I tried to fly from YXX, the airport drop-off service I used tried to scam me $105 to go there (vs. $40 for YVR). Transit is non-existent in YXX whereas I can get to YVR with $5 (or free since I got a monthly pass).

One of the reason these ULC choose YXX instead of YVR is due to the fact that YXX have no AIF so the fare can appear to be very very cheap. I wonder how long it can last, as the airport would need expansion very soon as it only have 3 gates and only 1 jetbridge....

It would be great if these cheap airlines using YXX spurs a more direct bus line to Vancouver.

Unlike YXX and YHM, YHU doesn't have a dedicated passenger terminal that can handle several hundred passengers at once. It isn't well equipped to handle scheduled 737s. The only scheduled passenger airline that operates out of YHU is Pascan, and it does so out of it's own building, mostly with PC12 or JS32 turboprops. You're not moving the same quantity of people.

And you really think a YHU-YHM or YHU-YXX flight would be a success? I don't think so.

YHU is a general aviation airport, nothing more. DASH-L, the airport operator, would need to invest in a proper terminal building before any ULCC can establish itself there. Problem is, they probably wont invest in any such facility until an airline commits to such operations. So in other words, dont hold your breath.

Perhaps airports like YXX and YHM were chosen to tap into a large, perhaps mainly leisure, market that live closer to those airports and don’t wish to use large, busy, and expensive airports like YYZ and YVR.

If (big if now) Jetlines takes off and looking at their proposed route map (leaked way too early was a bad business decision) it’s pretty much all the same between Flair, Swoop and Jetlines.... a three way race for low yielding traffic! Good times! How low can they go?

Well, cheapest ticket for Swoop is already $0 base fare... can't get any lower than that :cool:

Maybe they purposely leak the map early to trick WS into starting those routes, and then they'll end up announcing something completely different 90 days before service begins?

This may the death knell for Jetlines. It's been talked about so long and has delivered minimal actual results that it is 'vaporware'.

I could see Flair surviving. They've already added service to Pearson and Vancouver.

With Swoop, Westjet is pretty zealously guarding against any incursions into their turf.

The funny thing is, Flair's original founder is no longer controlling the airline. The current owner is previously one of the advisor for Jetlines, and the current Flair CEO is also the former CEO of Jetlines. Basically, Flair now is the original Jetlines, and the current Jetlines is something else :D