It was a bit of a joke and perhaps not so much. I was honestly surprise at the numbers.

Swoop is already adding more flights between Hamilton and other Canadian cities
The new, increased service will run from Aug. 16 to Dec. 13

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...lton-1.4587808

Less than two months after it announced low-cost flights out of Hamilton, Swoop has added a fourth plane.

The low-cost WestJet carrier said Thursday that it would add another 13 weekly flights out of Hamilton during the summer season, in addition to the 24 announced in February. That nearly doubles the flights from Hamilton to Edmonton and Hamilton to Abbotsford, B.C., and offer daily service to Halifax and Winnipeg.

"We are thrilled that after only seven weeks on the market, Swoop is already increasing frequency out of Hamilton International," said Cathie Puckering, new CEO of the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport.

YYZ finally published 2017 figures.

47.1 million passengers +6.2%
29.6 million international passengers +8.0%
Cargo increased by 14.1%

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...677560573.html

Just skimmed the report and I didn't know Pearson was North America's second busiest airport in terms of international passengers.

Nice way of calling me ignorant ? Quit opening a can of worms dude. Edmonton, Has nothing on Montreal. Tired of rednecks who think 1 building going up is making a skyline jump to number 1. Same Goes for air traffic.

Would love to see YSJ land a contract for a flight to NFLD. It would be the first from new brunswick. Or Have direct flights to Uk and Ireland

Rednecks? 10 years old are we?

I wouldn't be surprised if Pearson wrestles #1 away from JFK in the not too distant future.

Possible, but more in the medium to long term. it's still a gap of almost 3 million. In the short term, YVR will most definately overtake ORD this year, possibly even EWR next year. YUL is also catching up fast to ATL. An overtake is possible in 3 or so years.

List of Top North American airports in 2017 based on International passengers.

1. JFK 32.4 million
2. YYZ 29.6 million
3. LAX 24.8 million
4. MIA 21.5 million
5. CUN 15.79 million
6. MEX 15.75 million
7. PTY 15.6 million
8. SFO 13.4 million
9. EWR 12.9 million
10. ORD 12.46 million
11.YVR 12.43 million
12. ATL 12.03 million
13. YUL 11.2 million
14. IAH 10.3 million
15. DFW 8.5 million
16. FLL 7.18 million
17. BOS 7.16 million

It's a known fact that YUL lacks domestic traffic. The fact that YEG has as many domestic passengers illustrates this perfectly.

I think the question to ask here is how YEG can have all of that domestic traffic feeding into it yet it only sustains a barely token amount of international service?



:youmad:

Simple. WestJet's hub is Calgary and WestJet will not split up US and International traffic out of Alberta for the sake of keeping Edmontonians happy as much as some Edmontonians seem to believe WestJet is so different than Air Canada. Air Canada wants to compete with WestJet and the only place they need to compete is in Calgary. I don't know about domestic traffic at Ottawa but the YEG/YYC saga is not that much different than the YOW/YYZ saga.

Plus the O&D from YEG to the US is less than half of YYC's.

http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26...=#customizeTab

And in many overseas markets, YEG's O&D numbers are well under half of YYC's. The disparity is greater based on the number of visitors.

So add in geography, and the hub model.... this all helps explain YEG's low international numbers.

Air Canada just appointed a new VP for Airport Experience. Full press release link here but main point below what he will be doing:

"A top priority for Air Canada is the continual improvement of the airport experience for our customers, including ease of connections. We know this is also a key consideration for global travellers. Al Read, with his wide experience in all aspects of airline operations, is well- suited to lead our airport teams as we take customer service and our airport operations to the next level, especially at our Toronto-Pearson global hub and hubs in Vancouver and Montreal," said Mr. Smith.

A lot of the work is definitely on the part of the airport authorities obviously, but they are really going after the connecting traffic and this just reaffirms that. Yet again, they neglected to mention YYC as a hub. Seems to be a recurring theme, it is 'classified' as a hub but never gets mentioned :o

DL has more daily departures out of BOS (a focus city), than AC has out of YYC.

The big 3 are leaving YYC behind in terms of AC daily departures and passenger count. It's only normal that YYC gets omitted in these press releases, as it is clearly not part of AC's master plan, and is riding the fine line of hub/focus city status (when compared to the Big 3).

That person has a big job ahead of them

YUL released February 2018 numbers

http://www.admtl.com/sites/default/f...et_2018_EN.pdf

Total pax 1,343,409 +6.4%
Domestic 469,703 +4.8%
Intl 552,259 +6.0%
Transborder 321,447 +9.7%

Aircraft movements were up 6.0% compared to Feb 2017.
Overall movements up 3.4% YTD

YMX movements up 25% YTD.

Overall, I'd say not a bad start to the year, considering Jan and Feb saw a decent number of snowstorms, and the IROPS that ensue.

I think the only reason they still call it a hub is so as not to appear losing to Westjet, as Westjet would pounce on any sign of abandonment by AC. They would spin it as they are the only choice for Calgary, and play up all sorts of critisicms. AC is instead keeping it in name only, yet not giving them any real international boosts.

Since when was Calgary ever a hub for AC?

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...e-profile.html

Air Canada occasionally refers to YYC as a hub. However, it seems to increasingly only list Pearson, Vancouver, and Montreal lately.

YYC seems to be in a bit of a hybrid place. It is the only non-hub that AC serves with both trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific flights. It has far more AC service than the "focus cities". However, it has far less AC service, especially international, than the three hub cities.