First aircraft, C-FIVX, left YMX for YYZ on April 8. It has since flown YYZ-NRT-PVG-NRT-YYZ. It's currently on the last leg of that journey.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ac2284

I believe the other two frames are C-FNNQ and C-FNNU. They are currently in YMX, and one of them is flying out to YYZ tonight around 6h30 pm. There is also a fourth B77W in YMX, C-FITW. So a 4th frame could also be converted to all cargo.

Avianor MRO has a nice operation going at YMX. Good for them.

I remember in university flying back from Ottawa to London. It was only a 45 minute flight and you still got a sandwich, snacks, and a full can a pop and not one of these micro-glasses they pour you today. I arrived 40 minutes before the flight, 5 minutes to get my boarding pass and that was it. It was bliss and is why so air travel use to be the considered the best way to get around.

I think this is why we have seen a resurgence of train travel for short/mid distance trips as air travel has become so painful.

No to mention how cramped Economy seats have become. It was bad enough as AC switched widebody flying largely from the 767 with 2-3-2 seating to the 787 with 3-3-3-or 777 with 3-4-3 (where they shoehorned an extra seat in the middle row). With than configuration a couple is bound to be seated next to some sneezy stranger. Add in the reduction in legroom and it is even worse.

^^ No kidding!

We often view history with rose-coloured glasses but in terms of sir travel, it true.

How much did you pay for your ticket back then? How much would a same ticket cost now you think? What were the airlines' cost then, and what are they now you think?

Answer these questions, and you will soon figure out the main reason why airlines are cutting as much perks as they can these days. 9/11 explains the rest. It's as simple as that really. People now want to fly half way around the world, and pay peanuts for it. Well, if you pay peanuts, you get peanuts ! (heck, you might not even get peanuts! ;))

No need to be nostalgic. Those days are gone, never to return. This pandemic wont change that. Sure, airports are empty, like the old days. That's where the resemblance ends. When traffic bounces back, and it will, people will go back to complaining about long security/customs lines and lack of service and shit seats in economy.

As far as train travel goes, it's a joke and a half in this country. We don't even have high speed rail between our two largest cities ! It's not complicated. 500 km, in a straight line, and no mountains to contend with. How hard could it be....Get it done already. The Swiss will soon have high speed rail that passes underneath the Alps for Christ's sake.

With any luck, airfares will be much higher post-covid.

The difference is back then the airlines engineered the system to make business travelers pay a lot more than they do today. Almost all flights had a Saturday night stay over to get a significant discount.

The meals cost almost nothing on a per customer basis. The in flight crew is paid for and we are talking about what amounts to a frozen TV dinner. For the airline it adds up if multiply $5-10 by the number of passengers on a flight.

The big difference is travel agents disappeared. In the old days you phone your travel agent, they ask if you have a preference for a specific airline and they give you a few options. You preferred airline and time of day are the more critical drivers. The travel agent was the gate keeper.

Today you go to Expedia and it it presents everything as a table based on price.

I wouldn't be so sure. Nobody's going to be in a hurry to get crushed into flying sardine can anytime soon. Travel may go back to being a special thing, and not open to every backpacker who can squeeze onto a Ryannair seat. Not a bad thing for the environment or the places that were being overwhelmed by mass tourism.

I'd love to see it, but I won't believe that mass tourism ( :yuck: ) is going to change until I see places like Venice, Dubrovnik, and Barcelona banning cruise ships from their ports.

Is anyone going to be in a hurry to get on a cruise ship anytime soon? I read that Australia was considering having their foreign traveller ban in effect to the end of the year, which will devastate their tourism industry. Can you imagine what effect a similar plan would have on economy like Hawai'i?

Canada may be ok. All that travel that would have gone to the US, Europe etc. being spent domestically. Likely a wash vrs the foreigners coming into the country.

Right now I'm thinking about the National Parks and other places in my own province I might be able to visit later this summer if the provincial borders here remain closed.

Not even that quick ferry trip over to the beaches on PEI this year! Certainly lots to do here at home.

Relative to inflation, air travel is far cheaper today than it was back then.

Kamloops Airport saw an 11% decrease in the first quarter of this year.

https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/new...unt-1.24116656

Put me in the category of 'not quite sure back in the day was so great', even when excluding lower ticket prices, as adjusted for inflation.

One of the modern perks to modern day travel is personal entertainment, both on my tablet and sometimes on airline seatbacks. Get on the plane in Toronto and 2 movies later, you're landing in Vancouver. Back in the day, you might have had a book or airline magazine only.

Also, while meal service is nice, it's hardly a deal breaker. I don't really need a meal service on a 2 hour flight from Winnipeg to Toronto. Also, I generally think food on the ground far beats airline stuff, so I usually eat before I hit the plane anyway.

Airlines also offer complimentary meals on intercontinental flights and I've had my dinner with beer, so I can't complain there. Westjet used to make it an optional thing on transatlantic flights, but I'm not sure if that's changed.

I am lucky that I fit into modern economy seats quite well, so I do have some empathy for those who don't.

Never mind.

-38% in March. So YKA was in the +5% range for February and January.

Let’s see if other airports are in line with-38% for March.

YQR averaging 15 to 20 pax per day: https://globalnews.ca/news/6806046/c...ewan-airports/

Link in French to Radio-Canada, but it says pax numbers are down 98.5% at YYC: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle...vid19-economie

Hardly any airports have reported Feb stats, let alone March. YYJ (Victoria) has said that the last two weeks of March saw a 70% drop in traffic... we'll see when they post some numbers.

The Saskatoon airport (YXE) has put up March numbers and they are down ~48% from 2019.