The worst airport calling itself "international" has to be the Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook (YXC).
It HAD ONE subsidized flight to Salt Lake City which canceled years ago but still have not dropped the "International" name lol!!

I'm not questioning their right to do it, I'm simply asking why they would choose to do it.

A recent tweet from the CYQM Twitter account:

This certainly helps to make up for the loss in passenger volume due to the pandemic! :tup:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Esvlk68W...jpg&name=small

Moncton is a cargo hub for couriers Fed Ex, UPS and Purolator. Moncton also sees international cargo traffic (mostly live seafood and lobster) to Europe and China mostly via Atlas Air and Bluebird. There is a dedicated cargo apron on the south side of the airport, and there is an airside cold storage facility at the airport (Xtreme Cold) which has direct runway access and it's own customs facilities.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EqAiIC4W...pg&name=medium
CargoJet and Fed Ex planes waiting to get de-iced (from last month)

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...e5&oe=602BAADB
Atlas Air 747 taxiing at the airport on arrival (also last month). Next stop - Anchorage and then on to Shanghai

[QUOTE=esquire;9177771]Why is TC meddling in something like that? What difference does it make to them if Hamilton's airport calls itself "international" or not? And why aren't transborder flights considered international? I mean, they are literally to another country that isn't ours... if that isn't international, then what is?I imagine TC deem this a safety issue, even if it's minor as it's non-official phraseology to designate these aerodromes. While separate, but quasi-related on the pax side of things, think of how many times people have gotten confused between the likes of SYD and YQY and ended up in Nova Scotia instead of New South Wales.

Just because an airport has customs facilities, doesn't mean the airport is officially designated 'international'. It means it's a designated port of entry. There's some tiny airports out there, such as Gore Bay that have customs facilities for biz jets and general aviation.

Sunwing have become the first airline to access the government's LEEFF program: https://q107.com/news/7614584/sunwin...-travel-rules/

WS, AC, TS and PD all have access to this program, yet have not bitten yet. I bet they don't like the Ts&Cs.

Porter and Transat are in hibernation, so I doubt they'll even bother.

AC was in a decent spot before COVID, so unless they get desperate why bother going through the hassle.

Westjet might, but since they're owned by Onex, it might require disclosing more about financials than they'd like.

Good assessment. AC & WS have been so vocal about 'not getting any help', yet here's a program they could access. They're clearly not desperate enough at this point as until February 2019, both airlines were swimming in cash.

Is this high interest “help” the help that was offered in exchange for suspending “sun” flying until end of April, or was more help put on the table this time?

The 'alternative help' is being worked on. It's interesting eh how perceptions change over time. From what I understand the terms are 8% interest, which today is "high", whereas 30 years ago that was a "bargain". Another huge term with LEEFF as far as I understand is severely capping exec compensation. I bet the upper brass at AC and WS don't like that either...especially WestJet and their new ' we don't care about our former owners' $13/hour (about 8% less than min wage in Ontario), 3rd party vendor for the laid off staff in Manitoba. While they may have cut to the bone, at least AC haven't cut their ground staff at their (normally) major non-hub stations like YWG, YOW, YEG, etc.

Sunwing has received a takeover offer from an unnamed buyer. Any guesses?

Sunwing Receives Takeover Offer from Unnamed Buyer
AIRLINES & AIRPORTS FEBRUARY 06, 2021

Sunwing Travel Group has an offer for to purchase its airline division, the Globe and Mail is reporting.

Stephen Hunter, chief executive of Sunwing, said a non-disclosure agreement with the would-be buyer prevents him from providing details, but more information should be available in the coming weeks.

“The airline is a vehicle in order to get our package customer from point A to point B. So our airline really is the cost department within our tour operator. And therefore, one really can’t go without the other,” he said. “And of course, Sunwing vacations provides about 30 per cent of the customers to our own hotels.”.....

https://ca.travelpulse.com/news/airl...med-buyer.html

Onyx perhaps? If so, would it perhaps merge Westjet and Sunwing or leave them as two separate entities?

I wouldn't be surprised if Onex was the buyer.

They'd run them separately.

You've Westjet for 'mainline' Canada, US and European destinations. You'd get "Westjet Vacations" operated by Sunwing for sun/Caribbean, in addition to Sunwing's regular packages.

They both run 737s, so you can share maintenance. Maybe you share scheduling, maybe not.

Onex. Peladeau. Several Possibilities.

Either way, this seems to be an unsolicited offer. My opinion is that Mr. Hunter won't be selling.

Pre-pandemic, did Sunwing do any Europe flying in the summer season? Also, does Sunwing own any of its planes, or are they all leased?

I think they own all of them and loan them out to European operators (TUI Group) for summer peak flying there.

I don't think Sunwing does any European flying. They may have done so in the past.

I was always under the impression they owned the amount of aircraft they needed for their summer east-west flights, and supplemented with leases from Europe for their north-south winter season. But that was just the sense I got from avcanada a few years ago, and I might have read it wrong or it changed since then.

I could have it backwards.

I've seen Sunwing-branded aircraft make the hop across the Atlantic on ferry flights on Flightradar24.

I would expect that the primary user or owner would have their brand on it.

Djeffery is correct.

Sunwing owns only 18 B737s. (Most, if not all, are leased btw). During peak winter season, they bring in - via wet lease - additional B737s from TUI in Europe. The Sunwing fleet pretty much doubles, to over 40 aircraft during the course of the winter season.

In the summer, when Canadian demand for sun routes goes down, the reverse happens. Sunwing leases it’s own planes to TUI over in Europe, for the busy intra-Europe vacation season. (routes to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey etc)

In the summer, Sunwing’s fleet here in Canada goes down to below 10 aircraft, mostly operating out of YUL and YYZ to Florida, CUN, PUJ and VRA (places where demand is strong year round) and some east-west domestic runs. That’s all.

It's a pretty smart way of doing business, if you think about it. Hence why TUI owns a 49% stake in Sunwing.

Its being reported Air Canada is cutting approx another 1,500 positions and suspending 17 additional routes including LGA, BOS, RSW, SEA, DEN, DCA, DUB, GRU, BOG, NRT, TLV, DXB, along with YYZ-HKG & YVR-LHR.

If my math is correct that is about 5,000 total jobs cut since the beginning of January due to stricter government travel restrictions.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air...906896?cmp=rss

This is very sad indeed. The airline industry is being decimated at the stroke of a pen by the government.

Westjet’s cabin crew workforce is about 10% of what it was a year ago.