PIA is probably only slightly better than Biman, which also operates to YYZ. Regardless, I find it sad that Pakistani people would rather take a connecting flight through Dubai than to fly direct on their own country's airline. I like that PIA flies from YYZ to all three major Pakistani cities non-stop (Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore). They alternate between the 3 during the week, as opposed to having more frequency to just one destination. It's an interesting and rare strategy amongst airlines. Usually they would pick one destination as the main international hub, and route everything through that as a first choice, and then add secondary destinations afterwards. It's cool they give essentially equal weight to all 3 hubs with non-stop service from YYZ. I hope they do well on the routes, it's a very unique tail to have at YYZ and would be a shame to lose it. As long as they are in business, I feel like they will keep the routes. And I don't think AC has any desire whatsoever to compete with them on any of the routes, so they should be able to keep their monopoly for the foreseeable future.

Kind of ironic that it was actually PIA that provided Emirates with their first two aircraft when they launched in 1985 as a fledgling start-up. Now Emirates is a giant and basically takes a huge amount of Pakistan traffic and routes it through Dubai. I suppose it's a 'bite the hand that feeds you situation' if you want to trace it all the way back, but realistically the airlines are in totally different leagues now, not even comparable in terms of traffic, destinations, prestige, etc. I wish it was different, and that Pakistan and PIA were actually normally functioning :(

Maybe they need this 737???
https://www.facebook.com/reel/762669...&fs=e&s=TIeQ9V

It was very busy this past summer. Coupled with airline staffing situations, this meant every single remote stand was being used all the time. YUL only has a handful of PTVs. That might have explained the delay. They’ve bought shiny new buses a couple of years back. Haven’t seen them being used much.

What time was this at?

It was on WestJet 218 on Sept 29th. at 7:20 pm. It was a 737 of some sort.

Not certain if that was originally scheduled to go to a remote stand or we were sent there due to the medical emergency. We deplaned down air stairs and onto buses. The flight crew started at the front of the aircraft counting off the number of people that would fit on the bus and told everyone else they would have to stay seated and wait until the bus came back. I was at the front so not certain how many round trips they had to do.

My next meeting a few days later was in Ottawa so when I left Montreal it was on VIA.

YUL's organization has gone downhill in the last year or so.

This was the situation back on Aug 14th (late afternoon).
We arrived from Gatwick and were greeded by YUL's mobile lounge. We had to wait 20-25 min for everyone to get off the plane (including pilots and crews).

Then we were dropped off at the gate and we had this little lineup waiting for us.

https://i.postimg.cc/mDG4vP53/20220815-162624.jpg

I was sure it would be some ArriveCan bullshit that would have been the problem but no, it was just regular customs waiting time. Some people were running for their connections while the line was blocking them. Complete chaos.

After 20-25 min, I was finally taking the escalator down ready to exit (just carry on bags) and surprise, surprise... another lineup.

https://i.postimg.cc/hGmgZLpP/20220815-165356.jpg

This one was just to give the little paper to the border agent... completely unnecessary.

Overall, it took me an hour and a half from when I landed to exit.

LOL yup. The built-in airstair is still available as an option on the 737...beyond Ryanair, I don't know who else still takes this option, but I believe Ryanair's entire fleet has them and here's FR's first MAX at Renton with it deployed:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DvDN2u1V...pg&name=medium

@Airboy, awesome to see KF Aerospace's new charter passenger division with ex-WS 736s! So far they have a pair of them. I bet they were able to snap them dirt cheap.

Yeah, 7pm means all remote stands we’re most likely full. That’s easily 8-10 aircraft on remote stands. Nice to see the buses were used though, but it also proves all the stands were being used and all the PTVs were busy.

I noticed WestJet parking at a remote stand quite often in the evening. Just goes to show the shit show this year.

The organisation of a lot of airports has gone downhill after the pandemic. Be glad you weren't landing or departing YYZ, LHR or AMS. Those were real shit shows I hear. YUL was a walk in the park, in comparison.

A lot of the lineups in your pics were there pre-pandemic as well. And that little paper is what the border agents use to pull people who got flagged, aside. So it's kind of an important step. But I hear your frustration.

YUL is a tiny airport, with A LOT of international passengers. It will only get worse, I'm afraid, until a new terminal is built.

The entry system to Canada is really stupid - its a shame ArriveCAN was such a disaster because the whole thing really needs an overhaul.

It used to be you filled out a paper form and lined up to show the agent. Then they "improved" the system by having everyone line up to use a kiosk to print a paper, then line up again to show the paper to the agent. They turned one lineup into two lineups, and called it an "improvement".

They should introduce e-gates for returning Canadians like in Europe, where you can enter by scanning your passport on a turnstile that has facial recognition.

It is the weird setup at the major airports. In airports like Victoria and Saskatoon you would normally pickup your bags before going to visit the customs and immigration agent.

That step where they check your kiosk receipt before going to the baggage belt is not needed and does not exist at smaller airports.

That’s when they ask you questions and then can potentially flag you. Based on your departure point, looks and answers..

At the smaller airports they do that after you have picked up you luggage and before you leave the arrival hall.

At the larger airports they do that before you get to your luggage and then after you pickup your luggage force you to stand in line again to hand a receipt to a customs agents. They could combine both those steps into one.

Could you imagine the lineup (with bags) if they did that at major airports?

No, the system we have now, albeit tedious, is the fastest in can be, based on the entry restrictions we have to abide by. (money limit, tobacco and alcohol limits, etc)

If you want the process to be streamlined, Canada needs to get rid of the stupid entry restrictions, this way CBSA won't need to police it. Then, and only then, will the process be streamlined.

Maybe if we didn't have a border with the US, those restrictions wouldn't be there. No other first world country has these stupid limits, or at least, they don't enforce it the way Canada does, except obviously the US.

There’s a weight issue with having air stairs. Some of Westjet’s 737-200s had them and the option wasn’t taken when the NG were ordered due to the cost savings in terms of fuel due to the reduction in weight.

I'm thinking WS will make any S23 long haul changes pretty soon, like this week or next week? So I guess be on the lookout for that.

Makes sense. Westjet is predominately operating thr 737 into airports with bridges.

Unless its coming mid-week, it doesn't appear to be happening this week. They filed only minor tweaks over the weekend but nothing related to the S23 long haul schedule.

I wonder if any became Flair aircraft.

I remember when Kelowna Flight Craft was doing the northern flights to help First Air.

Whereas FR shun the added costs of bridges as much as possible and serve a lot of bridgeless airports, so for them hauling around a set of stairs makes sense to them.

YOW's October Pax Stats

Sector / Oct-21 / Oct-22 / % Chg.
Dom: 175,215 / 281,971 / +60.9%
TB: 160 / 17,567 / +10,879.4%
Int'l: 0 / 0 / #DIV/0!
TTL: 175,375 / 299,538 / +70.8%

Sector / YTD 2021 / YTD 2022 / % Change
Dom: 834,172 / 2,245,015 / +169.1%
TB: 160 / 124,536 / +77,735.0% - you'll never see over 77 thousand % growth ever again...hopefully!
Int'l: 0 / 42,722 / #DIV/0!
TTL: 834,332 / 2,412,273 / +189.1%

Month-Over-Month Change
Sector Sep-21 / Oct-21 / % Change
Dom: 276,775 / 281,971 / +1.9%
TB: 14,746 / 17,567 / +19.1%
Int'l: 0 / 0 / #DIV/0!
TTL: 291,521 / 299,538 / +2.8%
Avg/Day: 9,717 / 9,663 / -0.6%
% of month's 2019 traffic: 13,990 = 69.1%
YTD TTL traffic vs 2019 = 56.0%

12 Months Rolling / % Change vs Year End 2020
Dom: 2,554,793 / +147.5%
TB: 135,618 / -16.8%
Int'l: 58,319 / -65.4%
TTL: 2,748,730 / +101.6% - back up to circa 1987 or 1995 traffic levels (traffic hit 2.8 million in 88 and didn't get back to that level until 96).

Top Travel trends for 2023, from Expedia Group. (Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo)

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...874175663.html

Also interesting are the top vacation home searches in the country.