Oh nice, that's a bigger mix of people than I'd've expected. Moncton is one city where I never met any Newfoundlanders - and I was there a few years. My buddies there were all francophone, even if only in name. I only have a couple I'm still in touch with (FB) - a Doucette girl and a Cormier guy.

I know several Newfoundlanders in my subdivision, although there admittedly used to be more of them when CNR was more of a thing in Moncton, and when the HQ of Marine Atlantic was located here. They relocated the Marine Atlantic HQ to NL a few years after the Confederation Bridge was built, and the ferry sevice from NB to PEI was cancelled.

That's still a controversial subject. They're moving the Marine Atlantic HQ from St. John's to Channel-Port aux Basques, a day's drive away on the other side of the island. Obviously, there aren't many executives in Port aux Basques so staff were upset. When media asked the Minister about it, whose district is out there, he said, "I don't care." - which horrified people in St. John's but won him a landslide with the mindset out around the bay lol

KLM offering twice-weekly service in circle route to Amsterdam
September 22, 2020 (Edmonton, AB) – A vital connection to Europe and destinations beyond is returning to Edmonton with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines offering essential service from Edmonton International Airport (EIA).

After a five month pause, KLM will resume offering its non-stop service from Edmonton to Amsterdam, beginning October 29, 2020. The twice weekly service will operate Thursdays and Saturdays with a 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. KLM and EIA worked tirelessly to develop a scenario which adheres to all current health and travel restrictions and provides the Edmonton Metro Region with international access non-stop from Edmonton.

https://flyeia.com/corporate/media/n...7iBWekEkYbM1JE

Curious on how this will be organized at YYC's end. Obviously will arrive at the international terminal for customs but what about departure. Since they will be picking up AMS destined pax as well as YEG bound pax, do they depart from the international or domestic terminal?

NAV CANADA is announcing permanent workforce reductions, the closure of the Winnipeg and Halifax Flight Information Centres, and the commencement of level of service studies at 24 airports: Saint-Jean QC, Castlegar BC, Churchill MB, High Level AB, Peace River AB, Brandon MB, Fort Nelson BC, Fort St John BC, Inuvik NWT, Lloydminster AB, Norman Wells NWT, Port Hardy BC, Prince Albert SK, Red Deer AB, Sept-Îles QC, Dawson Creek BC, Fort McMurray AB, Flin Flon MB, The Pas MB, Buffalo Narrows SK, Kuujjuarapik QC, Blanc Sablon QC, Natashquan QC, and Sydney NS.

This is a significant announcement by Canada's air navigation service provider, and it will be especially interesting to follow the above-noted level of service studies over the coming weeks and months.

Castlegar is mentioned hmm.

Everyone will have to clear customs at YYC. No different than when old AC861 went LHR-YYT-YHZ and AC sold seats on the YYT-YHZ leg.

Most trainees are gone. As well as Halifax and Winnipeg FICs. Overall, it's 200 permanent positions (management and unionized) that will disappear.

As for the aeronautical studies, it's a fancy way of saying those units will most likely close or at the very least reduce hours of service in the coming months/years. It sucks, but that's the reality.

Most of the aerodromes in that list are FSS (flight service specialist) units. The only control towers in that list are at Fort McMurray, AB and St. Jean, QC. The rest are either FSS, or airports with RAAS service (transceiver at the airport with another FSS unit providing remote airport advisory service)

FIC employees are also FSS. So obviously, the biggest impact on unionized employees is directed at them. Hopefully those affected will be allowed to relocate to other units.

Sad day for sure. Wish all those affected good luck in their future endeavours.

https://www.navcanada.ca/EN/about-us...y_map_06_e.pdf

Most likely international, or else the duty free will miss out on sales for those 2 flights/week.

Maybe they wanted to emphasize that it is St John's to Moncton and not St John's to Moncton by way of Halifax.

I think I read on the earlier announcement that they plan to turn this flight into a St John's to Ottawa flight by way of Moncton (once the bubble is popped), so that might be another reason to emphasize the "Direct" part.

"Non-stop" rather than "direct", no? :shrug:

:previous:

Yes, the intent is for this to be a St. John's-Moncton-Ottawa service which is smart on PAL's part. By having Ottawa as the terminal destination, this would boost ridership overall, and on the Moncton-Ottawa segment.

Ottawa-Moncton used to be well served by Air Canada and Porter, but then COVID hit. Maybe PAL senses an opening...…….

I meant the departure from YYC. Obviously it will arrive internationally, but it will have pax that are re-boarding bound for YEG, and pax that will be boarding headed to AMS on the same flight.

Apparently it might it even be both. A swing gate can be utilized and KLM can board the YEG bound pax from the domestic side and AMS bound pax from the international side.

That is not always the case. There is presedence for both models.

When United was doing the Chicago-Regina-Saskatoon flight the practice was passengers heading to Saskatoon would have to stay on the aircraft in Regina and do customs when landing in Saskatoon. United did not rights to sell the Regina-Saskatoon leg on its own.

This is the first sign of federal aid to airlines:

Federal government wants to restore regional flights by subsidizing airlines
Air Canada slashed the number of domestic regional flights back in June
David Cochrane · CBC News · Posted: Sep 24, 2020

The federal government is finalizing a plan to re-establish flights to regional airports across the country by subsidizing airlines, CBC News has learned.

The final details are still being worked out, but Economic Development Minister Mélanie Joly said the idea is for federal departments or agencies to subsidize airlines to launch routes between smaller regional centres and connections to larger cities.

"Many other countries in the world go ahead and support their regional routes through subsidies, including the U.S.," Joly told CBC News. "So we want to find a way to work with partners to make sure there can be that interconnection ... at an affordable price."

The idea was first pitched publicly in Wednesday's speech from the throne.

"The government will work with partners to support regional routes for airlines," Gov. Gen. Julie Payette said in French, reading from the speech. "It is essential that Canadians have access to reliable and affordable regional air services. This is an issue of equity, of jobs, and of economic development."..

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/air...eech-1.5737508

I agree. Direct means same plane, maybe with stops along the way.

Yeah but that wasn’t a triangle flight like KL will be doing. All pax arriving at YYC, including YEG terminators, have to clear customs at YYC as you cannot have a mix of cleared and non-cleared pax on the same aircraft. Surely the KL flights will depart from YYC’s international terminal as they’re AMS terminators. It wouldn’t be hard to keep the YEG terminators separate and away from duty free.

YYC's domestic & international terminals are technically separate terminals. The international side forces you through duty free and domestic passengers don't normally have access to that side of the terminal.

From what I've heard, it sounds like KLM will board AMS bound pax on the international side and YEG bound pax on the domestic side.

That makes even less sense.

That said, the only reason I can see for doing that is the current regulations restrict international overseas arrivals to Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto. Edmonton not on the list.

Originally I only thought they would be stopping at YYC for customs/health check and the YEG pax would simply re-board the aircraft and that's that. But adding in AMS bound pax too, complicates the matter. It's not like the old days when international/domestic boarded from the same holding room.

Gate 70 can be swung between international/domestic without the aircraft having to be towed. Pax board at D70 bound for AMS, and pax bound for YEG board at C70.

But I guess we will find out next month when the flights actually operate.