Great to see Flair and Swoop focusing on YEG. If locals are right and the big carriers are ignoring YEG to fill their hubs there should be a good void for them to fill.

From my experience, everyone in the UK has a brother-in-law in Burlington or Oakville so they would probably know.

The upgraded terminal building opens soon. And we now know what business will join the Newfoundland Chocolate Company, Heritage Shop of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Yellowbelly Brewery and Public House - Tim Horton's. :haha:

http://i67.tinypic.com/28994eh.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/23tfvwk.jpg

The biggest change for users will be that security is now on the first floor near check-in, as opposed to halfway across the airport and on the second floor.

Some pics via FB, older ones.

Exterior front, including expansion:

http://i63.tinypic.com/2e0qo9s.jpg

The new steel area is the security expansion. Second floor is being dragged out over it too. The whole thing still looks cohesive and like a single building in the final renders.

Exterior back:

http://i66.tinypic.com/2cr3dpu.jpg

And the new area:

http://i65.tinypic.com/dy830p.jpg

It looks like Canada Jetlines as actually got a plane now, registration CGCJL.
I believe it's an A320.

https://scontent.fybz2-1.fna.fbcdn.n...01&oe=5BEC9AD2
Image from Canada Jetlines Facebook page.

Yes, first of two. For delivery next year.

Wait, it's happening?

^ I won't believe it until they actually carry paying passengers.

Will there even be room for Jetlines by the time (if?) they get in the air? The ULCC airline biz will be crowded with this one as well as Flair and Swoop.

They might merge with Flair in order to form a stronger competition to Swoop, given that Swoop has a significant advantage in financial backing.

Good point, the Abbotsford-Edmonton-Hamilton market is getting pretty crowded.

You have to wonder if Flair would want anything to do with Canada Jetlines. As much of a rinky dink operation Flair is, to their credit they have at least managed to get planes off the ground which is more than you can say for Canada Jetlines despite their years of trying.

Different aircraft types do not make for good efficiencies.

It seems so. I certainly expect to see them commence flying in due course.
How long they remain active though is another question.

Swoop will have taken out both Flair and Jetlines by the end of 2020, I'd wager.

Well, Guns n' Roses did release Chinese Democracy, so anything is possible.

I imagine Jetlines will have about the same lifespan as the single did on the charts.

With just 2 planes where will they be flying?

The usual suspects for ULCC airlines in Canada:

Bases: Abbotsford and Hamilton
Cities: Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Halifax.

They could either alternate service by day or do hops east-to-west (and vice-versa).

I get why the big 3 airports are a challenge for ULCCs, but why are YOW and YQB never part of the formula?

I suspect the bilingual staff required to serve YOW, YQB (and perhaps YUL) are a challenge to upstarts.

That, and domestic travel is less strong from Quebec relative to international travel.

Perhaps an ULCC with roots in Montreal might do well. Then again, Air Transat could arguably fill that niche.

^ I honestly don't know how you can hope to run a successful ULCC in the long term without at least 2 of YYZ, YVR and YUL. Those airports are cornerstones of the domestic air travel network. I guess it's less of a big deal to Swoop since they exist as a defensive measure to be deployed against the likes of Flair.

If there were better links between Toronto-Hamilton and Vancouver-Abbotsford maybe it would work, but the current connections are terrible.

The ULCC model has always been a pretty iffy one for Canada for domestic flying. Some issues are:

- major airports in this country aren't overcapacity as European ones are
- outside of summer (and a few holidays), domestic travel crashes
- relatively low population density and long distances make for thin margins

As part of a larger company that specializes in winter travel to sun destinations, you could make an argument that it could be a decent side business. It might be a decent business during the summer when southern flying is limited. Air Transat and Sunwing sort of do this, but as you mention, they do it out of major airports.

I imagine some investors have money to burn. I wouldn't put $5 into this, especially that Swoop has the financial backing to stomp out this sort of thing.