Not really a surprise as the bailout talks with the Feds seem to be going nowhere:

Verge of collapse’: Air Canada reports more service cuts, station closures in Atlantic Canada
By Aya Al-Hakim Global News
Posted December 8, 2020

Atlantic Canada’s airports were advised Tuesday of more service cuts and station closures by Air Canada that will become effective Jan. 11, 2021.

As of that day, Air Canada will be suspending all flights until further notice in Sydney, N.S., and Saint John, N.B., and suspending four routes until further notice in Deer Lake, N.L., Charlottetown, Fredericton and Halifax.

In a statement, the Atlantic Canada Airports Association (ACAA) said the announcement comes on the heels of WestJet’s October announcement suspending 80 per cent of the airline’s Atlantic Canada capacity, and an earlier announcement in June by Air Canada indefinitely suspending 11 routes in Atlantic Canada along with the closure of stations in Bathurst, N.B., and Wabush, N.L.

According to the association, the second wave of COVID-19 infections is piling “added pressure on a sector on the verge of collapse.”...

https://globalnews.ca/news/7508603/a...lantic-canada/

Looks like Air Canada has begun making good on them threats. They're suspending operations to YQY & YSJ until further notice after January 10th.

The following services are suspended.

YYZ-YQY
YUL-YSJ
YDF-YHZ
YFC-YYZ
YYG-YYZ
YHZ-YOW

I don't think anyone really should be surprised.
WestJet already has done similar.
2nd wave, government asking no one to travel
Atlantic Canada bubble
Weak economy

We will need less airports, planes and staff after this.

These will all be back eventually with the last one obviously the first to return. Normally, YOW-YHZ in the doldurms of winter has about 8 daily on it, going up to around 12 daily in summer.

Sucks for YQY and YSJ to join the ranks of much smaller airports that currently have no air service too. After YOW-YHZ's dropped, even YOW will only have service on 5 routes in January and everything east will again connect at YUL like in April & May.

It's no surprise with yesterday's record-setting total nationally of COVID cases. 1,500 more than the prior Monday. It's going to be this time next year before we start to see a strong recovery...assuming there isn't too much anti-vaxing opposition, which is a big IF given the lack of mandatory vaccinations at this point.

AC's trying to out bluff the Transport Minister. Garneau has said in French just a couple of days ago no refunds to pax = no gov't bailout.

I'm sure AC and WS would issue refunds if the bailout was commensurate with what other countries did for their airlines.

I'm sure they will here too once a deal for the major carriers is worked out. WS have started issuing refunds. AC et al are the holdouts.

Keep in mind the airlines have received help, but just the same help to date as any other business.

While a bit off topic as he's not Canadian, just like Max Ward a few weeks ago, another legend aviation passes. Chuck Yeager, the first person to ever break the sound barrier, died yesterday at the age of 97.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/chuch-...dies-1.5832252

In addition to YQY and YSJ in the east, out west AC is also suspending YYF (Penticton) until further notice. Of note, YYF is one of only 18 remaining airports that is still operated by Transport Canada. WS will still serve YYF during the AC suspension.

https://globalnews.ca/news/7509795/a...sion=true&s=03

WS is resuming YXU-YYC on Dec 20, 3x weekly. The notice also mentioned a few extra holiday flights added, not sure how many.

5x weekly December 20-27.

Additionally, looks like WS has dropped a few planned route resumptions this month including: YEG-CUN/PVR/YHZ & YWG-CUN/PVR.

Canadian North has issued a press release and accompanying video with several interesting pieces of information:

• The Dash 8 fleet has been retired, leaving the ATR 42 as the airline's sole turboprop fleet type;
• The airline plans to add two Boeing 737-700s in 2021, in addition to its -200, -300, and -400 models; and
• A Letter of Intent has been signed with Air Greenland to explore partnership opportunities for air service between Greenland and Canada.

I've waiting so long for the Toronto - Ilulissat flights to fire up!

A return of YOW-Greenland same-plane service after a 20 year absence (summer charters on First Air existed from 2001-2006) would be nice. Seasonal YYZ would make sense to connect to AC’s vast network. I wonder if 5T will turn the 73Gs into combis? Now is definitely the time to pounce on NG equipment. I would imagine 5T are in better shape than most Canadian carriers given 1/2 their business is cargo.

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...tes.html#/na-1

Looks like AC is re-dropping a bunch of domestic routes in January. Not surprising given its typically a slow travel month anyways.

Aside from the already noted Atlantic Canada routes, also looks like:

YYC-YOW
YYC-YCD
YUL-YWG
YYZ-YLW
YYZ-YYJ
YVR-YYF

Also this US route is dropped too:
YVR-PDX

A few routes only operate during the peak travel season between Dec 18-Jan 10ish. I believe WS January update should be loaded this weekend too.

That puts YOW back at just above April/May service offerings from AC for the doldrums of winter. 7-8 departures/day. Speaking of YOW:

YOW's November Pax Stats. The drop in service levels corresponds with the drop in pax traffic:

Sector / Nov-19 / Nov-20 / % Change
Dom: 310,590 / 31,742 / -89.8%
TB: 47,522 / 0 / -100.0%
Int'l: 22,572 / 0 / -100.0%
TTL: 380,684 / 31,742 / -91.7%

Sector / YTD 2019 / YTD 2020 / % Change
Dom: 3,680,278 / 987,373 / -73.2% - Will just break the million domestic pax mark at year-end
TB: 627,661 / 163,093 / -74.0%
Int'l: 379,228 / 168,382 / -55.6% - Not that it means much, but this is the first time in history YOW handled more international pax than transborder pax.
TTL: 4,687,167 / 1,318,848 / -71.9%

12 Months Rolling / % Change vs Year End 2019
Dom: 1,300,648 / -67.5%
TB: 221,729 / -69.2%
Int'l: 215,791 / -44.4%
TTL: 1,738,168 / -65.99%

The meaningful indicator these days
Month-Over-Month Change
Sector / Oct-20 / Nov-20 / % Change
Dom: 38,551 / 31,742 / -17.7%
TB: 0 / 0 / #DIV/0!
Int'l: 0 / 0 / #DIV/0!
TTL: 38,551 / 31,742 / -17.7%

https://www.alberta.ca/international...ect.aspx#toc-5

Didn't realize they were reporting this information, but as of December 3 (first month) of the YYC testing pilot there has been 10,923 participants. Out of that 1.51% tested positive on the first test, while 0.79% tested positive on the second test with an average of 1.23%.

I'd say the pilot is working well. I suspect YEG will get added around February with other airports getting a similar testing plan by April.

Is YVR and Westjet doing something similar? Thought i saw a news article on a pilot project over there.

I think that one is for domestic travel? Air Canada is running a testing pilot for international arrivals at YYZ, but the participants don't get to skip the 14 day quarantine.

PAL Airlines press release from today:

PAL appears to be planning for the Romeo LeBlanc International Airport to become a hub for it's airline in the Maritime region. With the current St. John's service, and planned Moncton-Ottawa service (after the pandemic abates), the following routes will be available:

Moncton - St. John's NL
Moncton - Deer Lake NL
Moncton - Wabush NL
Moncton - Ottawa ON

This is big news for CYQM. If Moncton becomes a hub for the airline, there could be the possibility of further service expansion (with this particular airline) down the road (Gander, Montreal, Toronto). :)

The Deer Lake and Wabush services start in January. I could see Deer Lake being a popular destination in the wintertime (Marble Mountain), and the summertime too (Gros Morne).

At present, the only other carrier operating on a regularly scheduled basis to Moncton is Air Canada (to Montreal and Toronto). Hopefully after the end of the pandemic, we will see the return of WestJet and Porter for year round operations and SunWing and Air Transat for sun destination flights in the wintertime. Swoop was supposed to begin service to Moncton in the summer of 2020, but that didn't get off the ground because of the pandemic.