Which exactly what Canadian airlines were complaining about. Foreign carriers that have received state aid will be able to serve our market even if it makes no economic sense. Meanwhile the Trudeau Liberals dither on aiding Canadian companies.

What we don't know is what the cargo revenue is like for KLM on that flight.

AC has a number of routes they are running daily and don't bother to even have passengers. Much of North America - Australia is like that now.

Sunwing comes out in favour of AC/Transat merger:

Sunwing CEO says Transat takeover vital to fend off foreign airlines
ERIC ATKINS TRANSPORTATION REPORTER
PUBLISHED JANUARY 22, 2021

Air Canada's proposed takeover of smaller rival Transat AT Inc. TRZ-T unchno change
has won support from an unlikely source – the head of leisure carrier Sunwing Airlines Inc.

The combination of Canada’s No. 1 and No. 4 airlines will be good for the domestic aviation industry, bolstering the global clout of Canada’s flag carrier amid heightened competition with foreign airlines, says Stephen Hunter, chief executive officer of Sunwing, a Toronto-based carrier that flies to southern sun destinations.

Air Canada’s takeover of Transat, under review by regulators in Ottawa and Europe, will ensure Canada’s main airline can withstand competition from Air France, Lufthansa and other global carriers, Mr. Hunter said. Those carriers, propped up by their home countries in the pandemic with billions in loans, grants and other aid, are increasing their shares of the Canadian market as Canadian carriers slash routes to reduce their losses and stay alive.

Mr. Hunter said he supports the deal even though Sunwing and Transat are direct rivals that sell airfare and tour packages, and the takeover would allow Air Canada to solidify its status as Canada’s dominant airline.

“Unless we want Canada completely controlled by foreign carriers, we have to allow this,” Mr. Hunter said by phone. “Our main fear is, and what we’ve got to watch out for, is all the European and other international carriers coming in and taking market share away from Canadian airlines. And this is one way to defend them.”....

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...rival-transat/

https://www.facebook.com/KLMCanada/p...44562322229539

But not YVR?

I don't see Sunwing's argument, to be honest. Unless they're going to:

a) Start their own European ops
b) Are going to wrangle some big concessions from this merger

Sunwing doesn't really compete with European/international carriers. They basically run Canadians to southern warm weather destinations in the winter. That's a market that's almost entirely dominated by Canadian carriers.

From their point-of-view, why do they care if AC/TS and Westjet are going to be bled from international competition?

In general, the international competition isn't really that strong here. Most of them stick to our 3 major airports. A few (mostly US-based) run flights out of our smaller ones. I'd venture that the point-of-sale is mostly Canada-based, so advantage domestic airlines.

So, I wonder what's the real play for Sunwing.

There’s only 1 reason why WG supports this deal. There will be 1 less competition on their sun routes, meaning higher yields. Period.

All the rest they wrote - about foreign airlines and whatnot - doesn’t apply to them. Like you said, almost none of their routes have foreign competition, except for YUL/YYZ/YVR to CUN, with Interjet, and YUL/YYZ-MIA, with AA.

http://www.mediaintoronto.com/air-ca...-in-june-2021/

So, you believe that AC is going to can Rouge and shift all their sun flying to Transat?

I'd almost wonder if Onex taking a stake in Sunwing and doing that with Westjet might be a counter move. Westjet does "Westjet Vacations by Sunwing" and focuses Westjet on mainline routes. It doesn't even have to worry about competing with its own European (and business) ambitions as it would with Transat. Sure, you lose the potential Quebec market, but they never really had it in the first place. You nominally integrate the operations, mostly on the maintenance/scheduling side, but run them as separate entities. They even both fly 737s.

Most likely. Rouge will fold into the Transat brand. Even though Rouge served AC well, in terms of brand, Transat is stronger and has been around longer. So that's the one they will most likely keep.

I think it has to do with the rapid testing requirement at the airport just before departure, which is now a requirement to fly to the Netherlands. YVR doesn't seem to meet the requirements, whereas the other 4 do. (at least that's what KLM Canada is hinting at in the facebook link you posted. Read the comments. There might be an update after the weekend)

https://www.government.nl/topics/cor...DaGdwGkp8yHhCE

https://www.government.nl/topics/cor...id-test-result

That's quite weird because there was a KLM flight out to YVR today. So I'm not too sure if the FB guys forgot to mention Vancouver or if there's another reason to why they flew to Vancouver today.

Yeah I saw that. Either the issue is solved, or it could be that the return flight to AMS had no passengers on board.

A MAX flight on the 2nd day of ops by WS was cancelled due to a warning light.

Usually this is a non-event, but it made the news: https://www.infomedia.gc.ca/tc/en/2021/1/22/234300463

KLM’s Canadian ops remain unchanged. I think YVR wasn’t included in that post cause they weren’t sure if they could offer the required tests.

It was only reported because it’s a MAX. The same aircraft operated without issue today.

How AC plans to reinvent itself.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2021/0...nada-2-spc.cnn

AA loaded its updated March schedule. The YYC presence is an increase over its pre-COVID schedule of 2x daily E75.

YYC-DFW 2x daily 319
YYC-PHX 1x daily 319
YVR-PHX 1x daily 319
YVR-DFW 1x daily 319
YYZ-PHX 1x daily 319
YYZ-DFW 1x daily 319
YYZ-PHL Up to 2x daily E145
YYZ-CLT 1x daily 319
YUL-PHL 4x weekly E145

I suspect there will be more changes to this in the future.

Jesus...

Pre-Covid:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Esl_-lwW...pg&name=medium
https://twitter.com/HalifaxEditor/st...53939615895566

Currently:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Esl_-lwW...pg&name=medium
https://twitter.com/HalifaxEditor/st...53939615895566


2020 Passenger Traffic at Halifax Stanfield Hit 50-Year Low

https://i.postimg.cc/28DmcLYb/yhz1.png

https://halifaxstanfield.ca/2021/01/...t-50-year-low/

YHZ's 2020 numbers are in line with YOW's 1.3 million. The thing with YHZ's pre-COVID map is MAN and CDG never operated a single flight. Similarly at YOW, LH never got the chance to takeover FRA from AC and Flair never flew a single flight.

WS flew YHZ-CDG in summer of 2018, and a few flights in 2019.

Former Saskatchewan competitors Westwind Aviation and Transwest Air are going to merge. They've both been wholly owned subsidiaries of Westwind Aviation Group for quite some time. It makes sense to merge them. I'm guessing the ATR crash is what held this up. New name for the airline will be Rise Air - meh.

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/n...-merge-rebrand