I agree, for me its not uncommon to have a 15% increase in flight distance to make a better connection to destination. The only flights to Europe i've ever taken have been with one connection through Calgary or Minneapolis but I could see maybe connecting through O'Hare or JFK too if I absolutely have to.

It works in the west bound direction too, I know CathyPacific has flights from JFK to Hong Kong via Vancouver and I assume flights to Asia with AirCanada and Asian Carriers probably funnel majority of it's Canadian passengers through Vancouver..or Calgary's hub ever increasingly too. Each flight I have ever taken to Australia or Asia have been through either Vancouver, LA or SF

Only on the Canada Customs Cards. The machines the built for the Americans don't use any paper cards.

Air China is increasing PEK-YUL to 4 weekly

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/...ation-changes/

^

Great news indeed. A sign the route is performing well, especially since the increase starts during the winter season. HAV staying 1 weekly throughout the winter season clearly shows the tag isn't working as planned for CA. (unsurprisingly)

Europe sees some reductions. GVA, CDG, BUD and MSQ all see reductions of frequency. With the ongoing terrorist attacks, this trend will continue for Europe, unfortunately.

^ The cynic in me thinks that the Air China flight to Montreal is used in large part by people using the Quebec investor immigration program who stop briefly in Quebec before then immediately continuing on to Toronto and Vancouver to settle and buy houses.

Iberia flight 2801 landed in YUL today, an A340-600 (registration: EC-LEU) carrying Real Madrid FC. They will train here in Montreal for a week (at the recently inaugurated Montreal Impact FC training facility) and face off against Chelsea, Bayern Munich and PSG for the International Champions Cup in the US.

Sadly, Ronaldo, Bale, James Rodriguez, Sergio Ramos and Pepe weren't on board. Can't blame them, they've been busy with the Euro Cup/Copa America in the last few weeks.

http://www.realmadrid.com/en/news/20...ve-in-montreal

http://www.realmadrid.com/en/news/20...-their-history

http://www.realmadrid.com/en/news/20...al-from-madrid

The US also now has the Mobile Passport App. Hopefully Canada adapts this type of technology soon... :) Here is how it works:

STEP 1:
SET UP YOUR PROFILE

Enter your profile information as it appears on your valid, official passport. You can set up profiles for your entire family. Your information will be encrypted and shared only with CBP.

STEP 2:
ANSWER A FEW QUESTIONS

Answer CBP’s four brief questions about your trip. Then carefully review ALL of your information for the trip.

STEP 3:
SUBMIT TO CBP

Once you land, connect to wireless or wi-fi and submit your data to CBP. Remember: when you submit, you are confirming under penalty of law that your information is correct. Within a few seconds, you will receive a CBP receipt with an encrypted barcode. Your receipt will be valid for 4 hours.

STEP 4:
SKIP THE LINE & SAVE TIME!

Follow the MOBILE PASSPORT CONTROL signs and skip the lines! Show your passport to the CBP officer and scan the barcode on the CBP receipt. And that’s it!

http://mobilepassport.us

3 people a day (~1000 per year) don't fill up a plane... It's a drop in the (Pacific) ocean.

YVR finally released their May stats, good but not great:

Overall up 6.9% an increase of 117,226 over May 2015. Big surprise was domestic growth and misc intl' growth.

Domestic up 7.4%
Transborder up 4.2%
Asia Pacific up 6.7%
Europe up 9.3%
Misc Int'l up 21.7%

Ttl Int'l up 8.6%

Despite the good numbers still a little disappointing, with new services and tourism season kicking in stronger growth was expected. Low Asia Pac growth was surprising, as was high domestic growth and decent transborder numbers.

All in all June needs to be a big month to absorb all the new seats/routes that were added over the past couple months.

Ahh I was off by a bit, 8.46 million. That mostly rounds to 8.5M!

Does anybody here fly Porter Airlines?

Ya it's great. Where are you looking to go with them?

I've flown with Porter several times too. Always been a good experience, and the convenience of flying from the Island can be a bonus if you're within easy commute.

Yes…I’m regular commuter between Halifax and St. John’s. Service is great. Only fly the big guys: Air Canada and WestJet if Porter isn’t available.

YTD stats to May 2016
 

Now with YYZ and YVR reporting their May figures a good comparison can be made amongst the major Canadian airports:

YYZ 16,973,386 +5.5%
YVR 8,460,421 +7.5%
YUL 6,416,530 +4.6%
YYC 6,157,643 +1.0%
YEG 3,048,530 -5.9%

YYZ had the best result in May for the top 5 (up 7.7%) followed by YVR (up 6.9%).

China Southern Airlines have once again announced CAN-YYZ, effective Dec 7...

Guangzhou – Toronto eff 07DEC16 NEW 3 weekly service
CZ311 CAN1430 – 1630YYZ 77W 357
CZ312 YYZ0030 – 0510+1CAN 77W 146

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/...rvice-changes/

Another nice addition to YYZ, hopefully this time it will actually commence.. :cheers:

Great news for Yyz. A few upgauges across the board!

PAL to go 4pw, EI going to an A332, KLM mainly to 747 ops (I do miss the trijet), HU to 789 on certain days.. It's looking great.

I'll speculate that JU may join next year. We know they were negotiating an additional A332 but now the rumours are it is two additional. That will allow them to launch ORD, PEK and YYZ. Although it really depends on how JFK goes.

I did like seeing the MD-11 when KLM flew it it. Even rode it a couple of times. I do like the look of their B787 though.
It's good when they bring in the B77W. The extra length makes it looks such a beast compared to the B772.

AC to operate a one time CDG-YOW in April.

AC809 CDG0930 – 1100YOW 77W 14APR17

AC will also increase YYZ-PEK to 10-12 weekly for about one month in winter. Timing to PEK is a bit late on the second flight, but the return is not bad. I guess they took what they could get their hands on.

AC031 YYZ1420 – 1650+1PEK 77W D
AC021 YYZ2255 – 0115+2PEK 789 *

AC022 PEK0605 – 0555YYZ 789 *
AC032 PEK1845 – 1835YYZ 77W D

* 18JAN17 – 22JAN17 Day 357 (Day 257 from PEK)
23JAN17 – 02FEB17 Day 123 (Day 345)
03FEB17 – 12FEB17 Day x46 (Day x16)
13FEB17 – 15FEB17 Day 123 (Day 345)

Source: airlineroute.net

Any idea why the one off Paris-Ottawa flight? And will there be a return of the same route?