Rumour and being reported by a few.

SICHUAN AIRLINES INCREASES VANCOUVER SERVICE IN LATE-FEB 2023

Sichuan Airlines in late-February 2023 is restoring additional frequencies on Chengdu Shuangliu – Vancouver route, currently scheduled once weekly. From 24FEB23, passenger service on this route will be increased to 3 weekly, on board Airbus A350-900XWB aircraft.

Following schedule is effective 12MAR23 – 25MAR23, while service on/after 26MAR23 continues to list 1 weekly flight for the moment.

3U3859 CTU2140 – 1800YVR 359 57
3U3859 CTU2220 – 1900YVR 359 2

3U3860 YVR1345 – 1815+1CTU 359 3
3U3860 YVR2340 – 0500+2CTU 359 57

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230206-3uyvr

Some pretty amazing fares (thank you increased competition) from YEG or YYC to YVR over the next few months.

$68-84 return all in (carryon only).

FLAIR AIRLINES NS23 737-800 NETWORK – 05FEB23

Flair Airlines in recent schedule update filed planned Boeing 737-800 operation for Northern summer 2023 season. The 737-800 is scheduled to operate on various routes to/from Kitchener/Waterloo only.

Following operations focuses on service between 09MAY23 and 28OCT23.

Kitchener/Waterloo – Abbotsford 3 weekly
Kitchener/Waterloo – Calgary 7 weekly
Kitchener/Waterloo – Cancun 2 weekly
Kitchener/Waterloo – Charlottetown eff 08JUN23 2 weekly
Kitchener/Waterloo – Deer Lake 3 weekly
Kitchener/Waterloo – Edmonton 3 weekly
Kitchener/Waterloo – Halifax 7 weekly (until 06JUN23)
Kitchener/Waterloo – Kelowna 1 weekly
Kitchener/Waterloo – Vancouver 10 weekly
Kitchener/Waterloo – Winnipeg 4 weekly

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230206-f873h

FLAIR AIRLINES ADDS CALGARY – LONDON ON SERVICE FROM JUNE 2023

Flair Airlines in June 2023 plans to launch new service on Calgary – London ON route, opened for reservation since last week. The airline’s 737 MAX 8 aircraft will operate this route from 01JUN23, 3 times weekly.

F8518 YYC2355 – 0545+1YXU 7M8 247
F8519 YXU0630 – 0850YYC 7M8 135

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230206-f8yxu

So they're not (yet?) bringing back YKF-YUL.

How much does Flair charge for carry-on when purchased in advance?

About $30-$60... For short-haul, probably closer to the $30 side.

It does seems like they are weak for the domestic routes out of YUL... or maybe just that domestic demand are not that strong? Or they don't want to complete with PD and TS on the route?

Not only they're not bringing back YKF-YUL, they're also removing YYZ-YUL for the time being. The resource is now being redeployed to various route, including those additional YWG flights just recently announced (ie. flying YYZ-YVR-YWG-YVR-YYZ for the daily YVR-YWG starting April)

Thats an amazing price for sure, AIF's on that route are $60, plus all other taxes and fees. At 68 bucks, flair is covering 10-20 dollars of the taxes and fees for you!

I mean, who travels with just a personal item and no carry-on? Very few people, if any. So to not include carry-on fees in the equation doesn’t represent the true costs for a passenger, which is easily double or triple, especially if checked luggage is in the mix as well.

Maybe those who take the 6am flight to YYC/YEG and 6pm flight back to YVR on the same day.

Before the pandemic, I do know quite a few who would do that on YVR-SJC business trip. All they need to bring with them is a personal item (laptop).

A more extreme example, I knew someone who used to arrive from HKG at noon, go sign some documents, eat dinner with friends, then fly back to HKG at midnight. He wouldn't need a carry-on either, and this is a trans-con flight.

Sure, but again, it's most likely very few people who did that pre-pandemic, and even less now, with business travel still much weaker than leisure travel. And those that fly leisure or VFR, which is the vast majority of flyers nowadays, have either a carry-on or checked luggage.

You are permitted a small backpack which is enough for a weekend unless you need clothes for a wedding or something and very workable.

I've got my father in Van and leave enough clothes for a weekend there; this would be ideal for me.

I personally never bring more than just a personal item, even on my 2 weeks trips to Europe. No carry on. A small backpack is enough for a week of clothing in the summer, and most of Airbnb have a washing machine. It's just easier to only have to carry a small backpack.

I have done Flair quite a bit. Mainly between Calgary and Vancouver and Toronto and have done just a backpack most of the time. The trips have been 2-4 days in duration and a small backpack works.

I have done a few family trips on Flair to Toronto, we can do one checked back (which I think was 80 round trip) for 4 people. We also had a couple back packs.
Still was 40% of the price of Air Canada and WestJet for a family of 4.

Today's the first day of transcon ops for Porter with the launch of YYZ-YVR: https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...830905233.html

YKF-YUL is gone from the schedules as is YQG-YUL. YUL currently only has YVR, YYC, YEG & YHZ as destinations...which is still more than WS, lol.

Maybe Flair has more French qualified cabin crew than does WS, therefore passengers may be more inclined to travel with them.

Or maybe they just have cheaper fares. They need a YUL base for a good pool of Francophones. Apparently plans for that have been delayed though.

Totally unrelated to any of the above discussions, but........

If what I'm seeing materializes, there will be a major carrier starting service to YUL this summer. Now, by no means is this a sure bet, as a few things need to happen beforehand for this to come true. And it is getting kind of tight to announce a new route for this summer. Nonetheless, the opportunity is there. I won't say who or where. That's for you to guess, but let's see what happens.