WS finally filed its June update and it comes with some pretty hefty domestic increases, particularly towards the end of the month. Seeing a lot of route resumptions like YYC-YXU/YQG/YXH etc.

789 is back on YYZ-YVR from June 25.

International wise flights to sun spots like CUN / PVR & MBJ resume 1x weekly each.

I guess they are sticking to month-to-month even when most other NA carriers have been updating their schedules a few months out.

Porter further delays is restart to July 20th

https://s3.amazonaws.com/eporter.fly...ion/index.html

No surprise. Until they think they’ll lose less money with ops vs no ops, they’ll stay grounded. October, once most of the adult population is fully vaccinated seems like a sensible target for PD.

A few weeks ago and a few pages back, it was posted that YEG are aiming to be Canada's first net zero airport. For those that were skeptical, they weren't 'blowing smoke' as they've just announced this in partnership with AC:

Also:

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...860750594.html

YYC April 2021 Stats

Domestic: 199,054 (+201.2%)
Transborder: 12,382 (+654.1%)
International: 2,585 (+648.4%)
April 2021 Total: 214,018 (+214.4%)

2021 To Date: 884,758 -75.19%

International/US actually went up compared to March. Domestic still holding stronger than I would have expected.

The giant percent increases compared to 2020 are slightly amusing. Not everyday you see 600% increases in international travel. :haha:

PAL is getting some regional attention. :) They shared this article from CBC Nova Scotia on Facebook:

Sydney airport CEO encouraged by entry of new regional airline

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-...ines-1.6040064

Also, in addition to the new airports they've added, they appear to be adding far more connections between different ones than originally anticipated (as opposed to just linking them all to Halifax or St. John's):

https://i.postimg.cc/CxHDv369/Capture.png

October?

Most of the adult population will be vaccinated by mid-July. Starting on July 20th is eminently sensible. Not only will a lot of Canada be open and a lot more people willing to travel, but it's likely that we'll have some kind of vaccine verification or even open travel with the US by that date or close to it.

Air Canada is coming back to Castlegar YCG in June!!
And will be using for the first time the larger Q400s!!
And we haven't had 2 airlines at the airport for over 2 decades!
It seems like a miracle.

The pandemic has resulted in some changes that seemed unimaginable pre-pandemic.

WestJet ticket, gate & baggage agents in YYC and YVR are unionizing with Unifor. After seeing WS outsource (pre-pandemic) everyone but the 4 biggest stations, it's no surprise they don't want to see the same done to them. Will YEG and YYZ agents follow suit?

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...803262339.html

There were many rumours that Air Canada would never come back.
And I get that we got an upgrade to the q because the other planes are no longer in Western Canada.

I posted this in the foreign affairs thread the other day . . . It might be of more interest here:

"I agree that Belarus should not have forced the Ryanair fight to land at Minsk, but those criticizing should remember other similar actions.

On 1 July 2013 the plane (a Dassault Falcon 900) carrying president Evo Morales of Bolivia was denied entry into French, Spanish, and Italian airspace ostensibly for "technical reasons" while he was en-route from Russia to Bolivia. As a result the plane then had to land in Vienna for refuelling. After being searched (it was suspected Edward Snowden was on board) the aircraft took off again for the Canary Islands passing over France, Spain, Portugal and Italy without further incident.

On 21 October 2016 a Belarus 737-800, had departed Kiev’s downtown Zhulhany airport for Minsk with 142 occupants. However, before leaving Ukrainian airspace the crew was instructed by Ukrainian air traffic control to return to the airport without explanation. “It was also stated that, in the event of non-compliance with the order, fighters would be [sent to intercept],” the carrier stated. After landing at Zhulhany an Armenian passenger was removed. The passenger was identified as the reporter Armen Martirosyan, aligned with the anti-Maidan movement which opposed the Ukrainian government and its closer ties with Europe."

The US and European response (sanctions etc) seems rather hypocritical to me!

Actually this probably isn't the right forum unless you want to talk about airline safety and passengers well being.

But if you are going to bring it up then it's an easy explanation and the whole hypocritical excuse is just that. The situations may be similar but you are not dealing with the same people, the same governments, the same repercussions. On one side you have Russia, Belarus, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, Iran and on the other side you have Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and so on.

So I would never have an issue taking a flight that travels through the latter countries. I cannot say the same about the former. There is a reason why 99.9% of people do not emigrate to Belarus, Russia, Venezuela, etc.

Wasn't YCG one of about a dozen airports AC was forced to return to as part of the bailout package agreement?

No it wasn't part of it. And there was an article in our newspaper saying how we weren't part of it.

I think the -300 is back on the route in the winter season, though for how long, I don't know.

According to someone on airliners, the Q400 has speed issues in icing condition that prevent it from operating reliably into YCG in winter. Don't know how accurate that info is, however. Same guy said that WS can't serve YCG because of the ACPPA, which is total rubbish. There is no such restriction.

WS extended their schedule into S22 over the weekend. It's basically a carbon copy of the pre-COVID one.

However YHZ-CDG was re-numbered from WS80/81 to WS42/43.

Ah interesting thx for the inside info. Does that include Westjet Link or just the main planes?

I don't know. Either way, it's not true, so doesn't really matter.

Nothing has prevented WS from serving YCG, especially in the last 3 years, now that the Saab 340s are part of their gameplan. it's the perfect plane for YCG. A 30-34 seater.

Seems like Canada request the same access and frequency for Canada-China flights, so the following changes had been made:

Effective May 20:
CA YVR-PEK cancelled (YVR-CGO-PEK still running)
MU YVR-NKG cancelled
CZ YYZ-CAN cancelled
HU YYZ-PEK cancelled (YYZ-XIY-PEK still running)
3U YVR-CTU reduced to 1x weekly
MF YVR-XMN reduced to 1x weekly

Effective Jun 15:
AC YVR-ICN-PVG increase to 2x weekly
AC YYZ-ICN-PVG increase to 2x weekly

So theoretically Canada still have 2 unused frequency, so I wonder if it will be used? Maybe YUL-PVG or YVR/YYZ-PEK? Or they'll will make an exemption and allow WS to fly to China?


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According to theaeronetwork, Bamboo Airway (Vietnam) applied to US DoT to operate:
SGN/HAN - (TPE/KIX/NGO) - LAX/SFO/SEA/DFW/NY - (YVR/YYZ/YUL)