Not surprising given that this quarter included the March Break aircraft fiasco where they had 4 aircraft seized at the start of the busy travel period

:previous:

Canada's very own Ryan Air!!! :haha: :D :rolleyes:

I'm very happy they don't currently serve YQM.

I have flown Flair, YYC-YYZ, and YYC-YVR several times for $100 round trip.
Flair has growing pains and mediocre service but if you want substantially cheaper flights you want Flair.

Like I said - Ryan Air. :haha:

Never been on Flair. I would never plan a trip in advance that involves Flair, but if I suddenly found out that I had to be in Calgary in two days for whatever reason and Flair was the cheapest option, I'd consider it. But I'll do my best to continue avoiding it.

YUL posted April 2023 numbers. First percentage based on 2019 numbers for the same month. Second percentage is Y.O.Y increase.

Total passengers: 1,584,495 +1.1% (+39.9% Y.O.Y)

Domestic: 479,919 -10.7% (+22.0% Y.O.Y*)
International: 737,409 +17.5% (+50.1% Y.O.Y)
Transborder: 367,167 -0.5% (+48.2% Y.O.Y)

2023 YTD: 6,106,687 -2.2% (+80.9% YOY)

https://www.admtl.com/sites/default/...s_avril_EN.pdf

So yes, you are reading that correctly ! International for April was nearly 18% above April 2019 numbers. It's also the first month where the total is above 2019 numbers for the same month. Also, YTD number is only 2% off of 2019. Pretty good stuff, considering how domestic numbers are still struggling to reach 2019 levels. Just goes to show how strong the international recovery has been.

* domestic Y.O.Y increase for April in the link is listed wrong. It says -15.1% when it should be +22%.

The largest intra Europe airline is Ryanair. They are about double the passengers intra europe as number 2.

People use Ryanair.

Europe has a large population base with cities that have the population to support point-to-point flight. They can support this ULCC model. That is not Canada.

We have a few cities that can support ULCC. The rest of the country can't. Places like Saskatoon, Victoria, St. John's, etc. just don't have the population to support daily point-to-point with 200 seat aircraft to every major destination. As a country we need a competitive environment operated by airlines that have the ability to make onward connections.

We can support the Southwest Model. We can support these tourist oriented airlines like Air Transat and Sunwing. But what we need is WestJet, Air Canada and Porter to be competitive airlines.

If Flair was willing to change their business model and start to do connections I would toss them into good book but right now their unsustainable.

Avianca has applied to start YUL with up to seven weekly flights according to the article.

In spanish:
https://www.aviacionline.com/2023/06...idos-y-canada/

AV was a mess in the last few years. Severe loses, bankruptcy, etc.

They seem to be on the right track now, with a possible return to profitability this year. Hence the possibility to resume/start some of these routes.

They had plans to launch BOG-YUL pre-COVID as well, but then AC beat them to the punch. Let's see if they follow through this time. Good news either way, as they clearly see an opportunity in YUL.

It will be amazing if they launch service. We already have service to 5 continents, but It will be even nicer if we have service by foreign carriers from all 5 as well !

Jetlines have the long distance travel contracts of 3 CFL teams for this season: Ottawa, Hamilton and Toronto: https://canadianaviationnews.ca/cana...nto-argonauts

Funny bilingual flight attendant whit a big Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean accent....

https://francoischarron.com/videos-h...MBCdCCua1Orq9E

Whoever wrote the press release was clearly unaware that the Argonauts are the current Grey Cup champions, otherwise they would have mentioned it...

Interesting, prior to now I had no idea that Canada Jetlines hauled around any CFL teams, let alone 3.

WestJet just announced a partnership with the BC Lions. I assume the Calgary Stampeders are with WestJet too given that they are a sponsor. So where does that leave everyone else?

Montreal Alouettes - still Nolinor, I think
Edmonton Elks, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers - ???

Swoop is out at the end of October.

https://westjet.mediaroom.com/2023-0...ement-ratified

Ethiopian - yet again - showing some interest as well.

https://airspace-africa.com/2023/06/...etwork-growth/

https://globalnews.ca/news/9758088/w...ts-down-swoop/

A mega blow to YHM and YXX if westjet doesn’t take over some of the routes.

Buh-bye Swoop! :haha:

• Video Link

Meh. Some other ULCC startup will jump in. Or Flair.

Flair, probably, especially with YHM since they did fly there initially before Swoop pushed in.

From a strategic point-of-view, the end of Swoop signals a continued retrenchment of Westjet.

In one sense, I get why they were trying to stomp Flair. In another, the fact that Flair still exists means that Westjet could continue to dump cash into fighting them and still lose.

Now the strategy just seems to let the airline mania that Canada goes through every once in awhile play itself out from their fortress hub in Calgary. Even better that Westjet management could give this as a concession to their pilots, I suppose.

I'm just not sure how long airline mania lasts. Interest rates are rising, fuel costs are rising, pilots are in high demand. Doesn't seem the optimal environment for a ULCC airline, but Flair keeps making it work. We shall see.