I'm kind of amazed that they're still going.

Also thanks for answering my earlier question, wave46!

Noticed there was a post on the Edmonton Airport threat that US pre-clearance had closed in Edmonton and the two remaining route depart from domestic gates.

Are there any other airports with US pre-clearance in Canada that have had the service suspended?

Vancouver for years has had a mix. Most US flights pre-clear but there were always a few departing around midnight that did not pre-clear. So it is also possible to work with a mix. Not certain that is going on anymore either.

The one US-bound flight a day still leaving from Winnipeg, DL to MSP, is still operating from the transborder gate area (UA has suspended all service).

I can't find any reference on the WAA website that mentioned whether pre-clearance is still operating or not... it's possible that they may have just opened the partitions separating domestic from transborder and channeled everyone through the domestic area. But if the flight is still going from the transborder gate, my assumption is they're still using the pre-clearance facilities. Which I suppose is hard to believe if it's down to just one US-bound flight a day... looking at the departures board these days is something else.

I imagine US pre-clearance has closed in Halifax....but I don't see anything specific on the YHZ web page.

Terminal Building Closures

• Observation Deck
  
• U.S. (Transborder) Check-In, Holdroom and associated washrooms
  
• Domestic Holdroom North (Gates 23-28 & washrooms by Gate 24)
  
• Domestic Holdroom South (Gates 2E-14 & washrooms by Gate 14)

https://halifaxstanfield.ca/airport-...rking-changes/

Honestly, US CBP could close all Pre-clearance facilities in Canada except for YYZ, YUL and YVR, with could stay open with reduced hours.

Basically.

I mean, right now on Flightradar24 there's only a handful of flights to major US destinations: Boston, New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angles and San Francisco and they're using some of the smallest jets Air Canada has - the E-175 - for most of them.

Looks like Saskatoon has managed to hold on to their MSP flight on Delta. Winnipeg is holding on to one flight. Between Delta and Alaska they are keeping a few flights running in the west.

On the AC front from Vancouver AC is a A319 to LAX and mix of A319 and CRJ-900 to SFO. AC has something about the E-175 that they don't base them in the WestJet.

There's a few reasons why AC doesn't base them in the West.

According to an AC pilot on another forum I frequent, one reason is that there was some concern about maintaining adequate regulatory altitude above the Rockies in one-engine out situations highlighted by AC Engineering.

The second being that it's easier to coordinate maintenance of a smaller sub-fleet out of one base. Since Toronto is the biggest base and the E190s are based there too, might as well benefit from the economies of scale.

So far at YOW, US preclearance is still open to service the two remaining transborder fights - DL to DTW and AA to PHL. Both flights depart early afternoon, so obviously preclearance has reduced hours from the usual 0500-1900 to likely 1000-1400.

Also given how few flights there are now, the number of gates in use is cut. I only see 6 & 11 in use on the transborder side (layout is 1-6, 11-12) and 14 to 17, 19 & 23 on the domestic side (normally 13-30). 11 to 13 are domestic/international-transborder swing gates, but there’s obviously no need for this right now.

AC not surprisingly have now extended the cuts to May 31: https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...l#/caribbean-1. However, at least at this point, they're going to operate roughly the schedule they had planned for April until a week ago. Some airports get reinstated such as YTZ and YXU. Maybe AC are seeing slightly higher demand in May...or it's what they're hoping for.

BREAKING NEWS

https://twitter.com/CBCAlerts/status...73283279618048

Im surprised YFC and YSJ get 1 flight per day to YYZ but not YQM

I wonder if they will be trying to make up the other 25% as the government suggests but doesn't require. I also wonder what they are going to do, or just be told to stay at home.

AC to re-hire 16,500 employees if the airline is eligible for the government salary program: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle...ons-salariales (article in French).

This doesn't really make sense. There is literally nobody flying right now. Even if all international destinations were re-opened the public is not going to return to the skies for a long time, perhaps until a vaccine is developed. It's doubtful AC can afford the 25% salary top up, so it's really just to keep their employees on the payroll and receiving 75% of their salary to do nothing.

I don't think this is really true. Some won't. But I am certain that large numbers of people will start flying again as soon as restrictions are lifted. Lots of people aren't going to let the presence of one pathogen keep them stuck at home. If we stayed home waiting for a vaccine every time that happened, the system would be on permanent lock down. No, I think lots of people that are just itching to get out will do so as soon as they are allowed.

Of course, as I think about this more, this only represents about half their workforce, if Wikipedia's numbers are accurate. Now they will also be able to get subsidy for the rest of the workforce they didn't lay off as well. I would imagine the $847 max they would get for their remaining staff would more than cover the 25% for the recalled workers.

Perhaps some of these people can be shifted into other roles.

WS has had a background activity of installing new seats into their business class cabin. They are bringing that work in house now.

AC is in the middle of an upgrade to a new reservation system. Lots of messed up reservations, hard to get to anyone at their call center. They still have to deploy the new system into the airports and train staff.

There are likely other areas in the company and projects they could use people to address long standing issues and set themselves up for success once people are ready to fly again.

I mentioned this on the YEG thread but i'm assuming some people on here are asking the same thing.

Yeah it is basically like short term communism. You're paying people to do nothing. Maybe the mechanics and cleaners and such but what will the pilots and flight attendants be doing? Will they be manning call centers?

Also i don't believe the company need to top up the 25% at all so essentially you're just getting free money from the government.

We are asking the same questions to our company is it starts doing temp layoffs. "If Air Canada can do it why can't we?". Will the Parks and Rec City staff in Edmonton be paid for not doing anything after getting laid off? Slippery slope. We'll get a 10% GST in a couple of years to pay for this.