Two reasons:

- I don't think the ULCC model makes any sense in Canada. In Europe where there are many more options include rail to deal with service recovery it can work. In Canada, Flair has consistently demonstrated an inability to properly do service recover either using their own metal or my moving passenger onto other airlines.

- For many smaller stations, e.g. Victoria, Saskatoon, etc. they have a tendency to go after the low lying fruit. Basically routes where they can operate point-to-point. That means fewer flights from network operators (e.g. WestJet, Delta, Air Canada, Alaska etc.) that offer access to a wider nation or inter-national network of destinations. As a result these communities are losing access to the global transportation network that is needed to support a wide variety of business and tourism based travel.

If Flair had asperations to become a network operator with connections even if just on their own metal through their hubs I would by more sympathetic. They don't.

It looks like WestJet has completely removed Edmonton YEG - Ottawa YOW nonstop Domestic flights for Summer 2022 & the rest of the year! Only connecting WS flights are available on this route.

Basically WS has downgraded its Edmonton- Ottawa service for Swoop Airlines to operate (seasonal) flights from end of April- end of October.

Agree! Good example of it :Edmonton YEG - Ottawa YOW on WestJet is gone for 2022 Summer season & rest of this year by the looks of it= fewer WS nonstop flights available from its network for YEG to YOW! Only connecting WS flights is still available on this route through Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver & Winnipeg.

Sure Swoop Airlines is operating in place of WS and seasonal flights on YEG- YOW from end of April- end of October but it’s limited upto 3-5 weekly’s.

https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/ima...uIlfFQ58ZL4ugc
https://www.linkedin.com/company/cal...V5nAKoBg%3D%3D

That’s a nice new Lynx Air Boeing 737Max 8 plane ✈️ which was delivered to its Calgary YYC Hub yesterday. 2 more still to be delivered before they start up in April 2022.

Also looks like Swoop Airlines has announced plans they’re extending seasonal services to San Diego, Palm Springs, Las Vegas, St. Pete-Clearwater, Orlando (Sanford) and Phoenix (Mesa) into the summer 2022 season.

Not too surprising as those are popular sun US destinations for people from Canada!

https://skiesmag.com/press-releases/...u-s-expansion/

So less competition is better?

Good to see WestJet continue to use Swoop in a predatory manner. Why aren't AC doing the same? AC has bigger fish to fry than worrying about Flair.

Flair is a huge threat to WS, whereas they're a minor nuisance for AC.

There's a reason that one of former AC VP Ben Smith's first actions in taking over Air France was cancelling their "airline within an airline". They rarely work and they're terrible for employee morale. It is sad that WS, who previously advertised "Westjetters Care", has now drifted so far from what originally made them unique.

As a passenger Swoop provides no additional network connectivity since it is all point to point with no interline with WestJet. Toss in Swoop marginal reputation for service recovery.

At least with AC Rouge it was part of the network. Crappy seat layout but that comes with every airline these days.

There is a reason Swoop isn’t something like ‘Westjet Teal’.

Westjet doesn’t want its brand tarnished. The general public who flies doesn’t know Swoop is owned by Westjet. So when Swoop gives the Ryanair experience (cheap but terrible), it is no skin of Westjet’s back, since they don’t have any visible connection. Yeah, they may compete with themselves, but bleeding out the ULCC competition matters more.

Looks like Flair is more worried about Lynx than Swoop though.

Flair just added the third daily YVR-YYC flight this summer. Now they schedule 20x weekly flights for the summer. That's the most they've schedule on a single route.

Also YVR-ANC is added for the summer. Might have other new routes from other bases, so announcement may be coming.

Not surprising, as Summer seasons are usually good time for all Airlines to increase its frequencies!
Air Canada & WestJet are likely add few extra Calgary to Vancouver YVR flights too probably & competition will heat up on it.

Vancouver YVR- Anchorage ANC, US is already flown by Air Canada during Summers Seasonally & Flair will have competition on it.

AC’s YVR - ANC returns again in May 2022 & operating until mid September.

Well, Flair's schedule time is better for those "cheap" cruise passengers who want to maximize their time at Anchorage without an extra hotel stay and an extra day off work :D

There's been rumors that WS was gonna launch YYZ-ORD for a couple of months now. Be kinda interesting if they gave it over to WO, just to spite Flair.

And given that this is largely a cruise route and many of those are frequent fliers/points members, it is hard to see how Flair will be that successful on it.

Looks like they're just throwing everything up there and see what sticks to service their expensive debt,.

This will only work if Flair has a deal with the cruise lines.

Many of the cruise lines are doing "Free air" or other bundled air options. If flair has made a bulk purchase deal with some cruise lines it would work. If not most foreigners are not going to know to even look at flair.

Lynx Air today announced Calgary YYC - Victoria BC starting with
2x weekly from May 12
3x weekly from June 22

Not too surprising as Lynx is building up its YYC hub 1st, by the looks of it.

Basically competition on Calgary- Victoria Canada routing is also heating up with WestJet and Air Canada daily service & Lynx and Flair flying it a few times weekly.

https://www.cheknews.ca/canadas-ultr...st-953915/?amp

Summer 2022 YYC will have a total of 30 weekly Lynx departures:
Vancouver YVR 14x weekly
Toronto YYZ 7x weekly
Winnipeg YWG 4x weekly
Victoria YYJ 3x weekly
Kelowna YLW 2x weekly

More changes are loaded

YUL-BOS 1 AC 220, with others Jazz.
YUL/YYZ-MIA Rouge to mainline 2x daily 220
YUL-SAN Rouge to mainline A220

YUL-YQM/YYG/YQB Jazz to Rouge A319s
(YQB 4x A319, 1x CRJ)

WestJet Calgary YYC- Vancouver YVR route will be up to 12x daily this upcoming Summer 2022 by the looks of it.

While Air Canada Calgary - Vancouver flights will be up to 10x daily this Summer.

WestJet & Air Canada Calgary- Toronto route is up to 11x daily for both airlines this Summer.

Also WestJet’s Edmonton YEG- Calgary YYC flights is up to 11x Daily Monday- Friday & upto 7x daily on weekends this Summer.

It’s not just only Flair increasing its flights, WS & AC doing it as well too✅!!

It appears AC loaded a full summer update too. I only skimmed a few days but:

YYZ-LHR down to 3x daily

YYC-PDX gone
YYC-LAX removed in May??? Down to 1x daily otherwise
YYC-EWR resumes in May, but IAH in July? (Seems rather odd).

Looks like Rouge will be gone completely from YVR, with the last holdout route to LAS switching to mainline. They had never been big at YVR, and all the sun routes switched back to mainline years ago, but LAS was still. Now it's mainline 737 max, which is pretty much dominant on every non-Jazz route out of YVR, other than widebodies.

We have been de-rouged in the past. A sacrifice to be made by our west coasters, however it is for the better good. May Rouge flourish in YYZ and YUL where the locals appreciate its charm. Out west we would love some more of the A220s but will make do with the max and widebody aircraft.

I disagree. If there is so much business and tourism based travel to places like Saskatoon and Victoria as you mention then AC and WS will provide the service anyways because WS needs to fill it's YYC hub and AC needs to fill their YVR hub. If WS and AC are bowing out then it is because it isn't worth it for them to serve those destinations. You believe airlines exist to serve and promote communities, even the small ones. Airlines disagree with you.

Also, if you are rooting for YVR (which i don't know if you are) then you would be against any ULCC as they will take away flights via YVR to all those small communities you mention. Saskatoon-Victoria no longer needs to be flown via YVR for example not that that route even exists now but you get my point.

That is the thing airlines exist to make a profit. Airport authorities and business associations exist to serve communities.

My point is the ULCC are bad for communities when they start to cause the AC, WS or DL of the world to reduce flights into those communities.

As an example, YXE is better off having multiple YYC, YVR, YYZ and MSP flights per day that start to lose these in favor ULCC point-to-point service.

It is more important that YXE has a flight to Vancouver that connects with the mid day bank of flights to Asia and the late evening bank to Australia than a non-stop to Victoria. Those are likely going to be 75 seat flights with maybe 20% making connections overseas.

AC and WS are not going to operate those flights because it is good for the YXE business community it is going to operate them because they sell seats.
A MAX8 on YXE-YYJ by Flair if successful will divert what 180 passengers off the core network route. That is a massive hit and will likely cause fewer flights and less connection options for YXE passengers through YYC and YVR.

YVR will do fine. I am not concerned with maximizing the number of passengers at any one airport. YVR and YYC have the scale that support ULCC without issue.

A good example is Abbotsford Airport. That serves the Fraser Valley. If you Cascadia Aerospace, your corporates offices are Halifax. Your customers when they fly in they are coming from various cities in the US, Mexico, Canada and Central America. The Swoop and Flair flights are mostly useless, they just go to where you do business. If your doing business in the Fraser Valley your more likely to have to drive to Vancouver or Seattle to catch a business flight.

If it were not for the ULCC there would be more AC and WS options with onward connections. Perhaps even an Alaska flight through SEA.

I never thought of using Rouge, I only ever heard negative things about it, and not worth saving a few bucks for.

Be thankful. I have used Rouge several times on Vancouver to Las Vegas. Business class is the same an mainline. Economy is terrible.

I wish Air Canada all the best in its endeavor to have Rouge based out east. May it stay west of the Rockies for good.

AC Rouge is not completely gone from Vancouver YVR yet,as they will operating few times weekly flights to Quebec City YQB (seasonally) starting May 20 2022.

AC Rouge will also be operating Calgary YYC- YQB a few times weekly too this Summer (seasonally).

It looks like United Airlines Edmonton YEG- Denver US, route is on track to resume in June 2022 1x daily & operated by Embraer 175 plane ✈️.

Also UA has pushed back YEG to Houston IAH flight route to end of October 2022 by the looks of it too.

YVR-LAS is already operating as mainline.

I flew Rouge once to San Diego from Toronto and it damned near killed me.

The seat pitch is so tight you can't move, and I ended up with an inflamed knee (bursitis acted up). I was limping all week in San Diego. It was not fun.

I will actively go out of my way to never fly Rouge again.........

I love that WS is threatened by Flair, good on them to shake up the Canadian airline duopoly!

We need ULCCs in Canada and they were the first legitimate company to step up to offer that service and (surprise, surprise) there has been a strong demand for that, even if it's just point-to-point. For instance, 5 years ago my only option to fly YEG - YKF was through WS and they'd charge at least $400 RT, but now with Flair operating that route as well I can fly that for under $150, which is awesome.

It's likely Swoop will fly YEG-YOW year-round. WO's schedule is currently only available until the end of October.

Capacity for the "WestJet Group" on the route will essentially be unchanged with 5x weekly peak season 189 seats 738 service vs daily 73G on mainline.

Interesting to see a lot of the capacity increases on AC for S22 earlier this year removed. Looks like travel won't return to normal until next winter.

Air Canada has Edmonton YEG- San Francisco SFO route scheduled to resume in May 2022 & operating to end of October (seasonal) currently by the looks of it.

Operated by AC CRJ900 plane ✈️.

Basically AC has responded to Swoop Airlines move to fly YEG- SFO (seasonally). And not too surprising.

Good see Flair getting competition on YEG- SFO route, with AC & Swoop flying it too this Summer.

A220 doesn't really make it to YVR though... They're mainly stayed for routes out of YUL/YYZ. Currently YVR is 7M8 heaven, which will be used for most or all flights on NA mainline routes running out of YVR except YYZ (321 and wide-bodies), YWG (320), EWR (789), and ORD (320).

In fact, the only A220 flight scheduled for YVR for S22 is one daily YVR-YEG. For long-thin routes, AC currently opt for sub-daily 7M8 from YVR rather than daily 220.

So YYZ reduction... ✔️

Now AC's slot usage is down to 82%. They can cut 1 more flight and still meet the 70% minimum. Wonder if YVR/YUL flight is up next...

Currently the second daily flight from YUL is scheduled with 788, and YVR with 789. 788 was fully removed from YVR schedule except DUB that rotates with the YUL flight. All other 788 flights from YVR were upgraded to 789.

Definitely not responding to Swoop.

Also Edmonton’s KLM flights won’t be consolidated with Calgary YYC anymore as of March 27 2022.

That means Edmonton YEG passengers will be key to fill the A330 on KLM 3x weekly nonstops Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for YEG- Amsterdam flights this Summer for it to be successful/has demand.

That's our most important flight right now and absolutely great to see.

Lufthansa’s Eurowings Discover To Offer Flights To YYC & YHZ. Lufthansa Group-owned leisure carrier Eurowings Discover is heading to Canada.
Created in early 2021, the airline is planning direct flights from its Frankfurt hub to Calgary International Airport four times per week beginning on May 23. On June 13, Eurowings Discover will begin 3X-weekly non-stop service to Halifax Stanfield International Airport.

https://ca.travelpulse.com/news/airl...o-yyc-yhz.html

Yes, this was reported quite a while ago.

Flair are adding Saturday only YOW-YYJ to match WS and adding 3x weekly YOW-YYG to compete with AC’s daily DH4.

Porter have announced daily YQM-YTZ and YFC-YTZ as a compliment to the existing daily YFC-YOW-YTZ route. They have also announced 3x daily YHZ-YTZ nonstop complimenting the multiple daily YOW & YUL 1-stops.

https://www.flyporter.com/en/about-p...irport+2022+02

A quick check. Porter has suspended service into YSJ. As stated above they have added capacity into the other two cities of New Brunswick. I have a feeling that they would not be able to compete with Flair and Swoop flights to Toronto. The market going to YYZ (Toronto in general) from YSJ is pretty flooded with flights.

Flair seems to be expanding pretty fast. Maybe I'm wrong but is this sustainable for them?

Looks like they're doing like they do with YYT and turning YSJ into a seasonal destination. Service resumes there 27MAR22.

PD service to YYT resumes on 01APR22.

Somewhat related to Hamilton Airport plans to double the lanes for Highway 6 is moving forward. This will further make the Airport more accessible.


Plans to expand Hamilton’s Highway 6 move forward
https://www.insauga.com/plans-to-exp...-move-forward/

According to a press release, the engineering firm, AECOM, has been tasked with devising preliminary designs and studies to prepare for the expansion.

The project will increase the number of lanes from two to four along the nine-kilometre stretch of Highway 6 between the 403 and Upper James.

https://www.insauga.com/wp-content/u...igway6proj.jpg

According to the Aviation Herald / Mentour Pilot articles, on February 8 2022 a KLM Airbus A330 plane✈️was involved in tail strike departing Calgary YYC airport runway 29.But they did make it safely across the Atlantic to Amsterdam AMS with 216 passengers & 12 crew on board. After landing KLM’s ground crews at the gate notice damage and it was removed from service.

A KLM Airbus A330-300, registration PH-AKE performing flight KL-678 from Calgary,AB (Canada) to Amsterdam (Netherlands) with 216 passengers and 12 crew, departed Calgary's runway 29, when during rotation for takeoff the tail contacted the runway surface. The crew remained unaware of the tail strike, however, a burning odour was noticed in the cabin immediately after becoming airborne. ATC was queried and suggested there may have been a tail strike. Cabin crew had not noticed anything unusual, the flight crew therefore decided to continue the flight to Amsterdam, where the aircraft landed without further incident.

The Canadian TSB reported:
During take-off on Runway 29, the tail contacted the runway surface during rotation. The flight crew were unaware a tail strike had occurred. They had detected a burning odor immediately after lift off and suspected the APU; it was a "bleeds off" take-off and the APU had been supplying conditioned air at the time of take-off. The flight crew consulted the ECAM 'wheel page' and 'APU page' and observed no abnormalities. ATC was queried and they suggested a possible tail strike. The cabin crew were consulted and they did not note anything unusual. The flight continued to EHAM with no further issues. When the aircraft arrived at the gate in EHAM, ground servicing crew noticed the damage to the underside of the empennage and the aircraft was removed from service for damage assessment.

The aircraft is still on the ground in Amsterdam about 10 days after the tail strike.

https://avherald.com/h?article=4f4d4a71

https://mentourpilot.com/accident-kl...arting-canada/

Plus 216 passengers from Calgary Canada to Amsterdam Netherlands,Europe for a February KLM flight is not too bad, with the Covid19 pandemic still on going.

Swoop making announcements like crazy for Summer, while WestJet mainline sits quietly in the shadows. Another week, and still no real changes to the Summer sked.

That is, unless WS really about to go from 4x weekly YYC-LON to 11x weekly in less than a week.

https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/ima...UYJWPyR4L2WGew
https://www.flyswoop.com