Halifax Stanfield International Airport Developments

[someone123]

If you look at the geography, Halifax is a pretty nice summer destination for a large population in the northeast. It's only around a 2 hour flight away from a lot of big cities and it's good either for a long weekend city trip or a jumping off point for a larger trip in the Maritimes. Without getting into city vs. city territory it is one of the nicest tourist spots in the northeast below the well-known heavy hitters (like NYC). For somebody with a passport in say Boston, they've probably been to a lot of those other places already.

It would be even better if it had some nicer cultural landmarks, like an upgraded art gallery, and more practical transit for tourists.

[JonToms]

Halifax Stanfield International Airport Announces 2025 Passenger Numbers of 4,140,484

Halifax Stanfield International Airport posted their 2025 numbers today. Total passengers for 2025 were 4,140,484 people which is a 4% increase over the 2024 numbers. Breaking down the three main sectors, international passengers grew by 19.3%, domestic passengers grew by 1.5% and transborder passengers grew by 8.5%.

https://halifaxstanfield.ca/news-release...-increased-traffic-at-halifax-stanfield/

[JonToms]

American Airlines Downgauges Aircraft on Ronald Regan Washington National Airport (DCA) to Halifax (YHZ) Flights in Summer 2026

American Airlines has downgauged the aircraft on the DCA to YHZ flights in 2026 from an Airbus A319 to an Embraer E175. In 2025, when the service was daily from August to October, they used the Airbus A319, which was operated by American Airlines mainline operations. From June to early August, when the service was once weekly on Saturdays, they used the Embraer E175, which was operated by Republic Airlines. For 2026 they have the Embraer E175 scheduled for the whole season. For May 23, 2026 to August 4, 2026 and from October 4, 2026 to October 31, 2026 the service is once weekly on Saturdays. From August 5, 2026 to October 3, 2026 the service is daily. The airbus A319 seats 128 passengers whereas the Embraer E175 seats 76 passengers, so this is quite a reduction in overall capacity. For 2026 the service will be operated by Republic Airlines on behalf of American Eagle for the whole season.

[Saul Goode]

Originally Posted by JonToms

[B]The airbus A319 seats 128 passengers whereas the Embraer E175 seats 76 passengers, so this is quite a reduction in overall capacity.

It's intriguing how airlines have been cutting capacity on US routes, particularly at YHZ (smaller airplanes/less frequency for some US carriers; JetBlue backed out; Porter dropped YHZ-TPA, etc.) yet transborder at YHZ for 2025 actually increased by 8.5%.

[JonToms]

Originally Posted by Saul Goode

It's intriguing how airlines have been cutting capacity on US routes, particularly at YHZ (smaller airplanes/less frequency for some US carriers; JetBlue backed out; Porter dropped YHZ-TPA, etc.) yet transborder at YHZ for 2025 actually increased by 8.5%.

For 2025 we had a number of US airlines actually increase their capacity. Basically they were building back their schedules after the pandemic. American Airlines added their daily DCA route on the Airbus A319 whereas it used to be only once weekly service in 2024. United Airlines went double daily to Newark from the end of October to the beginning of January 2026 rather than the once daily service that they offered over that timeframe in 2024. Yes Porter did do away with their Tampa (TPA) route for the season, but their Orlando (MCO) service is operating a longer season than it did in 2024/2025. Unfortunately, JetBlue never even started. Who knows what went down there. I hazard to guess they are just financially weak at the moment as they have done a lot of route reductions across their network in recent times. 2026 should be an interesting year with the addition of daily United Airlines service to Chicago (ORD), new weekly Washington Dulles (IAD) service also on United, new weekly Chicago (ORD) service on American Airlines, American Airlines increasing their LaGuardia (LGA) to double daily on weekends, new weekly service to Boston (BOS) on Delta Airlines and daily service from Detroit (DTW) on WestJet on a 737 max aircraft. This is a lot of new capacity for YHZ. I expect YHZ will see increased US traffic from 2025 to 2026 once again. Much of that might be due to increased US visitation as opposed to increased Canadian visitation. Only time will tell.

[JonToms]

WestJet Cancels 2026 Summer Seasonal Orlando (MCO) - Halifax (YHZ) Flights

WestJet has cancelled their once weekly summer seasonal Orlando to Halifax flights originally scheduled from May 2, 2026 until October 24, 2026. This is a part of WestJet’s just released summer 2026 schedule which sees overall US - Canada capacity down by 26% across the board.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/260208-wsns26us

[egb]

Westjet announced a pretty big increase to their summer domestic capacity to YHZ to feed all those Europe flights.

https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/news/2026/...t--westjet-announces-four-new-flights-an

[Zmonkey]

Originally Posted by egb

Westjet announced a pretty big increase to their summer domestic capacity to YHZ to feed all those Europe flights.

https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/news/2026/...t--westjet-announces-four-new-flights-an

For Halifax, this is highlighting what they had already announced. This isn't new, its pushing there previously announced increases (For Halifax).

[miniborder]

Originally Posted by Saul Goode

It's intriguing how airlines have been cutting capacity on US routes, particularly at YHZ (smaller airplanes/less frequency for some US carriers; JetBlue backed out; Porter dropped YHZ-TPA, etc.) yet transborder at YHZ for 2025 actually increased by 8.5%.

Originally Posted by JonToms

For 2025 we had a number of US airlines actually increase their capacity. Basically they were building back their schedules after the pandemic. American Airlines added their daily DCA route on the Airbus A319 whereas it used to be only once weekly service in 2024. United Airlines went double daily to Newark from the end of October to the beginning of January 2026 rather than the once daily service that they offered over that timeframe in 2024. Yes Porter did do away with their Tampa (TPA) route for the season, but their Orlando (MCO) service is operating a longer season than it did in 2024/2025. Unfortunately, JetBlue never even started. Who knows what went down there. I hazard to guess they are just financially weak at the moment as they have done a lot of route reductions across their network in recent times. 2026 should be an interesting year with the addition of daily United Airlines service to Chicago (ORD), new weekly Washington Dulles (IAD) service also on United, new weekly Chicago (ORD) service on American Airlines, American Airlines increasing their LaGuardia (LGA) to double daily on weekends, new weekly service to Boston (BOS) on Delta Airlines and daily service from Detroit (DTW) on WestJet on a 737 max aircraft. This is a lot of new capacity for YHZ. I expect YHZ will see increased US traffic from 2025 to 2026 once again. Much of that might be due to increased US visitation as opposed to increased Canadian visitation. Only time will tell.

My thoughts, observations, and anecdotes:

- I think the strength of the year round core routes to EWR and BOS is a big contributor to the transborder increase. I fly those routes 2-3x per month and it's not uncommon for my flights to be at or near capacity. I know there's always a lot of fanfare around fancy seasonal routes and new destinations but the volume and predictability comes from the stuff that runs every day, year round.

- I've made a bit of a shift in my ski travel itineraries these last two seasons. In the past, I've connected through YYZ/YUL going westbound but I've made the switch to connecting exclusively through EWR. I gain the advantage of pre-clearing here at home instead of mid-journey, and have found EWR's renovated terminals and excellent lounges to be far superior to the "experience" at YYZ/YUL.

- From a passenger perspective, I greatly prefer AA's E175s compared to their A319s - 12J vs 8J and that solo seat on the A (port) side is lovely when you're travelling solo.

- I've been seeing some good downward pressure on transborder fares this summer with the all the route expansions from the US3. Amazing what a little bit of competition can do to the AC and WS cartel... (It also says a lot about PD that they are unwilling to compete in the transborder market here in YHZ)

[Saul Goode]

Interesting comments. Agree that EWR is much improved, though I fly there much less frequently than I used to.

Originally Posted by miniborder

(It also says a lot about PD that they are unwilling to compete in the transborder market here in YHZ)

And that's disappointing. I like Porter and try to fly with them as often as possible. Really enjoyed their TPA service on the E195-E2 and would also like a year-round BOS alternative to AC.

[JonToms]

Originally Posted by miniborder

My thoughts, observations, and anecdotes:

- I think the strength of the year round core routes to EWR and BOS is a big contributor to the transborder increase. I fly those routes 2-3x per month and it's not uncommon for my flights to be at or near capacity. I know there's always a lot of fanfare around fancy seasonal routes and new destinations but the volume and predictability comes from the stuff that runs every day, year round.

- I've made a bit of a shift in my ski travel itineraries these last two seasons. In the past, I've connected through YYZ/YUL going westbound but I've made the switch to connecting exclusively through EWR. I gain the advantage of pre-clearing here at home instead of mid-journey, and have found EWR's renovated terminals and excellent lounges to be far superior to the "experience" at YYZ/YUL.

- From a passenger perspective, I greatly prefer AA's E175s compared to their A319s - 12J vs 8J and that solo seat on the A (port) side is lovely when you're travelling solo.

- I've been seeing some good downward pressure on transborder fares this summer with the all the route expansions from the US3. Amazing what a little bit of competition can do to the AC and WS cartel... (It also says a lot about PD that they are unwilling to compete in the transborder market here in YHZ)

I would agree with you that the EWR and BOS flights contribute a lot to the increase in transborder traffic at YHZ because their load factors have increased. Anecdotally, I was flying through EWR in the middle of December 2025 and my flight was cancelled due to delays and then the crew timing out. Because the load factors have been so high, it took them three days before they could get me on another nonstop flight.

United Airlines seem to have been doing very well on the EWR/YHZ flight. I have been tracking the 2027 flights for January and they seem to have loaded double daily flights rather than reverting back to a single daily flight as they have done this past January until May 2025. So far they have the schedule loaded as double daily until January 17, 2027, which is as far as they have any schedule loaded at the moment. If this schedule stays the same, it will certainly increase YHZ’s transborder traffic for 2027.

I’m not sure that we will ever get Porter Airlines serving transborder routes from YYZ as they don’t have a regional network to feed in to such routes. WestJet offered a BOS/YHZ flight a number of years ago, which didn’t work out even though they had a regional network to feed into this route at the time. Who knows though as YHZ was originally slated to become one of Porter Airlines hubs when they started expanding with their new E195 E2’s. Right now YHZ is a mini hub with the flights from YYT/YDF connecting to YUL/YOW/YYZ/YTZ but if that changes, maybe they will add a few more regional routes or even US routes.

[JonToms]

United Airlines is offering double daily EWR – YHZ flights in January 2027

In January 2027, United Airlines has scheduled double daily flights on the EWR to YHZ route. The schedule is currently only published until January 22 due to the fact that they only publish their schedules 11 months ahead. In 2026 United Airlines is offering one daily flight on the EWR to YHZ route from January 6 until May 20. Only time will tell, but it looks like they are going to schedule double daily flights year round as opposed to only one daily flight during the winter months and two daily during the summer high season. In looking at the schedules of YQB/YOW to EWR they both seem to be gaining one more daily nonstop flight each as well. YQB will have three daily flights and YOW will have four daily flights to EWR over the winter months of 2027. With Air Canada’s one daily flight from EWR to YHZ there could now be three daily flights on this route year-round again. This could bring YHZ back to pre-pandemic flight levels on the EWR route.

[JonToms]

January YHZ Stats

Halifax Stanfield International Airport
Passenger Statistics Report - Executive Summary

January 2026

Passenger Statistics Summary
January

Actuals / Percentage Change
Sector / 2026 / 2025 / 2019 / vs 2025 / vs 2019
Domestic / 188,748 / 180,697 / 214,519 / 4.5% / (12.0%)
Transborder / 17,389 / 25,056 / 19,732 / (30.6%) / (11.9%)
Other International / 30,134 / 28,344 / 14,292 / 6.3% / 110.8%
Total / 236,271 / 234,097 / 248,543 / 0.9% / (4.9%)

Year-to-Date
Actuals / Percentage Change
Sector / 2026 / 2025 / 2019 / vs 2025 / vs 2019
Domestic / 188,748 / 180,697 / 214,519 / 4.5% / (12.0%)
Transborder / 17,389 / 25,056 / 19,732 / (30.6%) / (11.9%)
Other International / 30,134 / 28,344 / 14,292 / 6.3% / 110.8%
Total / 236,271 / 234,097 / 248,543 / 0.9% / (4.9%)

Transborder traffic was certainly hit with the cancellation of PD’s Tampa flights as well as a reduction in their Orlando flights along with Air Canada’s reduction in both Tampa and Orlando flights.

[JonToms]

WestJet Northern Summer Domestic Service Changes for YHZ

Calgary – Halifax Increase from 25 to 27 weekly
Edmonton – Halifax Increase from 13 to 14 weekly
Regina – Halifax Increase from 1 to 2 weekly
Saskatoon – Halifax Increase from 1 to 2 weekly
Toronto Pearson – Halifax Increase from 20 to 28 weekly
Vancouver – Halifax Increase from 4 to 7 weekly
Winnipeg – Halifax Increase from 10 to 14 weekly

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/260224-wsns26ca

[JonToms]

American Airlines Adds Second Weekly Flight From DCA to YHZ in Early Summer 2026

American Airlines have added a second weekly flight on Sundays between DCA and YYZ from May 23, 2026 until August 4, 2026. Originally they were offering a once weekly flight on Saturdays on this route. The remainder of the season continues to operate on this route as originally planned. From August 5, 2026 until October 3, 2026 they offer daily service on this route. Then from October 4, 2026 until October 31, 2026 they offer once weekly service on Saturdays. This service is offered via Republic Airways on behalf of American Eagle.

[JonToms]

Air Canada Aircraft Change on YVR – YHZ Route for May 2026

Air Canada have changed the equipment flying from YVR to YYZ for the month of May 2026 from a Boeing 737 max to an Airbus A220-300. Beginning June 1, 2026 the aircraft will switch back to a Boeing 737 max for the remainder of the season ending October 24, 2026. The Airbus A220-300 seats 137 passengers whereas the Boeing 737 max mainline aircraft seats 169 passengers so this is a bit of a downgauge in overall seats for this route.

[miniborder]

Originally Posted by JonToms

The Airbus A220-300 seats 137 passengers whereas the Boeing 737 max mainline aircraft seats 169 passengers so this is a bit of a downgauge in overall seats for this route.

Technically a downgauge but from a passenger experience/comfort perspective the A220 is a much nicer aircraft.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by miniborder

Technically a downgauge but from a passenger experience/comfort perspective the A220 is a much nicer aircraft.

A downgauge, but also an upgrade.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by miniborder

Technically a downgauge but from a passenger experience/comfort perspective the A220 is a much nicer aircraft.

Exactly.

[Saul Goode]

The CSeries (can't bring myself to call it an Airbus) is a terrific airplane.