Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW) 1.0

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by YOWflier

As of 1215 there’s an Italy A332, Italy Dassault Falcon 900 (?), CanForce A332, and HiFly A343 on the aux. ramp. Pretty cool.

Those are the French AirForce's A332 and Dassault Falcon. They are off to YQB soon with the French PM.

It was cool to see from Riverside.

[YowItaliano]

Porter eyeing direct flights from Ottawa to California, Caribbean, CEO says


https://obj.ca/porter-eyeing-direct-flights-from-ottawa-to-california-caribbean-ceo-says/

[DTcrawler]

Originally Posted by YowItaliano

Porter eyeing direct flights from Ottawa to California, Caribbean, CEO says


https://obj.ca/porter-eyeing-direct-flights-from-ottawa-to-california-caribbean-ceo-says/

Not surprising but positive to get it on record finally. Would love to see YOW-LAX as I would be using that route semi-frequently over the next few years.

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by YowItaliano

Porter eyeing direct flights from Ottawa to California, Caribbean, CEO says


https://obj.ca/porter-eyeing-direct-flights-from-ottawa-to-california-caribbean-ceo-says/

Mentions gulf coast of Florida too. Would be shocked not to see Tampa and/or RSW next winter.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by YowItaliano

Porter eyeing direct flights from Ottawa to California, Caribbean, CEO says


https://obj.ca/porter-eyeing-direct-flights-from-ottawa-to-california-caribbean-ceo-says/

“We are going to continue (adding routes) as long as the community is using the service,” he said. “There is tremendous opportunity for Ottawa.”

From the CEO's mouth.

I think all of us have talked about this on this forum before. Demand to many destinations direct from YOW is there, or nearly there, and once Porter sets up their hub here, those routes can start to takeoff.

[MountainView]

I just did my part booking AF YOW-CDG-BCN return in late Sept / early Oct for my family of three. Departing on a Wednesday which would not have been bookable on AF before this summer.

[fanofYOW]

Originally Posted by YowItaliano

Porter eyeing direct flights from Ottawa to California, Caribbean, CEO says


https://obj.ca/porter-eyeing-direct-flights-from-ottawa-to-california-caribbean-ceo-says/

I rushed on here to post this same article. My eyes bulged out and my jaw hit the floor. I mean, we knew it was happening eventually but it is extremely nice to have it confirmed.

[rocketphish]

Ottawa Airport ‘working to get’ more routes to Europe, London high on list: CEO

David Sali, OBJ
April 11, 2024 3:42 PM ET

The head of the Ottawa International Airport Authority says the terminal continues to pursue direct flights to other European destinations after seeing steady growth in traffic between Ottawa and Paris since that route was introduced last year.

Air France, which launched service between Ottawa Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport last June, is currently the only carrier offering non-stop flights to Europe from Canada’s capital.

Air Canada suspended its routes to London’s Heathrow Airport early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and Lufthansa also scrapped its plan to replace Air Canada’s seasonal summer flights from Ottawa to Frankfurt in 2020 as the new coronavirus wreaked havoc with the travel industry.

Ottawa International Airport Authority CEO Mark Laroche told OBJ Thursday that London is high on the organization’s list of preferred new destinations.

“Obviously, Heathrow is a known market,” Laroche said. “It is something that we’re looking at and we’re hoping Air Canada will (bring back) their flight eventually, but they haven’t announced anything yet.”

Last month, Air France announced it was boosting its Ottawa-Paris service to seven days a week from five and upgrading the route to larger aircraft due to “escalating demand” for the flights.

Laroche said the popularity of the transatlantic route suggests there should be plenty of incentive for other airlines to step up their service to Europe from the nation’s capital.

He’s not expecting any announcements in the near future, however.

“The great news is Air France is doing great,” he said. “Charles de Gaulle is a great airport to connect beyond. They’re filling their aircraft, so that’s going well. I’m happy to have one successful route (to Europe), and we’re working to get a second one, but it’s not going to be this summer, that’s for sure.”

https://obj.ca/ottawa-airport-working-to-get-more-routes-to-europe-london-high-on-list-ceo/

[YOWflier]

Within the articles and great news we also find cautious undertones:

“We want to be the hometown airline in Ottawa”
“We will continue to put faith in Ottawa as a market”
“We are going to continue (adding routes) as long as the community is using the service”
“There is tremendous opportunity for Ottawa”

Porter has a plan and a vision for Ottawa and will give us every opportunity to seize it. Will we? Same goes with others like AF and whoever else might take a chance here. Ottawans will need to decide what kind of air services they will demand and support. By extension I see it as a decision on what kind of city they want to build.

There are encouraging signs. More please.

[fanofYOW]

Originally Posted by YOWflier

Within the articles and great news we also find cautious undertones:

“We want to be the hometown airline in Ottawa”
“We will continue to put faith in Ottawa as a market”
“We are going to continue (adding routes) as long as the community is using the service”
“There is tremendous opportunity for Ottawa”

Porter has a plan and a vision for Ottawa and will give us every opportunity to seize it. Will we? Same goes with others like AF and whoever else might take a chance here. Ottawans will need to decide what kind of air services they will demand and support. By extension I see it as a decision on what kind of city they want to build.

There are encouraging signs. More please.

Could you imagine having all these direct options and yet people may still drive to another airport to save $50? It’s a ludicrous scenario but I nervously laugh at it because I wouldn’t put it past Ottawa to do it.

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by MountainView

I just did my part booking AF YOW-CDG-BCN return in late Sept / early Oct for my family of three. Departing on a Wednesday which would not have been bookable on AF before this summer.

Is the Wednesday flight back?? I had posted last week it went down to 5x weekly after Labour Day.

Edit: I forgot it's x25 some weeks in the fall.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by MountainView

“We are going to continue (adding routes) as long as the community is using the service,” he said. “There is tremendous opportunity for Ottawa.”

From the CEO's mouth.

I think all of us have talked about this on this forum before. Demand to many destinations direct from YOW is there, or nearly there, and once Porter sets up their hub here, those routes can start to takeoff.

Yep, it's nice to hear that it's now just a matter of when and not if. If I were to hazard a guess, LAS will be next (F8 won't be back) to start in say October, followed by TPA and/or RSW + what Caribbean they pick this winter....we will need to keep an eye on what countries PD applies to the CTA to for scheduled route authorities. Hopefully they apply for some destinations beyond the usual sun spots out of YOW like SXM, NAS, PLS, etc. that are all former seasonal routes out of YOW a long time ago.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Is the Wednesday flight back?? I had posted last week it went down to 5x weekly after Labour Day.

Edit: I forgot it's x25 some weeks in the fall.

The prices were noticeably different too. If you tried to book Tuesday, it was $3200+ in economy on AC. When the AF flight ran, it was about $2500 via YUL on AC, but I chose the AF route for a much better flight time and layover experience. I can get to BCN in exactly 10 hr via CDG. Pretty great if you ask me.

[RomanR27]

US DOT numbers for January 2024 are out. No numbers from Porter (jets or Dash8) once again. Also some issues with the dataset for Jazz, both EWR and DCA show under 100 pax for the whole month.

Rouge
TPA: 959/1088 = 88.1%
MCO: 2033/2176 = 93.4%
FLL: 4450/4896 = 90.9%

WestJet
RSW: 2580/2964 = 87.0%
MCO: 2294/2796 = 82.0%

Flair
LAS: 2767/3402 = 81.3%
FLL: 4593/5859 = 78.4%
SFB: 795/1323 = 60.0% * note for some reason only YOW-SFB data was reported, not SFB-YOW

United
ORD: 7411/8864 = 83.6%
EWR: 9794/12210 = 80.2%
IAD: 5212/6000 = 86.9%

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

US DOT numbers for January 2024 are out. No numbers from Porter (jets or Dash8) once again. Also some issues with the dataset for Jazz, both EWR and DCA show under 100 pax for the whole month.

Rouge
TPA: 959/1088 = 88.1%
MCO: 2033/2176 = 93.4%
FLL: 4450/4896 = 90.9%

WestJet
RSW: 2580/2964 = 87.0%
MCO: 2294/2796 = 82.0%

Flair
LAS: 2767/3402 = 81.3%
FLL: 4593/5859 = 78.4%
SFB: 795/1323 = 60.0% * note for some reason only YOW-SFB data was reported, not SFB-YOW

United
ORD: 7411/8864 = 83.6%
EWR: 9794/12210 = 80.2%
IAD: 5212/6000 = 86.9%

You can see why F8 ended SFB early to save money. You can also see with them not brining back FLL or LAS how with connecting traffic there's room for PD to add LAS daily and a 2nd daily FLL and MCO in winter.

At MCO for their YOW + YYZ seat factor:
- In January it was 79.8% if there was a 100% completion factor: https://www.orlandoairports.net/site/uploads/paxs202401-R1.pdf
- In February it was 91.5% if there was a 100% completion factor: https://www.orlandoairports.net/site/uploads/paxs202402.pdf

EDIT:
The first full month December 2023 of PD ops at FLL are also now available (November was only 3 flights): https://www.broward.org/Airport/Business/about/Documents/FLL_stats_december_2023.pdf. For their YOW + YYZ loads, if there was a 100% completion factor:
- They had an overall 73.0% seat factor;
- They had an overall 60.6% enplanement seat factor; and
- They had an overall 85.4% deplanement seat factor

Pretty good for the first month of FLL ops considering the first two weeks would have had light northbound loads.

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 75, including 7 sun flights - extra AC A320 to YVR this morning

Today’s cancellation count (so far): 0

There's also what appears to be a ferry flight at 0500. It's an A320 that's heading for BFI/Boeing Field Seattle, so it's probably to pick up an NHL team as neither the Sens, nor Lightning are playing in Seattle. Left from gate 6.

[RomanR27]

That extra 320 to YVR is on a Jetz aircraft. Originally was going to ferry to YVR but I guess with the cancellation of the 789 yesterday they decided to make it a revenue flight. It flew the Habs in from Long Island last night, and the plane going to BFI flew the Sens home from Tampa.

[fanofYOW]

“There is only going to be one airline that is going to be hubbing through Ottawa, and it’s going to be Porter for the next decade”

This part stood out to me because it means my personal dream of PD setting up a NA fortress hub in YOW is going to come true.

[RomanR27]

Thinking more about Porter's potential Caribbean expansions, I wonder if there's a world where they just take over TS' destinations for next winter. Vacation packages could still be booked through Transat, with the flights operated by Porter.

[Rhb]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Thinking more about Porter's potential Caribbean expansions, I wonder if there's a world where they just take over TS' destinations for next winter. Vacation packages could still be booked through Transat, with the flights operated by Porter.

I was thinking the same thing. If Porter can acquire competitive rates for the all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean. From TS or through Expedia then daily flights to Cancun and Punta Cana would work IMHO.