Atlantic Canada airport thread

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by q12

^
Non-Stop Paris is back from Halifax starting in May 2025:

This is YHZ's 9th European non-stop scheduled route.





St. John's gains Dublin and Paris:

Wonder if the St. John's-Paris flight will be timed for connections with Air St. Pierre for flights to/from St. Pierre?

[q12]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

Wonder if the St. John's-Paris flight will be timed for connections with Air St. Pierre for flights to/from St. Pierre?

There is a direct weekly flight from St. Pierre to Paris already in the summer.

[q12]

Westjet will start flying from Sydney, NS to Calgary 2x weekly this summer.

Starting June 10th on Tuesday and Saturday.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by q12

There is a direct weekly flight from St. Pierre to Paris already in the summer.

Still, this may have factored somewhat into the WS decision to offer a weekly YYT-CDG route.

Flights to Dublin and London make sense. The Paris route is a little more perplexing, unless SPM is also considered.

[MonctonRad]

Published frequency and schedule changes for WestJet for next summer:


Moncton - Calgary, 8x weekly -> 7x weekly
Moncton - Edmonton, 4x weekly -> 3x weekly
Moncton - Toronto, not mentioned on the current schedule, this may just mean the current frequency is maintained.

Fredericton - Calgary, 2x weekly -> 3x weekly

Charlottetown - Calgary, 5x weekly -> 4x weekly

Sydney - Calgary, 2x weekly (new)

Halifax - Calgary, 23x weekly -> 25x weekly
Halifax - Edmonton, 16x weekly -> 12x weekly
Halifax - Toronto, 21x weekly -> 14x weekly
Halifax - Vancouver, discontinued.
Halifax - Winnipeg, 9x weekly -> 7x weekly
Halifax - London (Gatwick), 4x weekly -> 3x weekly
Halifax - Paris (CDG), 4x weekly (new)

St. John's - Calgary, 13x weekly -> 9x weekly
St. John's - Edmonton 7x weekly -> 5x weekly
St. John's - London (Gatwick), 3x weekly -> 4x weekly
St, John's - Dublin, 2x weekly (new)
St. John's - Paris (CDG), 1x weekly (new)

[q12]

Air Canada will be 2x Daily Halifax - Vancouver this summer with possibility of this service going year-round next fall.

Westjet obviously couldn't compete on this route as Vancouver is an Air Canada Hub.

[dhottawa729]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Published frequency and schedule changes for WestJet for next summer:


Moncton - Calgary, 8x weekly -> 7x weekly
Moncton - Edmonton, 4x weekly -> 3x weekly
Moncton - Toronto, not mentioned on the current schedule, this may just mean the current frequency is maintained.

Fredericton - Calgary, 2x weekly -> 3x weekly

Charlottetown - Calgary, 5x weekly -> 4x weekly

Sydney - Calgary, 2x weekly (new)

Halifax - Calgary, 23x weekly -> 25x weekly
Halifax - Edmonton, 16x weekly -> 12x weekly
Halifax - Toronto, 21x weekly -> 14x weekly
Halifax - Vancouver, discontinued.
Halifax - Winnipeg, 9x weekly -> 7x weekly
Halifax - London (Gatwick), 4x weekly -> 3x weekly
Halifax - Paris (CDG), 4x weekly (new)

St. John's - Calgary, 13x weekly -> 9x weekly
St. John's - Edmonton 7x weekly -> 5x weekly
St. John's - London (Gatwick), 3x weekly -> 4x weekly
St, John's - Dublin, 2x weekly (new)
St. John's - Paris (CDG), 1x weekly (new)

What’s going on with Saint John these days? Sydney (same population as Quispamis-Rothesay) can get a Calgary flight but SJ can’t even get reliable 2x daily to Toronto and they are so late-night/early morning they often get cancelled. SJ is one of the biggest cities in the maritimes
and deserves convenient air service like any other City. There’s a market and demand but it seems like airlines are turning their backs on the 200k+ people in s/w new Brunswick.

[magee_b]

Originally Posted by dhottawa729

What’s going on with Saint John these days? Sydney (same population as Quispamis-Rothesay) can get a Calgary flight but SJ can’t even get reliable 2x daily to Toronto and they are so late-night/early morning they often get cancelled. SJ is one of the biggest cities in the maritimes
and deserves convenient air service like any other City. There’s a market and demand but it seems like airlines are turning their backs on the 200k+ people in s/w new Brunswick.

YSJ down to 1 daily to YYZ (4:45am) and 1 daily to YUL (4:00pm). Pretty bleak.

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by magee_b

YSJ down to 1 daily to YYZ (4:45am) and 1 daily to YUL (4:00pm). Pretty bleak.

It's quite annoying that when looking to schedule out flights, I never look at YSJ first.
Always YQM -> YHZ -> YFC -> YSJ. Little amount of flights and a higher price, they are shooting themselves in the foot really. Although I like the 4:45am route, get me started early on a travel day so you're not wasting a day.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

It's quite annoying that when looking to schedule out flights, I never look at YSJ first.
Always YQM -> YHZ -> YFC -> YSJ. Little amount of flights and a higher price, they are shooting themselves in the foot really. Although I like the 4:45am route, get me started early on a travel day so you're not wasting a day.

Wow! I didn't realize it had gotten that bad again in SJ for the winter schedule. One major airline with a grand total of two departures a day. If it wasn't for Cooke and Irving I can't see how or why the airport is staying open.

I guess SJ'ers need to have good winter tires and be ready to do some highway miles.

[q12]

Originally Posted by dhottawa729

What’s going on with Saint John these days? Sydney (same population as Quispamis-Rothesay) can get a Calgary flight but SJ can’t even get reliable 2x daily to Toronto and they are so late-night/early morning they often get cancelled. SJ is one of the biggest cities in the maritimes
and deserves convenient air service like any other City. There’s a market and demand but it seems like airlines are turning their backs on the 200k+ people in s/w new Brunswick.

As far as the Westjet's Calgary flights to smaller airports in Atlantic Canada it's all because of Tourism.

CBRM's Population is 110,000, Charlottetown's 90,000 and Deer Lake/Corner Brook is around 30,000. They all have flights to Calgary thanks to tourism.

Cape Breton is a tourist destination (like P.E.I. and Western Newfoundland) in the summer/fall.

Westjet's new strategy is to fly leisure (aka tourists) across Canada (when it comes to Eastern Canada).

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by sailor734

Wow! I didn't realize it had gotten that bad again in SJ for the winter schedule. One major airline with a grand total of two departures a day. If it wasn't for Cooke and Irving I can't see how or why the airport is staying open.

I guess SJ'ers need to have good winter tires and be ready to do some highway miles.

Even with the parking and the gas it's cheaper to drive to Halifax for a winter getaway. The only issue is it always seems to be a blizzard driving home after!

[q12]

Some insight on the Westjet Europe expansion:

WestJet Adds 3 More Transatlantic Boeing 737 MAX Routes

Simple Flying
By
James Pearson

WestJet has added three more transatlantic routes to its summer 2025 network, two of which the carrier has previously served.

According to the schedule update to Cirium Diio over the weekend, Halifax to Paris Charles de Gaulle and St John's to Dublin and CDG are coming. They are now bookable. St John's-Dublin becomes the airline's new shortest transatlantic link.

WestJet's three MAX routes
They are shown below. They include Halifax to Paris CDG, with the first flight in over two-and-a-half years to lift off on May 16, 2025.



The 2,640 nautical mile (4,889 km) route is longer than the 10 shortest transatlantic services. However, it will 'only' be WestJet's fourth-longest European narrowbody operation after Toronto-Edinburgh, Toronto-Dublin, and Calgary-Keflavik.

Halifax to Paris CDG
May 16, 2025
Four times weekly
To CDG: 23:15-10:26+1; from CDG: 11:40-13:47
7h 7m

WestJet served the market from 2018-2019, when it operated daily, and then again in 2022 when it was four times weekly. Zoom operated in 2007 using the 757-200ER

St John's to Dublin
May 22, 2025
Twice-weekly
To Dublin: 00:30-08:36; from Dublin: 10:00-11:39
5h 13m

WestJet served the market from 2014-2018 on the 737-700; it nearly always ran daily, quite a contrast to twice-weekly! It was the carrier's first European route

St John's to Paris CDG
May 18, 2025
Weekly (!)
To CDG: 00:30-10:15; from CDG: 11:30-13:04
6h 4m

Not served by any operator before. It is unusual for a transatlantic link to have only a weekly service, which I'm sure will be examined separately another time

* Either direction

How popular are they?

Booking data shows that Halifax-CDG had 16,000 roundtrip point-to-point passengers in the year to July 2024. It was just 3,000 (!) for St John's-CDG and a ridiculously low 2,000 for St John's-Dublin, hence such low frequencies on low-capacity equipment. Obviously, most of the traffic flew in the summer.

Based on its previous service, WestJet will know what traffic it can get for two of these markets. It will also easily stimulate the market from non-stop flights, relatively low fares at times, and hopefully good promotions. Passengers can also continue to Toronto and beyond.

WestJet to Europe in July 2025

As of November 18 and subject to change, the carrier plans 319 European departures in July 2025. That is based on analyzing its network based on what it has submitted to Cirium Diio. That will be its highest-ever volume, surpassing its previous record of 292 departures held in July 2022.

Calgary-Barcelona: four times weekly 787-9
Calgary-Dublin: four times weekly 787-9
Calgary-Edinburgh: four times weekly 787-9
Calgary-Keflavik: four times weekly 737 MAX 8
Calgary-London Heathrow: daily 787-9
Calgary-Paris CDG: daily 787-9
Calgary-Rome: daily 787-9
Halifax-Dublin: four times weekly 737 MAX 8
Halifax-Edinburgh: three times weekly 737 MAX 8
Halifax-London Gatwick: three times weekly 737 MAX 8
Halifax-Paris CDG: four times weekly 737 MAX 8
Toronto-Dublin: daily 737 MAX 8
Toronto-Edinburgh: daily 737 MAX 8
St John's-Dublin: twice-weekly 737 MAX 8
St John's-London Gatwick: four times weekly 737 MAX 8
St John's-Paris CDG: weekly 737 MAX 8

https://simpleflying.com/westjet-adds-3-transatlantic-boeing-737-max-routes/

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

Even with the parking and the gas it's cheaper to drive to Halifax for a winter getaway. The only issue is it always seems to be a blizzard driving home after!

Yep, that's the big drawback from December to March. What's the Cobequid pass going to be like and will there be "bay effect" snow squalls around Truro?

[MonctonRad]

This was posted by q12 on the main Canada page airport thread:

The Westjet St. John's Europe service is still subsidized by the province of Newfoundland and Labrador according to the press release from today:

So, if NL is willing to subsidize direct European flights from St. John's and Westjet is willing to play along, then maybe the province of NB should be willing to do the same here, for both international and cross border flights.

What do you think?

- Fredericton -> London
- Moncton -> Paris
- Saint John -> Dublin
- NYC from all three cities

[q12]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

This was posted by q12 on the main Canada page airport thread:



So, if NL is willing to subsidize direct European flights from St. John's and Westjet is willing to play along, then maybe the province of NB should be willing to do the same here, for both international and cross border flights.

What do you think?

- Fredericton -> London
- Moncton -> Paris
- Saint John -> Dublin
- NYC from all three cities

Here is what it would cost (U.S. Dollars) to run a flight between the closest U.S. airport to New Brunswick and BOS/PHL/EWR.

Jet Blue won the contract and now offers a daily flight to BOS from Presque Isle.

Presque Isle, Maine (PQI) is a U.S. Essential Air Service (EAS) market.

Jet Blue (using an E-190) has applied to take over (PQI) contract from United Airlines. American Airlines has also applied for the PQI contract with 12x weekly to PHL on a 50-seater. United Airlines has applied to maintain the contract with 12x weekly flights to EWR.



Jet Blue:


American Airlines:


United Airlines

Source: https://twitter.com/IshrionA/status/1760713800393560345

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

This was posted by q12 on the main Canada page airport thread:



So, if NL is willing to subsidize direct European flights from St. John's and Westjet is willing to play along, then maybe the province of NB should be willing to do the same here, for both international and cross border flights.

What do you think?

- Fredericton -> London
- Moncton -> Paris
- Saint John -> Dublin
- NYC from all three cities

I think it's a great idea, especially the New York flight, but I think Boston should be part of the mix too. Also, might as well switch it up a bit and have a Saint John <-> Cork flight. That way instead of every Cork person taking a Cork->Dublin->Halifax route, as they do now, they would be taking a Cork->Saint John->Halifax route instead. The Dublin<->Halifax route would obviously have the bulk of the passengers, and still an option for people in Saint John and Cork via connecting flights.

Just focussing on the long haul flights...



I think there's a stronger economic case for a flight subsidized to Morocco from Moncton than there is for Paris; nonetheless, I think both routes deserve subsidy. The Casablanca flight deserves federal subsidies, imo, since it would be a crucial flight for Franco-African immigration to Canada outside of Quebec. Yeah, Quebec City and Ottawa/Gatineau is a much bigger Francophone CMA than Moncton, but they are both much better connected with Montreal (the only city with a direct flight to Casablanca) with convenient trains, busses, and cheaper connecting flights.

Not only would a flight to Morocco sustain a market due to the many Moroccans that are continuing moving to New Brunswick, especially in Moncton... it would just be a really desirable, highly marketable tourist destination for Atlantic Canadians. Morocco is where a lot of people in England and Ireland go for vacation to escape their dreary winters, because it's cheaper than Italy and Spain, with even better weather. NB just happens to be the only bilingual province in Canada, and a direct flight to Moncton from Casablanca would help facilitate Franco-African immigration from the Sahara to the Congo. So we have an added incentive to fund such a flight, beyond tourism. The same could be said for a Moncton<->Paris flight.


I really hope this means we see a lot more options for flying to Europe without having to backtrack to Toronto or Montreal first. I'd say I hope it means Air Canada will step up and try and compete, but clearly it's more up to the provincial government to step up and subsidize flights.

[q12]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Also, might as well switch it up a bit and have a Saint John <-> Cork flight. That way instead of every Cork person taking a Cork->Dublin->Halifax route, as they do now, they would be taking a Cork->Saint John->Halifax route instead. The Dublin<->Halifax route would obviously have the bulk of the passengers, and still an option for people in Saint John and Cork via connecting flights.

I think there's a stronger economic case for a flight subsidized to Morocco from Moncton than there is for Paris; nonetheless, I think both routes deserve subsidy. The Casablanca flight deserves federal subsidies, imo, since it would be a crucial flight for Franco-African immigration to Canada outside of Quebec.

Not only would a flight to Morocco sustain a market due to the many Moroccans that are continuing moving to New Brunswick, especially in Moncton... it would just be a really desirable, highly marketable tourist destination for Atlantic Canadians. Morocco is where a lot of people in England and Ireland go for vacation to escape their dreary winters, because it's cheaper than Italy and Spain, with even better weather. NB just happens to be the only bilingual province in Canada, and a direct flight to Moncton from Casablanca would help facilitate Franco-African immigration from the Sahara to the Congo.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by q12

Perhaps you weren't aware, but French is one of the most commonly spoken languages in Africa, especially between the Sahara Desert and the Congo.


New Brunswick the only bilingual province in Canada. There's quite a lot of French speakers from Africa moving to New Brunswick. I assume there's been quite an influx of North African immigrants and students in the HRM too, no?

Halifax is slightly closer to Morocco, but Moncton has a stronger case due to Francophone immigration.

There's a lot more people immigrating to New Brunswick from French speaking Africa than there are from The UK, Ireland, and France.

Plus, where would you rather take a winter vacation, Morocco or England?

If there's a vacation market for direct flights from Saskatchewan to Mexico, there's a vacation market for direct flights from the Maritimes to Morocco. Moncton just makes the most sense, because the French connection.

[Saul Goode]

Originally Posted by q12

Thanks for posting that, q12. It saved me a lot of typing.