Quote:
Originally Posted by fanofYOW
That's easy to say when you have multiple airlines hubbing in your airport of choice. Here at YOW, most of us are rooting for PD and don't want WS or AC to hurt them, because if they go down, we will be connecting for pretty much everything. I have 3 trips planned in 2025, 2 of them are currently booked and proud to say they are all PD, one PD reserve. The third will also be PD, but not booked just yet.
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Absolutely you are right, it is 100% my own self interest and only for my home airport, I do not wish for Porter or anyone else to fail. I hope they flourish and grow, especially at airports like YOW that get the short end of the stick from WS and AC. I just mean I like the fact both WS and AC continue to invest and grow at YVR, and if I
had to make a choice between PD growing here or AC and WS strenghtening, I would choose the latter.... The dual strength of both WS and AC is much more unique and beneficial for us.
Lots of AC changes, mostly pretty minor overall. Important note though>>
Other service changes, based on schedule listing comparison 06OCT24 vs 24NOV24, for flights between 01MAY25 and 25OCT25. Note some of these changes are largely identical to frequencies for July/August 2024:
https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/241126-acns25ca
This is important to consider, as often AeroRoutes compares y/y, as opposed to projected vs. projected. So in actuality, many of the "loss" routes are growing compared to S24, so it's an unusual way to report it.
The other thing it doesn't mention is equipment used, which can make a difference if measuring overall service level. For example, YVR-YXE sees a frequency cut, but a Jazz CRA is being replaced by a 737, so it's definitely a gain in service overall. Also not mentioned (since the article was only about frequency) is that one of the three YVR-YQR flights is also switching from Jazz CRA to 737. Don't remember the last time both these routes saw mainline, but I have been doing this for too long and my memory is rustier than before. Then WS increased YXE service to 11x weekly while keeping YVR at 7x weekly. I always wanted YVR-Sask routes to strengthen or at least not shrink, so I like seeing these changes, no matter how minor, at least the direction is right. YVR-YXE/YQR have always been two of the primary routes that WS funnels through YYC, that's a main reason the routes haven't grown more. But AC adding jets and WS at least adding 4x more weekly to YXE shows
some improvement commitment and helps slightly to avoid a connection. So at least the YXE and YQR loss of YUL is partially offset by YVR gains? Obviously these airports are totally different and the connecting options from YUL are unique from those at YVR, but at least its still service...
To any knowledgeable posters on here, please chime in if there's other route reductions that were actually gains because of equipment upgauge, I am not familiar enough with the normal equipment to even have a clue what the y/y change is. YVR-YYZ was 13x weekly last summer, so the drastic decline compared to what it showed in October isn't really important. And the aircraft mix on that route is all over the place, I'd bow down to anyone who actually remembers what equipment operated from season to season, it's always a hodge podge. S25 has 5 wide bodies out of 13 flights, seems about the same as before more or less. YUL is a different story though. Not only is the route higher than last year, I believe it is higher than pre-pandemic as well? Or at least matching, I think 5x daily was typical pre-pandemic, maybe 6? Especially with 3/6 flights on wide bodies, the service is relatively stronger than YVR-YYZ (that route used to be 18x daily in years past, and with wide bodies). So 13x daily is better than 2020-2022 and equal to last year +-, it's way below pre-pan. It makes logical sense I guess, AC has been building up YUL international service markedly, while having more subdued growth at YYZ. So stands to reason that a domestic route between two major hubs would benefit.
Lastly, I am so personally disappointed to see YHZ-YVR wither like this (AC down from 14 to 7, even when WS axed the route entirely). When one carrier drops a route, you expect another carrier to even partially fill their gap, or at the very least maintain. Yet after WS pulled out, AC went the other way and halved the frequency. I love YVR and YHZ (my home away from home), so this is personally tough to see. But I am not biased when it comes to stats, and it's a fairly obvious red flag when one carrier drops and the other cuts at the same time. The economics must still be challenging even with the 737-Max, which was supposed to make these routes more viable. Overall it seems east<>west still struggles with non-hub traffic and/or frequency growth. In this release YVR to YHZ lost half it's frequency, and YVR to YQB went down to 3x weekly from 4x (this is another oddball, still a relatively new AC route that has already tried Rouge, the A220, 737, and with max. frequency of 4x weekly, quite shaky by AC standards of service). But nowhere near as bad as YUL-YLW, yikes... 1x weekly mainline only? I didn't even know 1x weekly mainline existed now, except to sun destinations, and even then, increasingly rare. YUL can never ever claim AC doesn't love them enough, they are maintaining this link despite it obviously hanging on by a thread lol... YYZ used to have AC non stops to YCD, YKA, YXX, and I think even YQQ? All gone. I don't have the full empirical data or stats to back this claim up, it's just my impression lately that transcontinental domestic continues to be challenging economically even with aircraft improvement? If AC cuts YVR-YHZ to under daily (ie. 5 or 6 weekly) I will put no faith in the route
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