Canadian Airport Thread II

[Dominion301]

UA's adding a daily seasonal YYZ-LAX flight: https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/250113-uans25laxyyz

Did UA operate YYZ-LAX many moons ago? I remember AA flying the route at one time...and AS wayyyy back in the early-mid 90s on MD-80s!

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Our nice 738

See some old KF Convairs in the background. They recently announced their new contract with Purolator and are adding ATR 72-500F's to replace the Convairs as part of that contract.

[LO 044]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I feel like I haven't heard anything (good or bad) about Flair in quite some time. Are they hanging in?

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

By the very tips of their fingernails.

MonctonRad your statement is based on what facts? I'm no Flair apologist but frankly what you are saying has been said for 3 years I think so I'm curious why you say what you say.

[nname]

Originally Posted by Calfan12

Also WS WestJet today announced a 1x weekly Calgary YYC - New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) for Summer 2025, operating on Saturdays from May 24-August 30 .

Wonder if WS have any other plan for LGA, for instance flying to YYZ for the other 6 days?

Hard to imagine it would be cost effective to open a new station in NYC just for a single weekly flight. It's okay for AA since it always operates multiple daily to YYC from other bases, but for WS it's kind of expensive if it's just for retaliation?

Not sure if AC is now done with it's own retaliation against WS at western Canada. Maybe they'll also add a weekly YVR-LGA to mirror WS offering? All they need to do is to x6 one of the 18 daily flights between LGA and YYZ/YUL and send it over to YVR.

[YYCguys]

Originally Posted by nname

Wonder if WS have any other plan for LGA, for instance flying to YYZ for the other 6 days?

Hard to imagine it would be cost effective to open a new station in NYC just for a single weekly flight. It's okay for AA since it always operates multiple daily to YYC from other bases, but for WS it's kind of expensive if it's just for retaliation?

Not sure if AC is now done with it's own retaliation against WS at western Canada. Maybe they'll also add a weekly YVR-LGA to mirror WS offering? All they need to do is to x6 one of the 18 daily flights between LGA and YYZ/YUL and send it over to YVR.

WS used to fly YYZ-LGA but hasn’t for a few years now.

[Calfan12]

AMERICAN ADDS NEW YORK LAGUARDIA – CALGARY SERVICE IN NS25

American Airlines during Northern summer 2025 season plans to launch New York LaGuardia – Calgary route, opened for reservations in the last few days. The oneWorld member will offer this route on Saturdays, with Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft from 07JUN25 to 30AUG25.

AA552 LGA0810 – 1115YYC 7M8 6
AA553 YYC1215 – 1855LGA 7M8 6

WestJet will also offer service on this route with reservations to open by 20JAN25 at the latest.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/250116-aans25lgayyc

[Calfan12]

JETBLUE NS25 NORTH AMERICA NETWORK ADDITIONS – 15JAN25

JetBlue Airways yesterday (15JAN25) announced planned North America network additions for Northern summer 2025 season, as the airline resumes various routes.

Boston – Halifax 26JUN25 – 02SEP25 1 daily A220-300

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/250116-b6ns25na

[Bishop2047]

Originally Posted by LO 044

MonctonRad your statement is based on what facts? I'm no Flair apologist but frankly what you are saying has been said for 3 years I think so I'm curious why you say what you say.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/flair-airlines-departs-ottawa-airport/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=w...BAgFEAE&usg=AOvVaw3CeDqwxDoI2elq65AHhsZf

https://financialpost.com/transportation/airlines/flair-airlines-seeking-borrow-150-million

I would love to see Flair succeed but they seem to be dying a slow death. These are just from the past few months.

[q12]

Originally Posted by Calfan12

JETBLUE NS25 NORTH AMERICA NETWORK ADDITIONS – 15JAN25

JetBlue Airways yesterday (15JAN25) announced planned North America network additions for Northern summer 2025 season, as the airline resumes various routes.

Boston – Halifax 26JUN25 – 02SEP25 1 daily A220-300

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/250116-b6ns25na

It's scheduled to run till Oct 25th right now.

[LO 044]

Originally Posted by Bishop2047

https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/flair-airlines-departs-ottawa-airport/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=w...BAgFEAE&usg=AOvVaw3CeDqwxDoI2elq65AHhsZf

https://financialpost.com/transportation/airlines/flair-airlines-seeking-borrow-150-million

I would love to see Flair succeed but they seem to be dying a slow death. These are just from the past few months.

I have seen all these stories. The first two stories mean nothing. Porter is throwing any and every route it can from YOW otherwise their aircraft sit on the tarmac bleeding cash. Smaller airlines (like Flair, formerly Lynx and Air Transat can't and shouldn't try and compete at YOW). The Saskatoon-Toronto flight probably isn't a lucrative money making route so no big deal there either. It was only 3x per week. Flair is actually finally being smart and dropping routes sooner than later based on economics.

The last story is more relevant although not unexpected from a start up airline. It would be interesting to find an insider to see how Flair is doing. I really don't know what they are trying to be as an airline anymore. Point to point? Connections? Leisure routes? Western based mostly?

I would rather Porter have one less competitor in the market so there is a viable 3rd alternative however based on all the comments I've seen on the metrics of the E195-E2, Porter will never win the battle with AC or WS. The key thing is Porter is going head to head with AC and WS on many routes. Air Transat for example stays in their lane of YUL and YYZ. Air Transat was also smart to drop Western Canada routes but that doesn't make them unsuccessful.

[Dominion301]

YOW's 2024 year-end pax stats:

Sector / Dec-23 / Dec-24 / % Change
Dom: 235,566 / 289,590 / +22.9%
TB: 72,868 / 81,666 / +12.1%
Int'l: 56,585 / 58,020 / +2.5%
TTL: 365,019 / 429,276 / +17.6%

Sector Y-E 2023 Y-E 2024 % Change
Dom: 3,202,899 / 3,392,383 / +5.9%
TB: 576,133 / 781,646 / +35.7%
Int'l: 316,882 / 433,875 / +36.9%
TTL: 4,095,914 4,607,904 12.5%

% of traffic recovered vs 2019 / 2024 vs 2019
Sector / % recovered Dec 24 vs 19 / Full-year 2024 vs 2019
Dom: 92.4% / 84.9%
TB: 139.3% / 113.9%
Int'l: 122.4% / 101.7%
TTL: 102.4% / 90.2%

12 Months Rolling / % Change vs Year End 2022
Dom: 3,392,383 / +25.2%
TB: 781,646 / +310.7%
Int'l: 433,875 / +331.1%
TTL: 4,607,904 / +53.6%

[thenoflyzone]

^ OAA has slightly different numbers for full year 2024.

https://www.yow.ca/business/passenger-volume#2024

I’m thinking maybe you have a spreadsheet with the monthly tallies, and OAA went and changed the total for one or more months, skewing the numbers a bit from yours.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

^ OAA has slightly different numbers for full year 2024.

https://www.yow.ca/business/passenger-volume#2024

I’m thinking maybe you have a spreadsheet with the monthly tallies, and OAA went and changed the total for one or more months, skewing the numbers a bit from yours.

Thanks for catching that! The OAA revised the domestic and transborder numbers for every month from January-May. Domestic went up about 40K and transborder went down by about the same amount. It probably means one airline mixed up a route between domestic and transborder when reporting to the OAA and just caught the error. If I were to guess, it was probably Jazz as the international numbers were error-free and Jazz is the only operator at YOW with domestic and transborder without any other international. EDIT: Actually on 2nd thought, PD are also domestic/transborder only and with all the pax they're now connecting via YOW, they probably miscounted 40K connectors in the first 5 months of 2024.

Here's the revised final 2024 numbers:

Sector / Dec-23 / Dec-24 / % Change
Dom: 235,566 / 289,590 / +22.9%
TB: 72,868 / 81,666 / +12.1%
Int'l: 56,585 / 58,020 / +2.5%
TTL: 365,019 / 429,276 / +17.6%

Sector / Y-E 2023 / Y-E 2024 / % Change
Dom: 3,202,899 / 3,431,500 / +7.1%
TB: 576,133 / 741,449 / +28.7%
Int'l: 316,882 / 433,875 / +36.9%
TTL: 4,095,914 / 4,606,824 / +12.5%

% of traffic recovered vs 2019 / 2024 vs 2019
Sector / % recovered Dec 24 vs 19 / Full-year 2024 vs 2019
Dom: 92.4% / 85.9%
TB: 139.3% / 108.0%
Int'l: 122.4% / 101.7%
TTL: 102.4% / 90.2%

12 Months Rolling % Change vs Year End 2022
Dom: 3,431,500 / 26.7%
TB: 741,449 / 289.5%
Int'l: 433,875 / 331.1%
TTL: 4,606,824 / 53.6%

[hehehe]

Originally Posted by LO 044

I have seen all these stories. The first two stories mean nothing. Porter is throwing any and every route it can from YOW otherwise their aircraft sit on the tarmac bleeding cash. Smaller airlines (like Flair, formerly Lynx and Air Transat can't and shouldn't try and compete at YOW). The Saskatoon-Toronto flight probably isn't a lucrative money making route so no big deal there either. It was only 3x per week. Flair is actually finally being smart and dropping routes sooner than later based on economics.

The last story is more relevant although not unexpected from a start up airline. It would be interesting to find an insider to see how Flair is doing. I really don't know what they are trying to be as an airline anymore. Point to point? Connections? Leisure routes? Western based mostly?

I would rather Porter have one less competitor in the market so there is a viable 3rd alternative however based on all the comments I've seen on the metrics of the E195-E2, Porter will never win the battle with AC or WS. The key thing is Porter is going head to head with AC and WS on many routes. Air Transat for example stays in their lane of YUL and YYZ. Air Transat was also smart to drop Western Canada routes but that doesn't make them unsuccessful.

Considering Flair has held on for years (even after those repossessed planes) I wouldn't be surprised to see them hold on for longer, especially since they've become a bit more astute with judging the market and adding routes/shifting capacity.

[Ozabald]

Looks like ORD service is making a return to Halifax.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scot...urope-boost-passenger-recovery-1.7433526

So far, no announcements from either AA or HIAA about the return of Chicago.

[q12]

^
It's on the airport website: https://halifaxstanfield.ca/flights/non-stop/

Chicago
Carrier: American Airlines
Frequency: 1x weekly
Details: June 21, 2025 – October 4, 2025

[hollywoodcory]

Originally Posted by nname

Wonder if WS have any other plan for LGA, for instance flying to YYZ for the other 6 days?

Hard to imagine it would be cost effective to open a new station in NYC just for a single weekly flight. It's okay for AA since it always operates multiple daily to YYC from other bases, but for WS it's kind of expensive if it's just for retaliation?

Not sure if AC is now done with it's own retaliation against WS at western Canada. Maybe they'll also add a weekly YVR-LGA to mirror WS offering? All they need to do is to x6 one of the 18 daily flights between LGA and YYZ/YUL and send it over to YVR.

To be fair, WS already operates a handful of stations only once a week like LTO, GND, SJU, BON.

Gonna guess they'll just contract their services out to DL at LGA.

I'm curious now if this will outright replace the Saturday JFK flight or will be operated in addition.

I do agree that's its odd to retaliate for a weekly flight that runs for like 9 weeks in the summer. They didn't respond to AA's CLT addition last year (unless that is what RDU is).

[Calfan12]

PORTER AIRLINES EXTENDS SELECTED OTTAWA – US SERVICE TO YEAR-ROUND IN NS25

Porter Airlines this week announced service extension on selected Trans-border service from Ottawa, as flights to Fort Lauderdale and Las Vegas being extended to year-round operation, effective 01MAY25.

Ottawa – Fort Lauderdale eff 01MAY25 1 daily E195-E2 scheduled in summer season
PD517 YOW1550 – 1935FLL 295 D
PD518 FLL1345 – 1710YOW 295 D

Ottawa – Las Vegas eff 01MAY25 3 weekly E195-E2 scheduled in summer season
PD651 YOW0855 – 1115LAS 295 357
PD652 LAS1210 – 1945YOW 295 357

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/250117-pdns25yow

[Calfan12]

Originally Posted by hollywoodcory

To be fair, WS already operates a handful of stations only once a week like LTO, GND, SJU, BON.

Gonna guess they'll just contract their services out to DL at LGA.

I'm curious now if this will outright replace the Saturday JFK flight or will be operated in addition.

I do agree that's its odd to retaliate for a weekly flight that runs for like 9 weeks in the summer. They didn't respond to AA's CLT addition last year (unless that is what RDU is).

Good points , the WS WestJet Calgary YYC - New York JFK will be 1x daily in S25, so the WS YYC to New York LaGuardia LGA will be operating in addition to it on (Saturdays)✅

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/start-spreadin-news-westjet-announces-150000871.html

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by Calfan12

PORTER AIRLINES EXTENDS SELECTED OTTAWA – US SERVICE TO YEAR-ROUND IN NS25

Porter Airlines this week announced service extension on selected Trans-border service from Ottawa, as flights to Fort Lauderdale and Las Vegas being extended to year-round operation, effective 01MAY25.

Ottawa – Fort Lauderdale eff 01MAY25 1 daily E195-E2 scheduled in summer season
PD517 YOW1550 – 1935FLL 295 D
PD518 FLL1345 – 1710YOW 295 D

Ottawa – Las Vegas eff 01MAY25 3 weekly E195-E2 scheduled in summer season
PD651 YOW0855 – 1115LAS 295 357
PD652 LAS1210 – 1945YOW 295 357

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/250117-pdns25yow

On the other hand, looks like the Porter's 3x weekly YUL-LAS is being cut at the end of February. I never paid much attention to the Montreal routes, but presumably that was originally set to run through the end of April, just like YOW was originally loaded as (as YUL-LAS operates on the 3 days that YOW-LAS doesn't). YOW-LAS is loaded next fall as well, whereas YUL-LAS is not.

YUL-LAX/SFO, both of which ended two months ahead of schedule last fall aren't loaded in for this summer either.

YUL-FLL seems to be doing okay though. Not extended through the summer like YOW, but I see it's up to 11x weekly starting at the end of February.