Atlantic Canada airport thread

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by J81

I just ignore him at this point. He spams every thread with fantasy land proposals and no idea how to pay for them. I ignored him long ago. Do yourself a favour and do the same.

Please don’t assume my gender. I use they/them pronouns on this forum. Thanks for your understanding.

Also, it’s against the forum rules to be rude.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

Man, are you ever fixated on the Welsford Int'l Airport idea. If international flights ever come to NB, it will be to YQM. They are not coming to YSJ, YFC or to Welsford.

Why do you keep on erroneously stating that I think the airport should be located at Welsford? I think it should be located either within CFB Gagetown (there's precedent for airports being located within military bases) or closer to Hoyt Station or Blissville, which would make it possibly to connect to the airport via passenger rail. I'd prefer if you stop trying to claim I want this proposed airport to be constructed at Welsford, as that would go against the idea of it being located midway between Saint John and Fredericton.

As for this hypothetical airport not getting any international flights should it get built... that's total nonsense, considering such an airport would serve a larger metropolitan population than Metro Moncton. You do realize that YFC and YSJ already have some international flights, right? It's not out of the question for either to get some trans Atlantic flights either, especially if the government is willing to subsidise them. We're trying to promote tourism, especially to non US markets now, aren't we?

Do I expect this combined airport to get built anytime soon? Not really, but I do still think it's a good idea worth further study. That provincial airport sector strategy study under the Higgs government that was posted before isn't worth the paper it was written on... it's really no shock that a government report suggests not rocking the boat that might risk impacting people with some very cushy management jobs at YFC and YSJ.

In the short term, we should be pushing for the government to subsidize more domestic flights into the NB market, and also try and go after some non US, trans-Atlantic routes. Moreover, we should be investing in better bus services, and better passenger rail. It's a lot more cost effective in the short term to subsidise some new routes, than it would be to construct an entirely new airport between Saint John and Fredericton, but that doesn't mean the latter isn't an idea worth further study.

[Fischbob]

Because I have nothing better to do this evening… here’s a totally un-scientific snapshot of scheduled non-stop peak summer flights in southern NB - Tuesday, July 15th, 2025 - Source: What I could find on Google Flights

Moncton YQM

Departures

Destination | Flight # | Dep-Arr | Current Starting Fare | Notes

YYZ | AC 1501 | 0545-0700 | $484 | Rouge
YUL | AC 1561 | 0635-0710 | $479 | Rouge
YOW | PD 2370 | 0700-0755 | $591 |
YUL | AC 1563 | 1120-1154 | $479 | Rouge
YYZ | AC 1503 | 1220-1336 | $484 | Rouge
YYY | PB 923 | 1525-1535 | $167 |
YEG | WS 411 | 1555-1809 | $382 |
YOW | PD 2374 | 1635-1730 | $591 |
YDF | PB 924 | 1750-2000 | $309 |
YTZ | PD 2294 | 1800-1935 | $484 |
YYC | WS 405 | 1800-2019 | $382 |
YYZ | AC 1505 | 1810-1926 | $484 | Rouge

Arrivals

Origin | Flight # | Dep-Arr | Current Starting Fare | Notes

YUL | AC 1560 | 0805-1028 | $492 | Rouge
YYZ | AC 1500 | 0830-1129 | $485 | Rouge
YDF | PB 923 | 1335-1455 | $304 |
YEG | WS 410 | 0730-1504 | $355 |
YTZ | PD 2293 | 1240-1553 | $476 |
YYC | WS 408 | 0925-1709 | $355 |
YYZ | AC 1502 | 1420-1719 | $485 | Rouge
YOW | PD 2373 | 1435-1719 | $587 |
YYY | PB 924 | 1515-1720 | $148 |
YUL | AC 1564 | 1845-2108 | $492 | Rouge
YYZ | AC 1504 | 2030-2329 | $485 | Rouge
YOW | PD 2377 | 2115-2359 | $587 |


Fredericton YFC

Departures

Destination | Flight # | Dep-Arr | Current Starting Fare | Notes

YUL | AC 7917 | 0630-0639 | $481 | Jazz
YOW | PD 2372 | 0700-0740 | $592 |
YUL | AC 7919 | 1050-1059 | $481| Jazz
YYZ | AC 1527 | 1155-1255 | $485 | Rouge
YOW | PD 2380 | 1425-1505 | $592 |
YUL | AC 7921 | 1635-1644 | $481 | Jazz
YTZ | PD 2304 | 1700-1820 | $485 |
YYC | WS 315 | 1730-1944 | $425 |
YYZ | AC 1539 | 1830-1931 | $485 | Rouge

Arrivals

Origin | Flight # | Dep-Arr | Current Starting Fare | Notes

YUL | AC 7916 | 0755-1007 | $492 | Jazz
YYZ | AC 1524 | 0815-1105 | $485 | Rouge
YTZ | PD 2303 | 1045-1345 | $476 |
YUL | AC 7920 | 1300-1512 | $492 | Jazz
YOW | PD 2375 | 1345-1616 | $587 |
YYC | WS 314 | 0855-1631 | $394 |
YYZ | AC 1526 | 1445-1736 | $485 | Rouge
YUL | AC 7922 | 1845-2057 | $492 | Jazz
YOW | PD 2371 | 1855-2126 | $587 |


Saint John YSJ*

Departures

Destination | Flight # | Dep-Arr | Current Starting Fare | Notes

YYZ | AC 1531 | 0555-0701 | $499 | Rouge
YUL | AC 8045 | 1135-1158 | $494 | Jazz
YHU | P6 957 | 1140-1200 | $336 |
YHZ | P6 954 | 1445-1530 | $226 |
YYZ | AC 1535 | 1835-1941 | $499 | Rouge

Arrivals

Origin | Flight # | Dep-Arr | Current Starting Fare | Notes

YUL | AC 8044 | 0835-1049 | $492 | Jazz
YHZ | P6 956 | 1045-1120 | $218 |
YHU | P6 951 | 0930-1200 | $288 |
YYZ | AC 1532 | 1450-1745 | $485 | Rouge
YYZ | AC 1534 | 2055-2350 | $485 | Rouge

*This was an off day for Flair, but for the sake of completeness I’ll include their July 16th schedule serving YSJ below:

Destination | Flight # | Dep-Arr | Current Starting Fare | Notes

YYZ | F8 685 | 1045-1200 | $222 |

Origin | Flight # | Dep-Arr | Current Starting Fare | Notes

YYZ | F8 684 | 0700-1000 | $452 |


I invite your hot takes pertaining to the above.

[CharlotteCountyLogan]

Great research! Interesting to see the numbers.
My only input in this is why does it cost so much to fly to Ottawa. I get it may not be a major city like Montreal and Toronto but it's the nation's capital. It's just a personal grievance I suppose but still annoying.

[sailor734]

A sobering reminder of just how big the gap has become between YSJ and the other two. Sadly, it even seems to be getting bigger.

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by sailor734

A sobering reminder of just how big the gap has become between YSJ and the other two. Sadly, it even seems to be getting bigger.

And the gap is only going to get bigger.
They are honestly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

As a consumer my 2 issues are:
Price & Options.
Right now, it's cheaper for me to use Halifax, Moncton, Fredericton for flights then YSJ. Even with Flair and it's limited schedule, makes it hard to have connections to YYZ.

So what does the airport do? Do they lose money on trying to get other routes? Do they try to low-ball the prices to get more people on planes to increase the amount of planes leaving? And then turn that into more routes? Do they try other options? I think the Pascan to Halifax was a great idea, but WAYY over priced for what I would use it for. A weekend away in Halifax? I want the price to be cheaper or the same as gas, tolls AND including the uber from the airport to downtown. Do they look at a Quebec City weekend gateway flight plan? At least it's closer to the city than Halifax.

Either way I think they'll need to make a gamble to see any real change or it'll wittle away to 2 flights a week etc.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

And the gap is only going to get bigger.
They are honestly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

As a consumer my 2 issues are:
Price & Options.
Right now, it's cheaper for me to use Halifax, Moncton, Fredericton for flights then YSJ. Even with Flair and it's limited schedule, makes it hard to have connections to YYZ.

So what does the airport do? Do they lose money on trying to get other routes? Do they try to low-ball the prices to get more people on planes to increase the amount of planes leaving? And then turn that into more routes? Do they try other options? I think the Pascan to Halifax was a great idea, but WAYY over priced for what I would use it for. A weekend away in Halifax? I want the price to be cheaper or the same as gas, tolls AND including the uber from the airport to downtown. Do they look at a Quebec City weekend gateway flight plan? At least it's closer to the city than Halifax.

Either way I think they'll need to make a gamble to see any real change or it'll wittle away to 2 flights a week etc.

Pascan only operates YSJ-YHZ 4x/week (Monday -Thursday) so it's not even any use for a weekend away.

YSJ-YHU is only Tuesday-Friday so even if it was a long weekend it would involve taking a day off.

Once we see what Porter intends to operate out of YHU you'll be able to tell if the Pascan flight is of any use for connections. However, it wouldn't surprise me if driving and flying Porter on all legs from YFC or YQM doesn't turn out to be much cheaper.

[Fischbob]

Tonight’s extremely non-scientific Google Flights snapshot takes a look at frequency and pricing for Atlantic Canadian airports – once again focusing on July 15th, 2025. In the interest of time, I only looked at nonstop one-way economy flights from the central Canadian hubs of Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

From Toronto YYZ/YTZ

Destination | Daily Frequency | # of Airlines | Min/Median/Max Price One-Way

St. John’s YYT | 6x | 3 | $289/289/348
Gander YQX | 1x | 1 | $334/334/334
Deer Lake YDF | 3x | 2 | $245/245/245
Sydney YQY | 1x | | 1 | $533/533/533
Charlottetown YYG | 3x | 1 | $285/285/413
Halifax YHZ | 17x | 4 | $250/256/340
Moncton YQM | 4x | 2 | $476/485/485
Saint John YSJ | 2x | 1 | $485/485/485
Fredericton YFC | 3x | 2 | $476/485/485

Looking at the map of Canadian nonstop destinations from Toronto, pricing for New Brunswick airports (and Sydney) appears to be elevated compared to the rest of eastern Canada. While most destinations in QC/PEI/NS/NL are priced in the mid/high $200’s, NB and Sydney are hovering in the high $400’s/low $500s.

To find comparably-priced destinations in the rest of Canada, look to Ontario’s regional airports: London, Windsor, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and Timmins, all also priced in the high $400s/low $500s from Toronto. Thunder Bay is priced somewhat lower – Flair effect? Destinations in Western Canada are priced lower overall, mostly in the $200s for non-ULCC airlines.


From Montreal YUL/YHU

Destination | Daily Frequency | # of Airlines | Min/Median/Max Price

St. John’s YYT | 3x | 1 | $326/326/326
Gander YQX | 1x | 1 | $372/372/372
Deer Lake YDF | 1x | 1 | $253/253/253
Sydney YQY | 1x | | 1 | $538/538/538
Charlottetown YYG | 2x | 1 | $285/285/285
Halifax YHZ | 7x | 2 | $313/313/313
Moncton YQM | 2x | 1 | $492/492/492
Saint John YSJ | 2x | 2 | $288/---/492
Fredericton YFC | 3x | 1 | $492/492/492

Prices are slightly higher overall, but a similar pattern emerges out of Montreal. I really hope that Pascan’s YHU service can survive until the new terminal there opens and interlining with Porter is possible, as the current fare differential vs Air Canada is pretty compelling.

As far as other destinations from Montreal go: western Canada sits in the $300s, regional/northern Quebec airports are eye-wateringly expensive, and hilariously, the short hop over to Ottawa is currently priced at $618 one-way.


From Ottawa YOW

Destination | Daily Frequency | # of Airlines | Min/Median/Max Price
St. John’s YYT | 1x | 1 | $315/315/315
Charlottetown YYG | 2x | 1 | $573/573/573
Halifax YHZ | 7x | 2 | $302/302/302
Moncton YQM | 2x | 1 | $587/587/587
Fredericton YFC | 2x | 1 | $587/587/587

Atlantic Canada direct to Ottawa is mostly Porter’s domain, and unless your airport is served by the new Embraer jets, your wallet is going to have a bad time. Once again, western destinations feel like they’re priced a lot more reasonably than what we’re getting here.


I may do more of these at various times of the year to check in on flight availability/pricing, mostly for the sake of my own curiosity. Flying out of NB right now feels significantly more expensive than in recent years, and while this is in no way a quantitatively rigorous analysis, I hope it can help reveal some patterns and spark some discussion.

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

And the gap is only going to get bigger.
They are honestly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

As a consumer my 2 issues are:
Price & Options.
Right now, it's cheaper for me to use Halifax, Moncton, Fredericton for flights then YSJ. Even with Flair and it's limited schedule, makes it hard to have connections to YYZ.

So what does the airport do? Do they lose money on trying to get other routes? Do they try to low-ball the prices to get more people on planes to increase the amount of planes leaving? And then turn that into more routes? Do they try other options? I think the Pascan to Halifax was a great idea, but WAYY over priced for what I would use it for. A weekend away in Halifax? I want the price to be cheaper or the same as gas, tolls AND including the uber from the airport to downtown. Do they look at a Quebec City weekend gateway flight plan? At least it's closer to the city than Halifax.

Either way I think they'll need to make a gamble to see any real change or it'll wittle away to 2 flights a week etc.

I really find it evens out if you are connecting though. We recently booked flights to Europe end of April into May and while I always check departures from all three NB airports to make sure and it was nearly the exact same price to come and go from SJ as Moncton or Fredericton (actually YFC was more expensive). Halifax was cheaper, but by the time you factor in the time, parking, and fuel costs, it just isn't worth the price difference.

[Taeolas]

My mom and I have flown on Porter from YFC twice in the past year now. Just using it to get to Ottawa seems to be pricy, but if you're continuing on to other locations, it feels reasonable. I think our tickets were about 600$ roundtrip YFC to Edmonton. Seat sales certainly helped a lot too. One flight was in the summer, the other was in February.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

My mom and I have flown on Porter from YFC twice in the past year now. Just using it to get to Ottawa seems to be pricy, but if you're continuing on to other locations, it feels reasonable. I think our tickets were about 600$ roundtrip YFC to Edmonton. Seat sales certainly helped a lot too. One flight was in the summer, the other was in February.

Yeah, my daughter went home to Vancouver that way after Christmas.....way cheaper than AC's offerings from any of NB's three airports.

[MonctonRad]

YQM Planespotters photo

Interesting visitor to YQM (Moncton) today.

A B-787 Dreamliner private jet from South Korea. Apparently the worldwide CEO of Samsung was on board.

Believe it or not, his son apparently goes to Mount Allison University and he came over to pay him a visit on March Break.

When he deplaned, there was a waiting motorcade to whisk him away. Pretty darned wild!


Motorcade leaving for Sackville.

[bridgeoftea]

Oh that's pretty cool!
Crazy that his son is attending Mount Allison. I would have expected maybe a UBC where at least it's on the pacific side!

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

Oh that's pretty cool!
Crazy that his son is attending Mount Allison. I would have expected maybe a UBC where at least it's on the pacific side!

Very cool - I look forward to an eventual Samsung building on campus once the university's endowment and alumni funds go looking for donations after he graduates

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by darkharbour

Very cool - I look forward to an eventual Samsung building on campus once the university's endowment and alumni funds go looking for donations after he graduates

Perhaps a new Computer Sciences Building.

[sailor734]

Or a new beer fridge for every dorm room.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Perhaps a new Computer Sciences Building.

Or that idea for an entire new campus for Mount Allison in downtown Moncton

4real tho, that’s a pretty crazy connection, wow.

[homebody]

Noticed this morning that Flair has added quite a few flights ( 3x weekly )to their schedule starting in April going to Toronto. They were originally slated to start in June. Also, they are maintaining their route to Orlando until mid April as well. I see online some places from Canada to the US were canceled due to lack of demand.

[bingun]

Originally Posted by homebody

Noticed this morning that Flair has added quite a few flights ( 3x weekly )to their schedule starting in April going to Toronto. They were originally slated to start in June. Also, they are maintaining their route to Orlando until mid April as well. I see online some places from Canada to the US were canceled due to lack of demand.

Yes, the airport posted about it on Linkedin yesterday.

[nwalbert]

Originally Posted by homebody

Noticed this morning that Flair has added quite a few flights ( 3x weekly )to their schedule starting in April going to Toronto. They were originally slated to start in June. Also, they are maintaining their route to Orlando until mid April as well. I see online some places from Canada to the US were canceled due to lack of demand.

Great news for the airport. It is very clear that air travel demand far exceeds flight availability. I see positive growth for YSJ in the coming years.