Canadian Airport Thread II

[peytol]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

As for those Q's shooting LPV's with RVRs down to 1200, they clearly have Ops Spec approval to go down to 1200, whereas the 737s don't. Some of our Q400 operators here in Canada are HGS equipped, meaning they can hand fly down to the runway even in CAT III conditions if need be (assuming crew are properly trained and approved).

That 737 that was holding probably didn't have a HGS, and needed an RVR of 1600. That's the difference. Either way, they were both following the rules.

Its a little more simple, an LPV is considered a non precision approach, most operators have an Ops spec for 50% charted vis approach ban for non precision, which is 1200 RVR in YOW and else where with 200' minimums. But yes everyone is following the rules for their plane and operator.

[casper]

Looks like WestJet is going to be down one plan for a while....

WestJet plane from Toronto makes 'hard landing' in St. Maarten

The airline said all passengers and crew were evacuated from WestJet flight 2276 after the plane arrived at Princess Juliana International Airport. The plane's slides were activated and emergency responders deployed foam as a precaution.

WestJet said there were no reported injuries.

Quote: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/westjet-plane-toronto-hard-landing-st-maarten-1.7627512

Looks to be a 737-800 that has been in use for a number of year. Airport is going to be closed until around noon tomorrow.

[qprcanada]

Originally Posted by casper

Looks like WestJet is going to be down one plan for a while....


Quote: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/westjet-plane-toronto-hard-landing-st-maarten-1.7627512

Looks to be a 737-800 that has been in use for a number of year. Airport is going to be closed until around noon tomorrow.

Damage looks quite bad - https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1nbowr0/close_up_images_of_westjet_2276/

[casper]

Originally Posted by qprcanada

Damage looks quite bad - https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1nbowr0/close_up_images_of_westjet_2276/

On the airports facebook page they are saying the airport is working with a team of specialists WestJet has brought in to recover the airport. They have dropped any mention of re-opening at noon today.

[hollywoodcory]

Originally Posted by hollywoodcory

Mexico is definitely the big winner in terms of gaining capacity this past year. WS has even continuously been adding more and more to its winter schedule each update it seems as they added additional capacity last week on YYC/YEG/YVR/YYZ-CUN/PVR/SJD.

YYC-Mexico also jumped from 9 to 14 destinations in 2025 alone.

Another weekly update, and once again more Mexico added, with additional flights added on YYC-CUN/PVR/SJD, YEG-CUN/PVR, YVR-CUN/PVR, and YYZ-AUA (I know not Mexico).

[LO 044]

^From a YEG perspective the offerings from WS to Mexico are garbage in terms of price. It's less expensive to fly to Europe. Of course when Sunwing is taken out as a competitor and AC only serves a route 2x week that's what you get. It's too bad that TS and Porter cannot offer something although I'm not sure if the Embraer can make the YEG-CUN run.

[Cowtown_Tim]

Originally Posted by LO 044

^From a YEG perspective the offerings from WS to Mexico are garbage in terms of price. It's less expensive to fly to Europe. Of course when Sunwing is taken out as a competitor and AC only serves a route 2x week that's what you get. It's too bad that TS and Porter cannot offer something although I'm not sure if the Embraer can make the YEG-CUN run.

They're expensive from a YYC perspective also. We are looking at tickets for PVR in Janvier, and they are more than what we paid for CDG.

[kwoldtimer]

An expensive flight to get to one of Mexico's most expensive destinations. There's a certain symmetry ...

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by peytol

Its a little more simple, an LPV is considered a non precision approach, most operators have an Ops spec for 50% charted vis approach ban for non precision, which is 1200 RVR in YOW and else where with 200' minimums. But yes everyone is following the rules for their plane and operator.

50% charted vis. can be applied for precision approaches too, not just non-precision. That’s where the HUD comes in, especially on runways with no centreline lights, like at YOW.

[thenoflyzone]

Duplicate.

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by casper

Looks like WestJet is going to be down one plan for a while....


Quote: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/westjet-plane-toronto-hard-landing-st-maarten-1.7627512

Looks to be a 737-800 that has been in use for a number of year. Airport is going to be closed until around noon tomorrow.

Doesn’t seem to be that hard of a landing, at least not enough to cause the MLG to collapse like that. Seems it’s a similar event to what happened to Alaska Airlines at SNA back in 2023. In that case, the investigation concluded it was a faulty maintenance on the MLG, causing a trunnion pin to fail during landing.

SXM, like SNA, has a short runway, and pilots don’t mess about with the landing, sometimes bringing it down harder than usual, but that doesn’t mean the pilot was at fault. Based on what I saw, the MLG shouldn’t have failed. My money is on a faulty trunnion pin as well.

https://avherald.com/h?article=50d52882

[Dominion301]

Here's the announcement for AC's first XLR routes: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/x-...1xlr-starting-summer-2026-807176001.html

First route is a new one: YUL-PMI.

YUL-TLS and YUL-EDI will also transition over to the XLR at some point this summer.

As Air Canada takes delivery of additional A321XLR aircraft, the airline will be adding more exciting routes from Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax, amongst other cities.

The XLR showing up on YHZ/YOW-LHR is a given, especially in winter for the latter. Hopefully it means the return of YOW-FRA on at least a summer seasonal basis and should also mean the return of year-round YOW-LHR service.

I imagine what YUL gets will largely be duplicated at YYZ - like PMI.

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Here's the announcement for AC's first XLR routes: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/x-...1xlr-starting-summer-2026-807176001.html

First route is a new one: YUL-PMI.

YUL-TLS and YUL-EDI will also transition over to the XLR at some point this summer.

TLS is scheduled to switch over to the XLR from the 788 on 15MAY26 so as it stands it's the first XLR route. YUL-EDI is also set to begin for the season on 18JUN26 (the day after the inaugural YUL-PMI) with the XLR as well.

[hollywoodcory]

Originally Posted by LO 044

^From a YEG perspective the offerings from WS to Mexico are garbage in terms of price. It's less expensive to fly to Europe. Of course when Sunwing is taken out as a competitor and AC only serves a route 2x week that's what you get. It's too bad that TS and Porter cannot offer something although I'm not sure if the Embraer can make the YEG-CUN run.

As opposed to YYC, which has no direct competitor on CUN? WS has full monopoly on almost every sun route (except for PVR which still has Flair).

[LO 044]

Originally Posted by hollywoodcory

As opposed to YYC, which has no direct competitor on CUN? WS has full monopoly on almost every sun route (except for PVR which still has Flair).

You can't have your cake and eat it too. I'm assuming you're not asking someone at YEG to feel sorry for someone flying out of YYC. There may not be direct competitions but even the options to connect through the US allows more options for people at varying price points. Even flying a 787 versus a 737 down to CUN is a bonus.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Here's the announcement for AC's first XLR routes: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/x-...1xlr-starting-summer-2026-807176001.html

First route is a new one: YUL-PMI.

YUL-TLS and YUL-EDI will also transition over to the XLR at some point this summer.



The XLR showing up on YHZ/YOW-LHR is a given, especially in winter for the latter. Hopefully it means the return of YOW-FRA on at least a summer seasonal basis and should also mean the return of year-round YOW-LHR service.

I imagine what YUL gets will largely be duplicated at YYZ - like PMI.

Just booked a cruise out of Copenhagen for 2027. My very quick search so far only shows SAS with YYZ-CPH, does AC do this seasonally, or might this be an XLR possibility? Obviously I'm still a year from being able to even start looking at actual flights, but was picking random dates next summer to see what a typical summer schedule might look like. Maybe even too soon to be looking at 2026 summer?

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Just booked a cruise out of Copenhagen for 2027. My very quick search so far only shows SAS with YYZ-CPH, does AC do this seasonally, or might this be an XLR possibility? Obviously I'm still a year from being able to even start looking at actual flights, but was picking random dates next summer to see what a typical summer schedule might look like. Maybe even too soon to be looking at 2026 summer?

AC is up to 5x weekly summer seasonal on YYZ-CPH. They also operate YUL-CPH 4x weekly summer seasonal. Both are operated by 787.

[zahav]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Here's the announcement for AC's first XLR routes: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/x-...1xlr-starting-summer-2026-807176001.html

First route is a new one: YUL-PMI.

YUL-TLS and YUL-EDI will also transition over to the XLR at some point this summer.



The XLR showing up on YHZ/YOW-LHR is a given, especially in winter for the latter. Hopefully it means the return of YOW-FRA on at least a summer seasonal basis and should also mean the return of year-round YOW-LHR service.

I imagine what YUL gets will largely be duplicated at YYZ - like PMI.

I just saw that press release. Wow what a shock, I never would have thought PMI would be the first A321XLR route, definitely a very odd move by AC. For so many reasons. First, Mallorca is very much an inter-European destination, a quick sun holiday with a zillion cheap flights from all over Europe. I went in 2007 on a whim when me and my friends were in Barcelona, it was so cheap and super easy. But Mallorca is not a thing for North Americans, especially compared to tons of other European destinations. And 4 days a week, I would think it's more like a once a week kinda destination, if anything. And I would've thought AC would first deploy the XLR on routes it currently operates or has operated, not a totally new one right away. Within Europe I could imagine so many better routes to start with, Mallorca is so surprising. And Edinburgh is surprising as a first route, but far less so than PMI. Obviously it has operated before so that's a plus, but I wouldn't have expected it to be high on AC's list of routes to upgrade to the newest aircraft. What was it using before, 737 or a widebody? Toulouse makes sense more than the others I suppose, but even then I feel like it would support a widebody still, so wouldn't have been my first guess either, but on the opposite end of the spectrum from PMI.

It's so hard to imagine that Mallorca is more in demand than Berlin, Warsaw, Budapest, and especially Prague. They all seem far stronger as tourist and O/D markets from North America than PMI. And with the demise of CSA Czech Airlines in 2024, the timing would be good I'd think? I just never thought PMI would be the debut announcement of a new route, with soooo many potential Euro and Latin American routes, just so surprising. And YUL getting both a brand new plane type and another unique destination before YYZ? A decade ago this would be laughable. Yet another indication of AC making YUL arguably their main Euro hub. They kinda went from a clear secondary hub, to an equal hub, and now to a primary hub. It used to only be francophone cities that gave YUL uniqueness, now it's all over Europe.

[MonctonRad]

Looking for new sun routes that are not in Florida, Arizona or California?

Mallorca might appeal to Quebecois who might be more aware of it than anglo North Americans. I've seen videos about Mallorca myself and it looks appealing. If you are looking for peace, good food and warmth in February, I would take Mallorca over Berlin.

The winter sun destination schedule for YQM (Moncton) has been released. Pretty much the same as last year, but, we lost Orlando, and had it replaced by Holguin, Cuba. Again, carriers are looking for new destinations that are NOT located in maggot infested fascist Trumpian America.

https://cyqm.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/...estination-Schedule_August-2025-EN-1.pdf

[jc_yyc_ca]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Looking for new sun routes that are not in Florida, Arizona or California?

Mallorca might appeal to Quebecois who might be more aware of it than anglo North Americans. I've seen videos about Mallorca myself and it looks appealing. If you are looking for peace, good food and warmth in February, I would take Mallorca over Berlin.

Mallorca's a nice place. In the winter it's fairly peaceful, but kind of cold, it's not warm like Mexico or the Carribean, where you can swim in the winter months. The trade off with Mallorca, is when it's warmer it's not peaceful, it's overloaded with tourists. It's also quite expensive any time of year. That said, it's definitely better than visiting the US.