Atlantic Canada airport thread

[dhottawa729]

Originally Posted by bingun

The draft 2026 capital budget includes the new roundabout at Loch Lomond Road.

I flew out of YSJ a few weeks back for the first time in several years, and I actually got stuck at the intersection with a few other vehicles for quite a while trying to turn left up towards the airport, which made me think about the proposed roundabout.

I forgot the specifics, but more than once in the last few months, when speaking to this, they've said how it is critical for the airport's future plans and will need to be closely coordinated with them. I believe it would include a new exit opposite the arterial up towards the back side of the airport.

If they are moving ahead with the roundabout in 2026, does that imply that the airport's plans are also moving ahead? Should we expect to see more information on this, or is this just wishful thinking?

I’m aware of some plans YSJ had relating to that roundabout but am in no position to say and don’t want to start rumours. Been waiting for some overdue news for several months now, so I’m not sure where things are at and things could be totally different now. I was told we’d probably hear something about it in Feb/March of this year. It sounded positive but I don’t ‘think’ it’s overly exciting so temper your expectations just in case.

[adamuptownsj]

Route 111 is provincial, so I assume the province would need to provide both consent and cash for a roundabout.

Would I be correct to assume the planned extension would skirt Latimore Lake to the west, and eventually connect to Latimore Lake Road?

[bingun]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Route 111 is provincial, so I assume the province would need to provide both consent and cash for a roundabout.

Would I be correct to assume the planned extension would skirt Latimore Lake to the west, and eventually connect to Latimore Lake Road?

Yes, they are hoping for provincial funding. I am not sure about the specifics.



Yes, I imagine the new road would lead to the vacant area south of the runway for some new development, and in that case, it would be straightforward to connect it to Latimore Lake Road. The latter section of that road is still unpaved, I believe.

[stephan.richard]

The Greater Moncton Romeo Leblanc International airport has announced last week that Sunwing vacations will operate flights from the Airport to Holguin Cuba. The flights will begin mid February. This flight will be on top of the other flights in the Caribbean.

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by stephan.richard

The Greater Moncton Romeo Leblanc International airport has announced last week that Sunwing vacations will operate flights from the Airport to Holguin Cuba. The flights will begin mid February. This flight will be on top of the other flights in the Caribbean.

Oh damn that's a great snag for Moncton!

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by stephan.richard

The Greater Moncton Romeo Leblanc International airport has announced last week that Sunwing vacations will operate flights from the Airport to Holguin Cuba. The flights will begin mid February. This flight will be on top of the other flights in the Caribbean.

The schedule is pretty much the same as last year. We may have gained Holguin, Cuba, but we have lost Orlando. I presume Sunwing anticipates a continuation of the Trumpian boycott.

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

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by dhottawa729

I’m aware of some plans YSJ had relating to that roundabout but am in no position to say and don’t want to start rumours. Been waiting for some overdue news for several months now, so I’m not sure where things are at and things could be totally different now. I was told we’d probably hear something about it in Feb/March of this year. It sounded positive but I don’t ‘think’ it’s overly exciting so temper your expectations just in case.

I can't help but wonder if the sudden passing of YSJ CEO Sandy Ross back in May didn't put these plans on hold. AFAIK they still don't have a permanent replacement.

[J81]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The schedule is pretty much the same as last year. We may have gained Holguin, Cuba, but we have lost Orlando. I presume Sunwing anticipates a continuation of the Trumpian boycott.

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

Losing Orlando sucks. Air Transat flew Thursday and Friday last winter so by only gaining Sunwings route to Holguin we actually are down in capacity this coming winter. I can understand maybe cutting Orlando back to 1 trip per week instead of two but to outright axe it is a bit much i think.

[stephan.richard]

Originally Posted by J81

Losing Orlando sucks. Air Transat flew Thursday and Friday last winter so by only gaining Sunwings route to Holguin we actually are down in capacity this coming winter. I can understand maybe cutting Orlando back to 1 trip per week instead of two but to outright axe it is a bit much i think.

Maybe Transat and Sunwings looked at the stats for Orlando and with the decline in traffic and demand for flights in the United States. But to gain another Caribbean destination. I wish that WestJet would start offering flights to Paris or another European destination. I do understand why WestJet is transforming Halifax into their Trans-Atlantic hub and there have been an uptick in flights from the west to Halifax to increase connectivity. Another flight WestJet could add too is Toronto from Moncton.

[Sunnybrae]

If I could get some wisdom from the forum, I witnessed a CC-330 taking off from YQM today around 11:45AM. Beautiful plane. When I jumped on Flightaware it showed the flight as HUSKY25 with destination of Ottawa. Now, I can't find anything on Flightaware other than a flight in Washington state yesterday. Would military flights disappear from Flightaware? Wish I could have taken a picture.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Sunnybrae

If I could get some wisdom from the forum, I witnessed a CC-330 taking off from YQM today around 11:45AM. Beautiful plane. When I jumped on Flightaware it showed the flight as HUSKY25 with destination of Ottawa. Now, I can't find anything on Flightaware other than a flight in Washington state yesterday. Would military flights disappear from Flightaware? Wish I could have taken a picture.

Yes, if the flight is military, they may elect to make their transponders invisible to civilian tracking.

[habs33]

There is a video of it on the Facebook YQM airport spotting group
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19buh2Wkmh/

Originally Posted by Sunnybrae

If I could get some wisdom from the forum, I witnessed a CC-330 taking off from YQM today around 11:45AM. Beautiful plane. When I jumped on Flightaware it showed the flight as HUSKY25 with destination of Ottawa. Now, I can't find anything on Flightaware other than a flight in Washington state yesterday. Would military flights disappear from Flightaware? Wish I could have taken a picture.

[Sunnybrae]

Originally Posted by habs33

There is a video of it on the Facebook YQM airport spotting group
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19buh2Wkmh/

Thank you!

[miniborder]

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ai...s-to-its-regional-network-875452885.html

AC starting up routes to YOW from YFC and YQM.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by miniborder

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ai...s-to-its-regional-network-875452885.html

AC starting up routes to YOW from YFC and YQM.

You beat me to it by about five minutes.

AC2548 Ottawa (YOW) Fredericton (YFC) 15:40 18:10 daily Year-round, begins Dec. 15

AC2549 Fredericton (YFC) Ottawa (YOW) 16:15 17:00 daily Year-round, begins Dec. 15

AC7890 Ottawa (YOW) Moncton (YQM) 17:55 20:40 daily Year-round, begins Dec. 15

AC7891 Moncton (YQM) Ottawa (YOW) 05:50 07:00 daily Year-round, begins Dec. 16

Now, the question becomes - how will this impact existing Porter service to Ottawa? Right now, Porter flies to Ottawa (from Moncton at least), 2x daily in the summer and once daily in the winter. I imagine Porter will keep the year round service, but, will they ditch the seasonal summer service???

Since the Ottawa service is a pit stop for Porter, with the flight carrying on to Billy Bishop in Toronto, I suppose they could just make the summer seasonal service a direct one to YTZ. Interesting to see what transpires here.

In any event, good news for YQM and YFC.

[Bishop2047]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

You beat me to it by about five minutes.



Now, the question becomes - how will this impact existing Porter service to Ottawa? Right now, Porter flies to Ottawa (from Moncton at least), 2x daily in the summer and once daily in the winter. I imagine Porter will keep the year round service, but, will they ditch the seasonal summer service???

Since the Ottawa service is a pit stop for Porter, with the flight carrying on to Billy Bishop in Toronto, I suppose they could just make the summer seasonal service a direct one to YTZ. Interesting to see what transpires here.

In any event, good news for YQM and YFC.

Right now, I do not expect Porter to change too much.

Also of note, Moncton has 2 Porters flights a day into the winter schedule to Ottawa (0640 and 1340). Fredericton currently only has the once daily Porter pitstop in Ottawa (1420).

These new routes will run Q400 for now. Good see these routes restored on the AC schedule after being lost to Covid.

[MonctonRad]

Good to hear. Porter and AC then will give the YQM-YOW route 3x daily service

From the official press release.

“We are delighted to welcome this service to Ottawa with Air Canada,” said Courtney Burns, President and CEO of the Greater Moncton International Airport Authority. “This route expands travel options for our passengers, enables same-day travel between Moncton and Ottawa that will be especially popular with business travellers, and strengthens YQM’s role as a hub for connectivity in Atlantic Canada.”

“Air Canada is diversifying its domestic regional network this fall to capitalize on travel demand in growing markets. Our newest Ottawa routes will connect the National Capital Region to two expanding areas in New Brunswick – one of them being Moncton, the province’s largest urban and fastest growing area. We have strategically designed this Moncton flight to connect in Ottawa to and from our domestic and sun network for additional travel choices,” said Mark Galardo, Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer, and President, Cargo at Air Canada.

The Ottawa service will operate daily beginning December 15, 2025, with schedules designed to accommodate same-day business travel and seamless connections through Ottawa.

Air Canada remains a long-standing partner of YQM, currently offering daily service to Toronto and Montreal. The addition of Ottawa further reinforces the airline’s commitment to serving New Brunswick travellers.

[q12]

https://www.aircanada.com/media/air-canada-announces-changes-to-its-regional-network/#

As part of these network adjustments, Air Canada is also taking the difficult decision to suspend operations to Bathurst and to North Bay effective Jan. 30, 2026, for commercial viability reasons. Air Canada will implement these suspensions in line with its obligations under the Canada Transportation Act.

The Bathurst airport will no longer have any scheduled passenger service starting in February.

[magee_b]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

You beat me to it by about five minutes.



Now, the question becomes - how will this impact existing Porter service to Ottawa? Right now, Porter flies to Ottawa (from Moncton at least), 2x daily in the summer and once daily in the winter. I imagine Porter will keep the year round service, but, will they ditch the seasonal summer service???

Since the Ottawa service is a pit stop for Porter, with the flight carrying on to Billy Bishop in Toronto, I suppose they could just make the summer seasonal service a direct one to YTZ. Interesting to see what transpires here.

In any event, good news for YQM and YFC.

The AC2XXX series flight numbers are usually operated by PAL. I'm wondering if the Fredericton flight is being timed to use an aircraft that will also be doing the regional flights to YHZ, or if PAL is picking up other routes in the region on behalf of AC... otherwise I'm unsure how that aircraft gets positioned to Fredericton given the times listed.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by magee_b

The AC2XXX series flight numbers are usually operated by PAL. I'm wondering if the Fredericton flight is being timed to use an aircraft that will also be doing the regional flights to YHZ, or if PAL is picking up other routes in the region on behalf of AC... otherwise I'm unsure how that aircraft gets positioned to Fredericton given the times listed.

I was wondering that as well. Seems the timing of the YOW-YQM route is more in line with what was offered on the YOW-YFC route pre-COVID.