Canadian Airport Thread II

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by optimusREIM

That's what I thought. Then what business does the government have harrassing the CEO??

None at all.

That's not stopping the Quebec legislature from doubling down on stupid either:

Quebec Demands Air Canada’s CEO Resignation in 92 to 0 Vote
By Mathieu Dion
March 26, 2026 at 8:43 AM PDT

Quebec’s legislature passed a vote demanding that Air Canada’s chief executive officer resign over his failure to speak French in a video about this week’s deadly collision at LaGuardia Airport.

The statement in the legislature, known as the National Assembly, called on CEO Michael Rousseau to leave his post over a “lack of respect for the French language, Quebec families in mourning, and all Francophones across the province.” The vote of elected members was 92 in favor of the motion and none against, with one abstention....

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...-vote?srnd=homepage-canada&sref=x4rjnz06

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by whatnext

None at all.

That's not stopping the Quebec legislature from doubling down on stupid either:

Quebec Demands Air Canada’s CEO Resignation in 92 to 0 Vote
By Mathieu Dion
March 26, 2026 at 8:43 AM PDT

Quebec’s legislature passed a vote demanding that Air Canada’s chief executive officer resign over his failure to speak French in a video about this week’s deadly collision at LaGuardia Airport.

The statement in the legislature, known as the National Assembly, called on CEO Michael Rousseau to leave his post over a “lack of respect for the French language, Quebec families in mourning, and all Francophones across the province.” The vote of elected members was 92 in favor of the motion and none against, with one abstention....

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...-vote?srnd=homepage-canada&sref=x4rjnz06

How about moving Air Canada's HQ out of Montreal. It would stop the agony of this faux outrage. Strictly speaking, this was not an Air Canada flight. It was a flight operated by Jazz Aviation on behalf of Air Canada. Jazz is part of Chorus Aviation, headquartered in Halifax.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

How about moving Air Canada's HQ out of Montreal. It would stop the agony of this faux outrage. Strictly speaking, this was not an Air Canada flight. It was a flight operated by Jazz Aviation on behalf of Air Canada. Jazz is part of Chorus Aviation, headquartered in Halifax.

By federal statute, the HQ of Air Canada must remain in Montreal. It would require an act of parliament to allow the HQ to move elsewhere in Canada.

Good luck with that one.........

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

By federal statute, the HQ of Air Canada must remain in Montreal. It would require an act of parliament to allow the HQ to move elsewhere in Canada.

Good luck with that one.........

Yes, AC has been a private company for years yet for some reason the Feds can still dictate how it does business...

[jc_yyc_ca]

YUL has done well over the past 10 years, gaining the most passengers, while YYC has gained the most on a per capita basis. I suspect the success of YUL and YYC is partially responsible for YEG and YOW's poor showing.

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

All airports have their 2025 stats out. Here's the 8 busiest showing the differences over 2024. Also showing the growth over the past 10 years, seeing as this past year is a bit messed up due to the US travel situation.

yyz
+500,000
+6,263,153

yvr
+707,760
+6,597,583

yul
-42,287
+6,847,303

yyc
+513,866
+3,933,791

yeg
+218,897
+159,741

yow
+259,412
+209,876

ywg
+114,535
+633,978

yhz
+160,699
N/A

[JonToms]

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

All airports have their 2025 stats out. Here's the 8 busiest showing the differences over 2024. Also showing the growth over the past 10 years, seeing as this past year is a bit messed up due to the US travel situation.

yyz
+500,000
+6,263,153

yvr
+707,760
+6,597,583

yul
-42,287
+6,847,303

yyc
+513,866
+3,933,791

yeg
+218,897
+159,741

yow
+259,412
+209,876

ywg
+114,535
+633,978

yhz
+160,699
N/A

YHZ has gained 437,779 passengers over the last ten years (2015-2025) which equates to a 10.57% increase.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Stanfield_International_Airport#Passenger

[Chocolite]

Originally Posted by jc_yyc_ca

YUL has done well over the past 10 years, gaining the most passengers, while YYC has gained the most on a per capita basis. I suspect the success of YUL and YYC is partially responsible for YEG and YOW's poor showing.

That is the reason. Both airports are close to other, much busier, much better connected airports and will always have sluggish growth. It’s amazing that they are still trying to get back to numbers from 10 years ago.

[SignalHillHiker]

RE: Buddy's French... I'm mostly indifferent to this controversy. On one hand, if Air Canada wants to keep the protections and prestige of being a sort of national carrier, then maintaining the expected standards a national institution (such as bilingualism) seems an appropriate ask to me. On the other hand, at the individual level, they're a private company, buddy's not francophone, the end.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by peytol

YYC is always one controller for the evening rush after 11pm for clearance, apron, ground and tower. Not sure if there is another controller on duty or not.

This hasn't been the case for a while. There are two midnights scheduled as per company policy that lines up with ICAO standards. It's been too busy for a single controller during the 11PM bash for a while, at least 7-8 years, not counting covid. We have 2 controllers working, one tower, one Clearance Delivery Ground Apron combined. We also have a late evening shift that covers the back end of the traffic in addition to the two midnight shifts. So basically two positions til the traffic is settled then combine to single stand. No matter what you are going to get congestion when everyone is trying to do the same thing at once. Before the late evening shift was a thing the two mids would work the traffic then split the rest of the shift once it gets quiet.

WS has 15-20 departures all trying to go in a single hour period, so that means 4-6 a/c pushed back at a time. 5-6 taxiing for departure all at once. Clx/Apr/Gnd is talking to 10 planes while tower has no traffic and is doing the ATIS or taking phone calls. Then tower gets all the planes and Clx/Apr/Gnd is quiet. It's how it goes, but you will get frequency congestion. If the weather gets bad or an emergency happens other evening shifts will stay late. I've had days this winter where we are still working 3 positions at 1AM. We're all looking out for each other and won't leave someone in an unsafe situation. We have federal laws on work limits and fatigue that we must follow too.

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

By federal statute, the HQ of Air Canada must remain in Montreal. It would require an act of parliament to allow the HQ to move elsewhere in Canada.

Good luck with that one.........

Perhaps on paper, the HQ can remain in Montreal, while the effective head office is elsewhere. The Bank of Montreal's nominal head office is still in Montreal; though the true head office where executive decisions are made is in Toronto.

[Surrealplaces]

Originally Posted by jc_yyc_ca

YUL has done well over the past 10 years, gaining the most passengers, while YYC has gained the most on a per capita basis. I suspect the success of YUL and YYC is partially responsible for YEG and YOW's poor showing.

The airlines realigning things and putting more flights through their hubs has hurt YOW and YEG. That said, both airports had a bigger gain in this past year than the previous 9, so it looks to be trending upwards again.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by whatnext

It has been since Brian Mulroney was PM!

AC may be fully private as of 1989 but is still legislated by the Air Canada Public Participation Act.

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

The airlines realigning things and putting more flights through their hubs has hurt YOW and YEG. That said, both airports had a bigger gain in this past year than the previous 9, so it looks to be trending upwards again.

Both YEG and especially YOW started their post-pandemic recoveries much later than YOW. It's early but YOW is on pace to surpass the 2018 record (2019 was slightly lower but within 10K pax of the year prior.

[Dominion301]

At least 50 of UA's CRJ-200s are going to be given a new lease on life by becoming CRJ-450s. In the same vein as reconfiguring their CRJ-700s into CRJ-550s, the "new" 450s will reducing seating to 41 from 50. Introduce a 6-seat F cabin and introduce a large front closet for roller bags.

They're going to be based out of ORD and DEN, so maybe these will show up on the DEN-YQR route. Maybe they'll show up at YWG too.

https://airlinegeeks.com/2026/03/24/united-gives-the-crj-200-a-second-life/

[casper]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Yes, AC has been a private company for years yet for some reason the Feds can still dictate how it does business...

I am ok with that. AC when it was founded as through its early existence received special treatment in exchange for doing certain things that were in the public interest. Those rules were clearly established when it was sold off.

Private investers purchased understanding that was what they were getting into. As long as the rules remain changed it’s faiir game.

As for the CEO not speaking French. That was never a requirement when it was privatized so it would be inappropriate to add it as a requirement bow

[thenoflyzone]

Put all the — aside for a moment guys.

This CEO has been at the helm of AC for 5 years now. He was in hot water for this before. He said he would try to learn french. It's not that hard. Apparently he had 300 hours of french lessons.

2 of the pilots flying under your banner died. One, the captain, was a french Canadian. You say a 4 minute speech. You serioulsy can't, after 5 years, say 1 or 2 (well rehearsed) sentences in french to honor the fallen captain?

I find that ridiculous. The reason is obvious. He just doesn't give a —.

This is the problem. A bit of common sense would have avoided this. He clearly doesn't have any. And let's not even talk about his poor handling of the AC strike last summer. He's an idiot. He needs to go. There are senior VP's below him better suited for the job.

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

Most CEO's in Canada give press conferences or speeches in English only, that's the norm. He's not a government official. That said, he could have had a translator do a French version.

He's not like most CEO's. He's the CEO of the only airline in Canada bound by the Air Canada Public Participation Act.

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-10.1/

Which means the entire airline, including the CEO, needs to follow mandatory public-interest obligations, one of which mandates that Air Canada remain subject to the Official Languages Act, requiring services in both French and English.

Originally Posted by optimusREIM

That's what I thought. Then what business does the government have harrassing the CEO??

Thye have every right to harrass the CEO of Air Canada. Read above.

[hehehe]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

Put all the — aside for a moment guys.

This CEO has been at the helm of AC for 5 years now. He was in hot water for this before. He said he would try to learn french. It's not that hard. Apparently he had 300 hours of french lessons.

2 of the pilots flying under your banner died. One, the captain, was a french Canadian. You say a 4 minute speech. You serioulsy can't, after 5 years, say 1 or 2 (well rehearsed) sentences in french to honor the fallen captain?

I find that ridiculous. The reason is obvious. He just doesn't give a —.

This is the problem. A bit of common sense would have avoided this. He clearly doesn't have any. And let's not even talk about his poor handling of the AC strike last summer. He's an idiot. He needs to go. There are senior VP's below him better suited for the job.



He's not like most CEO's. He's the CEO of the only airline in Canada bound by the Air Canada Public Participation Act.

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-10.1/

Which means the entire airline, including the CEO, needs to follow mandatory public-interest obligations, one of which mandates that Air Canada remain subject to the Official Languages Act, requiring services in both French and English.



Thye have every right to harrass the CEO of Air Canada. Read above.

Absolutely. Air Canada has special obligations, and if we're a bilingual country we need to put effort into showing that we actually are one.

[J81]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

Put all the — aside for a moment guys.

This CEO has been at the helm of AC for 5 years now. He was in hot water for this before. He said he would try to learn french. It's not that hard. Apparently he had 300 hours of french lessons.

2 of the pilots flying under your banner died. One, the captain, was a french Canadian. You say a 4 minute speech. You serioulsy can't, after 5 years, say 1 or 2 (well rehearsed) sentences in french to honor the fallen captain?

I find that ridiculous. The reason is obvious. He just doesn't give a —.

This is the problem. A bit of common sense would have avoided this. He clearly doesn't have any. And let's not even talk about his poor handling of the AC strike last summer. He's an idiot. He needs to go. There are senior VP's below him better suited for the job.



He's not like most CEO's. He's the CEO of the only airline in Canada bound by the Air Canada Public Participation Act.

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-10.1/

Which means the entire airline, including the CEO, needs to follow mandatory public-interest obligations, one of which mandates that Air Canada remain subject to the Official Languages Act, requiring services in both French and English.



Thye have every right to harrass the CEO of Air Canada. Read above.

Except politicians turning a tragedy into a gongshow about language is something that would happen only in Canada. Using those young men’s unfortunate deaths to score political points is disgusting in a lot of peoples eyes, mine included.

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by J81

Except politicians turning a tragedy into a gongshow about language is something that would happen only in Canada. Using those young men’s unfortunate deaths to score political points is disgusting in a lot of peoples eyes, mine included.

Politicians have been using tragedy to score political points for centuries.

Besides, in this particlar case, it's not quite that, as leaders/ministers from several political parties - both federal and provincial - condemned the CEO for his lack of french. So who really scored the points? All of them?

Whether this kind of stuff is seen as true leadership or just exploitation usually depends on the audience's political - or in this case, linguistic - perspective.

I'm trilingual. English and French are my second and third languages. I'm fluent in all 3. So if you were to ask me if the politicians are exploiting the situation, I would say no. All the CEO had to do was learn a bit of french and sew a couple of french sentences together during a 4 minute speech. It's not rocket science. He didn't do it. He's an idiot. Not the politicians.

If you were to ask the same question to a unilingual anglophone who lives outside of Quebec, he will most likely give you a different answer.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

Put all the — aside for a moment guys.

This CEO has been at the helm of AC for 5 years now. He was in hot water for this before. He said he would try to learn french. It's not that hard. Apparently he had 300 hours of french lessons.

2 of the pilots flying under your banner died. One, the captain, was a french Canadian. You say a 4 minute speech. You serioulsy can't, after 5 years, say 1 or 2 (well rehearsed) sentences in french to honor the fallen captain?

I find that ridiculous. The reason is obvious. He just doesn't give a —.

This is the problem. A bit of common sense would have avoided this. He clearly doesn't have any. And let's not even talk about his poor handling of the AC strike last summer. He's an idiot. He needs to go. There are senior VP's below him better suited for the job.



He's not like most CEO's. He's the CEO of the only airline in Canada bound by the Air Canada Public Participation Act.

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-10.1/

Which means the entire airline, including the CEO, needs to follow mandatory public-interest obligations, one of which mandates that Air Canada remain subject to the Official Languages Act, requiring services in both French and English.



Thye have every right to harrass the CEO of Air Canada. Read above.

Well said. As a bilingual anglophone myself, I thought it was mighty insensitive to not even read 2 or 3 sentences in French from a teleprompter...you know the same one he was reading from in English.

[harls]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

How about moving Air Canada's HQ out of Montreal. It would stop the agony of this faux outrage. Strictly speaking, this was not an Air Canada flight. It was a flight operated by Jazz Aviation on behalf of Air Canada. Jazz is part of Chorus Aviation, headquartered in Halifax.

The plane has 'Air Canada' emblazoned on it.

At the very least, the CEO of the federally mandated bilingual airline could have at least tried to say more than 'bonjour' and 'merci' at a press conference detailing the death of two francophone pilots.