Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW)

[solo748]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Annual report is out: https://yow-website.files.svdcdn.com/pro..._Annual_Report_2025_EN.pdf?dm=1777990713

I haven't read it thoroughly yet, but the forecast for 2026 is 5.1 million pax (a 4.8% increase overall, anticipating 7.4% domestic growth, 2.6% international growth and a 6.8% decrease in transborder traffic). The amount of O/D traffic was relatively stable, falling slightly to 87.6% from 88.2%. In other words, 1 in 8 passengers are connecting at YOW.

I may have missed this being announced previously, but there is talk of a Connection Centre being developed to improve the experience for connecting pax:

Would have assumed easing ALL connections at YOW would have been priroity #1 for the airport the minute PD started their buildup. Seems we're always late to party.

Can someone compare connection ease in YOW vs YYZ to USA on PD? I've done YOW-YYZ-USA a lot on PD and it's garbage as you essentially arrive from YOW in T3 no different from being a local pax originating in YYZ.
Always assumed (hoped) Canada-YOW-USA would be a quicker, more pleasant connecting experience vs YYZ cnx

[YOWflier]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Annual report is out: https://yow-website.files.svdcdn.com/pro..._Annual_Report_2025_EN.pdf?dm=1777990713

I haven't read it thoroughly yet, but the forecast for 2026 is 5.1 million pax (a 4.8% increase overall, anticipating 7.4% domestic growth, 2.6% international growth and a 6.8% decrease in transborder traffic). The amount of O/D traffic was relatively stable, falling slightly to 87.6% from 88.2%. In other words, 1 in 8 passengers are connecting at YOW.

I may have missed this being announced previously, but there is talk of a Connection Centre being developed to improve the experience for connecting pax:

Makes you wonder a bit if the sub-optimal connection strategy by PD at YOW is due to a crappy connecting experience offered by the airport. Especially northbound from TB/int’l, having to wait for your bags and then manually dropping them off and then redoing security must not be fun. Wait times for baggage claim at YOW are long and have been a pain point forever. Also, I find that deplaning times at YOW (connecting the bridge especially) are longer than anywhere else I’ve been. Is it staffing issues? I’d be willing to bet there’s something to this.

[fanofYOW]

^ Quite possibly about the mediocre connecting opportunities. I heard a rumour that the first phase of the terminal renovations will be the addition of an international connecting section with no baggage claim. I guess we’ll hear more about it when the time comes.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by solo748

Most of his readers are well aware slots/fees into LHR at 9pm are a fraction of the cost of AM slots. His premise of spreading a fixed (onerous) AM slot $$ over fewer seats is real
AC will decide if the added yield from increased freq plus the right-sizing of a plane for a market like Ottawa offsets the opportunity cost of bigger jet into a highly coveted airport

Perhaps YOW gets XLR on a later departure from YOW. Didnt 888 used to depart at 10pm? Overwhelmingly O/D so that might work. Or, perhaps YOW's first real XLR service will be to Germany

Pre-pandemic ~2200 was the typical YOW departure time for LHR. 2 of the 4 summer weekly currently depart at 2100. The other two are at 1855.

An AC senior exec has publicly stated they want to use the XLR to restore the YYZ day tripper, which when that eventually happens YHZ would flip back to a nighttime slot. That's probably the time both of those flights go XLR. Unlikely YHZ will get a widebody back even with a LHR am arrival. Pre-pandemic, with the mainline 763 retirement YHZ-LHR (am arrival) was going 7M8 until the MAX grounding instead of upgauging. I can't imagine AC will want the MAX at LHR for much past the completion of the 7M8 fleet transfer to rouge. It also would provide lie flats and a true international J class on all their LHR ops. Time will tell though.

As for YOW-LHR, yeah I can't see it going XLR, unless it's winter only and the route goes daily over the winter months...pre-pandemic on the 763 it was typically 5x weekly in winter.

Agreed that a YOW-FRA return is the most likely XLR transatlantic addition probability. I'd bet it'll eventually show up on YOW-YVR domestically as well as a daily YYZ for aircraft rotation should FRA return.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by solo748

Would have assumed easing ALL connections at YOW would have been priroity #1 for the airport the minute PD started their buildup. Seems we're always late to party.

Can someone compare connection ease in YOW vs YYZ to USA on PD? I've done YOW-YYZ-USA a lot on PD and it's garbage as you essentially arrive from YOW in T3 no different from being a local pax originating in YYZ.
Always assumed (hoped) Canada-YOW-USA would be a quicker, more pleasant connecting experience vs YYZ cnx

Canada-Canada-USA will always have a bit of a longer connection time since passengers will have to go through US customs (preclearance).

If you landed in YOW as a connecting passenger: you would exit the domestic/international terminal (for simplicity gates 13-30) on level 2. You would follow the signs for US connections and go up to level 3. From there you would go through US security and customs. Your bag would be tagged all the way though.

The reverse is the challenging part. Currently, you'd arrive in YOW from the USA, go through Canada Customs, wait for your bag at the international carousels, after grabbing your bag proceed upstairs to drop them back off at a Porter desk, and then finally proceed through CATSA security to access the domestic/international gates (for simplicity, gates 13-30).

If there was a secure Canada Connection... in the USA-YOW-Canada flight, you could have your bags tagged through to the final destination (or have bag collection and drop in the Canada Customs area) and you would proceed into the domestic/international part of the terminal after clearing Canada customs, skipping the whole waiting for bag, going upstairs to drop it, and back through security again part - which could take upwards of 15-30 mins depending on mobility and airport confidence.

[OTSkyline]

Saw this and thought it was an interesting concept. Not sure what YEG has to benefit from it (other than perhaps increased spend from existing customers) but I thought this could be widely beneficial for YOW to try to get back our fair share of passengers from YUL/YYZ, etc.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/...ches-loyalty-program-heres-how-it-works/

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 88

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by MountainView

Canada-Canada-USA will always have a bit of a longer connection time since passengers will have to go through US customs (preclearance).

If you landed in YOW as a connecting passenger: you would exit the domestic/international terminal (for simplicity gates 13-30) on level 2. You would follow the signs for US connections and go up to level 3. From there you would go through US security and customs. Your bag would be tagged all the way though.

The reverse is the challenging part. Currently, you'd arrive in YOW from the USA, go through Canada Customs, wait for your bag at the international carousels, after grabbing your bag proceed upstairs to drop them back off at a Porter desk, and then finally proceed through CATSA security to access the domestic/international gates (for simplicity, gates 13-30).

If there was a secure Canada Connection... in the USA-YOW-Canada flight, you could have your bags tagged through to the final destination (or have bag collection and drop in the Canada Customs area) and you would proceed into the domestic/international part of the terminal after clearing Canada customs, skipping the whole waiting for bag, going upstairs to drop it, and back through security again part - which could take upwards of 15-30 mins depending on mobility and airport confidence.

At one time many years ago, pax connecting to transborder would have to retrieve their bags from a small room with a belt behind the AC transborder counter when making a connection to the US from a domestic flight and then drop them a few metres ahead on the transborder belt. I believe the belt is still there for ground staff to return empty bins for non-standard luggage (bins are used for anything checked that risks getting jammed on the conveyors) back up to the 3rd floor check in counters from the bag room, as was the case when it was used for actual pax too.

[G650ER]

Many interesting movements today in YOW. The USAF had a C-37B depart this afternoon, Eastern arrived in a 777-200ER from PSM, Omni Air landed in a 767-200 from Argentina and a RCAF CT-142 (Dash-8) from Winnipeg. Other semi regular movements included the two Canforce A330’s arriving and a Challenger.

[RomanR27]

Another couple tidbits from the Annual Report, their new vision is to be the "North American hub of choice":

We introduced a new vision: to be the North American hub of choice, supported by a refreshed mission, purpose, and values, along with five strategic objectives focused on growth, passenger experience, our people, stakeholder engagement, and innovation. Our vision is ambitious, and it is intentional. We’re putting the building blocks in place to achieve it and ensuring that our partners, stakeholders and our people are at the centre of it.

It also mentioned that the change in number of seats per segment was directly correlated to the change in passenger volumes - both domestic pax and total seats were up 6%, both TB metrics were -2%, and both international metrics were +12%. You could also see TB really tank in Q4, it was -18% YoY.

AC889 on Wednesday was 20/31 J and 20/24 PY. AC888 was 23/31 J and 21/24 PY. Yesterday's AC889 was 18/31 J and 20/24 PY, and AC888 was 27/31 J and 18/24 PY. Tomorrow's AC889 is completely full except one PY seat.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Another couple tidbits from the Annual Report, their new vision is to be the "North American hub of choice":



It also mentioned that the change in number of seats per segment was directly correlated to the change in passenger volumes - both domestic pax and total seats were up 6%, both TB metrics were -2%, and both international metrics were +12%. You could also see TB really tank in Q4, it was -18% YoY.

AC889 on Wednesday was 20/31 J and 20/24 PY. AC888 was 23/31 J and 21/24 PY. Yesterday's AC889 was 18/31 J and 20/24 PY, and AC888 was 27/31 J and 18/24 PY. Tomorrow's AC889 is completely full except one PY seat.

That is ambitious and will require both PD's long-term viability and TS becoming a much larger player at YOW than they've ever been...with LGW (re-)starting next week maybe that's the first step to that happening.

Today’s departure count: 91

Today's cancellation count (so far): 1

[RomanR27]

February 2025 DoT stats are out. PHX joins the fold, no surprise it was a one-season wonder. You can see Porter benefitting having a monopoly on the Florida Gulf coast this winter, and you can see why RSW is up to 5x weekly next winter. Surprised TPA isn't increasing from 4x, though they may be anticipating that AC will relaunch service on that route again this coming winter. MIA in its first full month of ops also struggled, so a bit surprised to see it increase to 4x weekly. But if FLL is dropping from 14x weekly down to daily, then some of that traffic may get allocated to MIA.

It will be curious to see what AC ends up doing for their Florida service. As you'll see below, the weekly southbound MCO flight (Friday afternoon) did very well. FLL did okay, but if PD is slashing capacity in half, AC stands to benefit there. Right now from their Caribbean schedule, it appears there will be two based A220s at YOW from Tuesday-Friday since CUN/PUJ run concurrently in the afternoon those days. If that was the only days with two based frames, then there are nine slots open, all of which are morning slots. Traditionally AC's Florida service has operated in the mornings - maybe 6x FLL, 2x MCO and 1x TPA weekly will fill in the gaps? I guess we'll see if they have any other Caribbean announcements, if there will be two based frames all winter long, then there are up to 15 open slots, which seems way too many to fill with Florida flights in the current climate.

On a side note, the TS military charters to Fairbanks, Alaska are listed. FAI-YOW legs were empty, and the three YOW-FAI flights carried 330 people combined.

Porter
FLL: 11414/14784 = 77.2%
MCO: 11037/13992 = 78.9%
TPA: 2958/3432 = 86.2%
RSW: 2727/3168 = 86.1%
MIA: 2043/3168 = 64.5%
PHX: 1375/2640 = 52.1%

EWR: 2516/4914 = 51.2%
BOS: 2130/3978 = 53.5%

Air Canada
FLL: 4582/6048 = 75.8% -- northbound and southbound almost identical
MCO: 974/1323 = 73.6% -- southbound was 96%, northbound was 57%

United
EWR: 8155/10176 = 79.3%
ORD: 8758/9984 = 87.7%
IAD: 8149/9604 = 84.9%

Jazz
DCA: 1710/3420 = 50.0%

[YOWflier]

Lots of good words and finally at least some formalization of growth and passenger experience in the authority’s mission. Some years ago I went looking into the core mission statements and growth was nowhere to be explicitly found. Let’s see if this translates into concrete actions.

As Dominion says, the only pathway to achieving this is PD (and TS). Maybe also a future alliance in oneworld for PD, bringing back AA and maybe others (BA, Alaska . Nobody else will ever hub here but PD, so if they fail this plan is dead meat.

[pattherat]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

That is ambitious and will require both PD's long-term viability and TS becoming a much larger player at YOW than they've ever been...with LGW (re-)starting next week maybe that's the first step to that happening.

Today’s departure count: 91

Today's cancellation count (so far): 1

Dumb question, who is TS?

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by pattherat

Dumb question, who is TS?

Air Transat

The other lesser known IATA codes for the smaller airlines at YOW are:
- 5T = Canadian North
- 4N = Air North

Also WG still gets used as a legacy code when referring to Sunwing, even though all the flying is now done by WS.

MIA in the mid-60s for its inaugural month isn't too bad considering the first two weeks of northbound were probably pretty empty...as is typical for winter seasonal routes. @RomanR27, do you have the south vs northbound number for MIA?

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by solo748

Would have assumed easing ALL connections at YOW would have been priroity #1 for the airport the minute PD started their buildup.

Why?

88% O/D, 12% connecting, and most of that connecting is domestic-domestic I’ll wager. You don’t need a connection centre for that.

Why make something priority#1 when it affects less than 1000 passengers a day on average.

They seem to have a game plan and will address the issues facing intl or US connecting passengers eventually. I don’t think it needs to be priority #1.

Originally Posted by YOWflier

Makes you wonder a bit if the sub-optimal connection strategy by PD at YOW is due to a crappy connecting experience offered by the airport.

Highly doubt it. I don’t think PD even has a connecting strategy at YOW. Routes need to work on O/D first and foremost before worrying about connections - i.e. leftovers.

O/D is where the money is at. Not connections.

Connecting passengers, for the most part, don’t even know what a connection centre is or does. They book based on 1 thing, and 1 thing only. Price. Not ease of connection.

[pattherat]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Air Transat

The other lesser known IATA codes for the smaller airlines at YOW are:
- 5T = Canadian North
- 4N = Air North

Also WG still gets used as a legacy code when referring to Sunwing, even though all the flying is now done by WS.

MIA in the mid-60s for its inaugural month isn't too bad considering the first two weeks of northbound were probably pretty empty...as is typical for winter seasonal routes. @RomanR27, do you have the south vs northbound number for MIA?

Thanks!

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

MIA in the mid-60s for its inaugural month isn't too bad considering the first two weeks of northbound were probably pretty empty...as is typical for winter seasonal routes. @RomanR27, do you have the south vs northbound number for MIA?

I will double check tomorrow but I believe it was almost identical both directions. There were four round trips at the end of January too, my guess is the first set of northbounds were pretty empty.

Edit: YOW-MIA was 1025/1584, and MIA-YOW was 1018/1584.

[solo748]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

Why?

88% O/D, 12% connecting, and most of that connecting is domestic-domestic I’ll wager. You don’t need a connection centre for that.

Why make something priority#1 when it affects less than 1000 passengers a day on average.

They seem to have a game plan and will address the issues facing intl or US connecting passengers eventually. I don’t think it needs to be priority #1.

Ohh, I dunno, perhaps to grease the path to fill seats from Ottawa to cities like Los Angeles, Dallas, San Fran, Miami etc
Why would Porter funnel a single Atlantic passenger thru YYZ to a destination served from Ottawa? Why not scoop the local Ottawa market willing to pay a premium for nonstop service and layer in any connecting traffic from every large metro east of Montreal?

Timing is ideal for Atlantic inbounds 7-730a, YOW outbounds 9-930. Cover most of north america, back in time to connect to a 930p bank ex YOW back to ATL

Why are YOWIAD loads consistently 85-95% while AC's DCA service for local passengers hovering around 50%

Don't have to be Elon Musk here. PD knew PHX was going to be a thin market (elected 3 weekly). Yet choose an outbound too late to get back to YOW to connect to Atlantic Canada

If the timing is too tight northbound they should push YYZ earlier and use that plane back to YOW to connnect East

1st frame : 0800YYZPHX1030 -> 1130PHXYOW1830 -> 2000YOWYHZ2300

2nd frame : 0700YHZYOW0800 -> 0930YOWPHX1200 -> 1300PHXYYZ2030


PD Funneling PAX thru Air Canada's kingdom makes no sense at all when you lose a differentiator because of it

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 83

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

Thanks RomanR27 for the north vs southbound loads even factoring in the MIA hub. At first glance near identical is surprising but yeah the imbalance is probably in those 4 January flights. Did PD publish the loads for those?