Halifax Stanfield International Airport Developments

[JonToms]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

My sister and brother-in-law lived in Bermuda for about five years. It can get a tad chilly there at that time of year. Not cold. Just chilly. Mid teens. Not perfect beach weather,

Perhaps this is why.

Yes it is a bit cooler in Bermuda at that time of year so that certainly could be a factor. Just speculation on my part but I suspect it also has something to do with all their expansion into Belize and Turks and Caicos. They only have four aircraft at present with one more on the way so they could just be redeploying them. They have also cut the YUL and YYZ to BDA flights in half from two to one flight per week for YUL and four to two flights per week for YYZ.

[JonToms]

Simple Flying Article on the Major Growth of European Routes at YHZ

This is a good article on the major increase in European flights at YHZ for Q3. They speak about the over 40% increase for Q3. The only piece they miss is that they say Edelweiss is arriving in YHZ for the first time whereas it is actually their second season operating their twice weekly flight to ZRH.

https://simpleflying.com/halifax-airport-transatlantic-growth/

[q12]

Edelweiss’ Halifax–Zurich is now served on an Airbus A350-900. Parked next to Discover Airlines A330-300 Halifax-Frankfurt service.


https://www.facebook.com/hfxstanfield

[JonToms]

HIAA Predicts 4.4 Million Passengers in 2026

This is a Saltwire article talking about HIAA route development and predictions on the airport reaching 4.4 million passengers in 2026.

https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/hal...rt-atlantic-canadas-gateway-to-the-world

[JonToms]

Pascan Aviation Cancelling YHZ - YSJ Flights

It looks like Pascan Aviation are cancelling their YHZ - YSJ flights. I haven’t seen an official announcement yet but in trying to do a booking on their website for this route, the last available date to book is June 26, 2026.

[JonToms]

Halifax Stanfield International Airport April 2026 Passenger Statistics

Halifax Stanfield International Airport

April 2026

Passenger Statistics Summary
April
Actuals / Percentage Change
Sector / 2026 / 2025 / 2019 / vs 2025 / vs 2019
Domestic / 255,201 / 235,174 / 263,569 / 8.5% / (3.2%)
Other International / 41,533 / 61,037 / 46,140 / (32.0%) / (10.0%)
Transborder / 21,432 / 30,929 / 40,059 / (30.7%) / (46.5%)
Total / 318,166 / 327,140 / 349,768 / (2.7%) / (9.0%)

Year-to-Date
Actuals / Percentage Change
Sector / 2026 / 2025 / 2019 / vs 2025 / vs 2019
Domestic / 867,977 / 804,221 / 914,063 / 7.9% / (5.0%)
Other International / 153,755 / 183,303 / 139,353 / (16.1%) / 10.3%
Transborder / 80,884 / 122,319 / 124,751 / (33.9%) / (35.2%)
Total / 1,102,616 / 1,109,843 / 1,178,167 / (0.7%) / (6.4%)

Transborder traffic continues to be hard hit by the severe reduction in flights to both MCO and TPA on both Porter Airlines and Air Canada.

International numbers continue to be hard hit by the cancellation of all Cuba flights on Air Transat, WestJet and Air Canada due to the lack of fuel in the country.

Once again domestic traffic had a healthy increase of 8.5% over April 2025.

May 2026 should have more positive stats for HIAA over 2025 as most of the transborder and international flights that were cut in February, March and April 2026 would have already ended by the end of April 2025. Thus the transborder and international flight numbers in May 2026 should be more similar to the numbers in 2025.

[JonToms]

Air Canada’s Inaugural YHZ - BRU (Brussels) Flight Begins Today

Air Canada begins their seasonal YHZ to BRU flights today. The service will run three times weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Thursday, June 18, 2026 until Saturday, September 5, 2026. The flight will be operated on an Air Canada Boeing 737 max 8.

https://halifaxstanfield.ca/flights/non-stop/#europe-nonstop

https://halifaxstanfield.ca/news-release...ir-canada-expands-halifaxs-global-reach/

[Keith P.]

Funny thing, I see AC ads for Brussels on my YT feed and they never mention the Max 8 aircraft being used. Wonder why...

I also see Westjet ads for the same route. They would probably benefit if they mentioned their use of Airbus equipment.

[Saul Goode]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Funny thing, I see AC ads for Brussels on my YT feed and they never mention the Max 8 aircraft being used. Wonder why...

I also see Westjet ads for the same route. They would probably benefit if they mentioned their use of Airbus equipment.

Not sure what WestJet ads you're looking at, but they don't fly YHZ-BRU.

And WestJet has no Airbus aircraft.

I suspect that if the AC YHZ-BRU route survives, it'll switch equipment to the A321XLR once enough have been delivered. I believe they've only received 5-6 to date.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Funny thing, I see AC ads for Brussels on my YT feed and they never mention the Max 8 aircraft being used. Wonder why...

I also see Westjet ads for the same route. They would probably benefit if they mentioned their use of Airbus equipment.

From Halifax, WestJet is flying direct to Barcelona, Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Reykjavik, Rome, and Paris. Not Brussels though. I'm not sure what they're using for the other routes, but Halifax-Copenhagen is on a Max 8.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

From Halifax, WestJet is flying direct to Barcelona, Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Reykjavik, Rome, and Paris. Not Brussels though. I'm not sure what they're using for the other routes, but Halifax-Copenhagen is on a Max 8.

Ooops, I got confused. Their YT ads run incessantly just like the AC ones which are better ads. I know AC promotes Brussels as a destination in those. No idea how I got it into my head Westjet was running Airbus aircraft. They should, though.

[JonToms]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

From Halifax, WestJet is flying direct to Barcelona, Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Reykjavik, Rome, and Paris. Not Brussels though. I'm not sure what they're using for the other routes, but Halifax-Copenhagen is on a Max 8.

WestJet unfortunately don’t fly to Rome (FCO) or Reykjavik (KEF) non-stop from YHZ. They do run a seasonal service from YYC to FCO on their Boeing 787’s. I don’t think the Boeing 737 max 8 has a long enough range to make it to FCO from YHZ. They also do fly seasonally to Reykjavik from YYC, YEG and YWG using their Boeing 737 max 8’s.

WestJet currently flies to Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, London Gatwick and Amsterdam non-stop from YHZ.

[JonToms]

United Airlines Reducing EWR - YHZ Frequency in the Fall of 2026

United Airlines is reducing the frequency on the EWR to YHZ route from two to one flight per day from October 24, 2026 until November 30, 2026. The frequency will then go back to two daily flights on December 1, 2026 as a go forward. The schedule is currently showing two daily flights until May 24, 2027.


https://www.united.com/en/ca/fsr/choose-...&tqp=R&t=EWR&cartId=undefined&idx=1&mm=0

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by JonToms

WestJet unfortunately don’t fly to Rome (FCO) or Reykjavik (KEF) non-stop from YHZ...

I swear I saw it on WestJet's website! Looks like you're correct and my memory is faulty though.

[JonToms]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

I swear I saw it on WestJet's website! Looks like you're correct and my memory is faulty though.

You probably did see it on their website as a promotion for getting to both cities. I find they often put promotions on their website that make it look like the flight is nonstop even though it is a one stop via Toronto or another city. A couple of years ago I remember seeing a promotion for flights to Manchester on WestJets website that made it look like it was a nonstop from Halifax, where it actually was a code share flight via Paris.

[JonToms]

YHZ May 2026 & YTD Passenger Numbers

Halifax Stanfield International Airport
Passenger Statistics Report - Executive Summary

May 2026


Sector / 2026 Actual / 2025 Actual / Variance
Domestic / 331,773 / 287,573 / 15.4%
Other International / 61,806 / 41,769 / 48.0%
Transborder / 19,231 / 13,779 / 39.6%
Total / 412,810 / 343,121 / 20.3%

Year-to-Date

Sector / 2026 Actual / 2025 Actual / Variance
Domestic / 1,199,628 / 1,091,794 / 9.9%
Other International / 233,282 / 225,072 / 3.6%
Transborder / 100,147 / 136,098 / (26.4%)
Total / 1,533,057 / 1,452,964 / 5.5%

Domestic - This 9.9% increase was brought on by the increase in WestJet flights from YVR, YEG, YQR, YWG and YXE.

International - This 48% increase was brought on mainly by the introduction of the new WestJet flights to CPH (Copenhagen), MAD (Madrid) and LIS (Lisbon). WestJet now serve nine European destinations nonstop from YHZ.

Transborder - This 39.6% increase was brought on by the introduction of WestJet’s daily flight to DTW (Detroit) as well as the re-introduction of the second daily United Airlines EWR flight.