Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW)

[AuxTown]

I wonder if we will be seeing a bunch of connections to Toronto and Van for the WC. Given our number of direct flights, we must be showing up as connection options for travelers from the US and Europe...particularly the England games in Boston and Newark.

[G650ER]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

I don’t know what TS A330-200 is like (although Google Flights says that the seat pitch is 32”), but I suspect that flying AF/KLM will be nicer flights than Westjet and TS.

I just flew on a TS A332 and I must say it was really tight and rather uncomfortable. The overhead bins were also quite small, not much bigger than a Porter E2 bin actually. I must say that an AC A333 cabin is much superior.

[Richard Eade]

Thanks for the feedback, G650ER. I kind of figured that TS wouldn't have 32" seat pitch.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

Thanks for the feedback, G650ER. I kind of figured that TS wouldn't have 32" seat pitch.

With TS, the tightness on the 332 fleet probably comes more from the 9-abreast seating vs the typical 8, which some of the 333 fleet has. I've never flown on a 9-abreast 330...nor do I want to!

Originally Posted by RomanR27

FYI the TS flight doesn't run Wednesdays. Actually, Monday/Wednesday/Saturday will all have three widebody departures all summer as the AC YVR 789 days all intersect with days LHR operates, plus AF being daily. Monday sees the closest cluster of departures as LHR departs around 1900 whereas on Wed/Sat it's around 2100.

Right TS is days 257 and not 357 like I was thinking. That means none of the TS departure days feature 3 widebody departures.

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 80

Today's cancellation count (so far): 2

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by solo748

200+ PAX and luggage on FCOYOW in peak summer midday temps is an absolute test for the XLR. Disagree on the very doable framing

1. 200+? TS seats 199 in their LR's. It will be the exact same in their XLR's.

2. It's not an "absolute test". It's doable. Airbus documents pretty much prove it. The XLR (101t MTOW, with 1 aux tank) can carry 17t of payload up to 4700nm. FCO-YOW is way shorter (~3,600nm). (Look at page 196 of the Airbus ACAP document linked below) So 199 pax and bags over a ~4,000-4,100nm distance (accounting for headwinds) should be doable, as the chart says the plane can carry around ~20-21t of payload at that distance.

3. in 30C weather (ISA+15C), the XLR (101t) needs only 10,000ft of runway in order to takeoff at MTOW. All three of FCO's runways are longer than that, 2 of which are near 13,000ft.

https://www.aircraft.airbus.com/sites/g/files/jlcbta126/files/2025-07/AC_A321_20250715.pdf

page. 205

Originally Posted by solo748

Do their LRs have the aux tanks?

Airbus markets the A321LR as 97t, 3 aux tanks. Anything else is not an A321LR.

TS has all three aux tanks. Their birds are 97t, and can carry 32,943 L of fuel. That's the capacity with all 3 tanks active.

https://www.airtransat.com/en-CA/travel-information/our-fleet/airbus-a321lr

TS pushes their A321LR's pretty hard on routes like BSL/NCE-YUL, or AMS-YYZ. These routes wouldn't be possible at MTOW without that 3rd aux tank.

Originally Posted by solo748

XLR is not getting off ground at MTOW in muggy 40' temps. When you need max fuel and perfoamance restricions at take-off, the 321NEO/LR/XLR quickly runs out of open space after 210 PAX and their luggage are loaded

Like i said, Airbus documents prove that at 30C, it's not an issue out of FCO. And again, TS doesn't have 210 pax on board.

Too bad the ACAP document doesn't go up to ISA+25 or 30C, but if we extrapolate, it's pretty obvious that even in 40C days, the XLR will takeoff at or near MTOW, utilizing one of those two 13,000ft runways at FCO.

Remember that AC initially scheduled the XLR on PMI-YUL, and that route is only ~350nm less than FCO-YOW. It has since been switched to the B788, but it's mostly because AC just received their first XLR, and it hasn't even entered revenue service yet. I think in S27, YUL-PMI will become an XLR route.

PMI's longest runway is only 10,700ft long, and it can get quite hot there as well. So if AC plans on sending the XLR to PMI, i think FCO, with it's longer runways, would be a cake walk.

A route that will never see the XLR is YUL-CTA, even though it's perfectly suited for it. As that airport only has a 7,900ft runway. AC announced CTA directly on the B788.

Originally Posted by solo748

Regardless, moot as it's there's 0.00 chance either TS or AC send their XLRs to FCO in my opinion

Here i agree. But that doesn't mean the plane can't do it.

[RomanR27]

Flew out of YOW this afternoon, walked by the TS gate area and about an hour before the YUL feeder flight there was only maybe 12-24 people around gate 14.

Also noticed the VDGS systems were active at gate 17, there was a 7M8 docked there so the 17A/B screens indicated "blocked". It wasn't on (there was a CR9 parked there) but noticed a system at gate 28. So perhaps all gates that handle widebodies have the systems installed, I didn't see any at gates 18-27, and didn't get a look at anything north of gate 17.

[G650ER]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Flew out of YOW this afternoon, walked by the TS gate area and about an hour before the YUL feeder flight there was only maybe 12-24 people around gate 14.

Also noticed the VDGS systems were active at gate 17, there was a 7M8 docked there so the 17A/B screens indicated "blocked". It wasn't on (there was a CR9 parked there) but noticed a system at gate 28. So perhaps all gates that handle widebodies have the systems installed, I didn't see any at gates 18-27, and didn't get a look at anything north of gate 17.

Also noticed that about TS. The whole YOW-YUL 3x weekly thing to me is total nonsense. Porter should be doing that on a Q400 at the very least 1x daily (feed to TS in YUL). Offer a consistent connection not this random 3x/day during work hours.

No VDGS system on the transborder gates or 13-15. Some apron concrete replacement work on Bravo though which created a funky temporary taxi line around it to get to runway 25.

[Zmonkey]

Originally Posted by G650ER

Also noticed that about TS. The whole YOW-YUL 3x weekly thing to me is total nonsense. Porter should be doing that on a Q400 at the very least 1x daily (feed to TS in YUL). Offer a consistent connection not this random 3x/day during work hours.

No VDGS system on the transborder gates or 13-15. Some apron concrete replacement work on Bravo though which created a funky temporary taxi line around it to get to runway 25.

Isn't the YOW YUL flight on transat to move the plane to Ottawa, not so much the people?

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by Zmonkey

Isn't the YOW YUL flight on transat to move the plane to Ottawa, not so much the people?

Rotating the aircraft would seem to be a primary reason with no other YOW route to rotate the aircraft with and the schedule isn’t set for aircraft to rotate at the LGW end. May as well and try and sell a few connections in the process. I guess dropping the Friday turn was part of TS’ 6% capacity reduction. Dropping the Friday rotation makes the most sense as Fridays require the least feed. Usually just about anything on a Friday night is full.

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Also noticed the VDGS systems were active at gate 17, there was a 7M8 docked there so the 17A/B screens indicated "blocked". It wasn't on (there was a CR9 parked there) but noticed a system at gate 28. So perhaps all gates that handle widebodies have the systems installed, I didn't see any at gates 18-27, and didn't get a look at anything north of gate 17.

Makes sense. Widebodies need VDGS. Narrowbodies, not so much.

It’s tough to see the marshaller from the cockpit of a widebody, the closer you get to the line where the plane neeeds to stop. A VDGS takes care of that problem. Or else the marshaller has to stand on a pickup truck, or back up significantly, in order for one of the pilots to see him close to where they need to stop.

At YUL, all the widebody gates have VDGS (all international jetty gates + 5A and 11B on the domestic side), as well as the remote widebody gates S1 to 4. No other gate has VDGS.

It’s worth mentioning that even with VDGS, widebodies that arrive at a gate where no marshaller or wingwalkers are present will wait for them before entering the gate. Usually it’s company dependent, as an insurance type thing, in order to make sure you don’t hit an aircraft parked at the gate next door. Pretty much all airlines do this at YUL.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Flew out of YOW this afternoon.

Hopefully you weren't on Porter 291. They did a sight-seeing tour to YWG, diverted to YQT, tried again for YWG, and ended up back in YOW. Wicked storms yesterday evening into YWG (60 knot tailwind on final... no idea how AC8111 got in there).

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by MountainView

Hopefully you weren't on Porter 291. They did a sight-seeing tour to YWG, diverted to YQT, tried again for YWG, and ended up back in YOW. Wicked storms yesterday evening into YWG (60 knot tailwind on final... no idea how AC8111 got in there).

Luckily not! PD245 into YHZ. If I had to eyeball it was 75-80% full, but I was in row 11 so hard to gauge what was behind me. The gate area was quite busy.

Inaugural YDF flight is tonight. First inbound tomorrow morning, a later arrival than usual, presumably so the festivities in YDF aren't happening at 6am local.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by MountainView

Hopefully you weren't on Porter 291. They did a sight-seeing tour to YWG, diverted to YQT, tried again for YWG, and ended up back in YOW. Wicked storms yesterday evening into YWG (60 knot tailwind on final... no idea how AC8111 got in there).

In other YWG news, a 5T 734 on May 23rd had a double engine bird strike: https://avherald.com/h?article=53a00a99&opt=0 - after an engine change the aircraft positioned to the YOW hangar and was still AOG as of last week.

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 88

Today's cancellation count (so far): 2

AF 327's on gate 14A, AC 345 on 28 & AC 888 is on 15.

Tonight's inaugural PD 371 is on gate 20 and on the FIDS is listed as "(CYDF)" only.

[Dominion301]

O-Train line 4 will be closed this weekend for scheduled maintenance. Bus route 105 will operate with increased frequency: https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/city-news...027c0cb2525f71c518b5921630f0e24eda85822d

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Today’s departure count: 88

Today's cancellation count (so far): 2

AF 327's on gate 14A, AC 345 on 28 & AC 888 is on 15.

Tonight's inaugural PD 371 is on gate 20 and on the FIDS is listed as "(CYDF)" only.

I believe I saw an Air Transat A330 gated at/near 13-17 when I drove by on Riverside around 3 pm.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by MountainView

I believe I saw an Air Transat A330 gated at/near 13-17 when I drove by on Riverside around 3 pm.

Another Riga charter probably. An RCAF 330 left for RIX this morning.

[RomanR27]

It was indeed from RIX, ended up at gate 12A.

AC888/889 were on a 788 yesterday and full in PY both ways, westbound was 16/20 J and eastbound 19/20 J.

Back on a 333 today, with AC889 being 24/31 J and 19/24 PY, with AC888 tonight 29/31 J and 23/24 PY.

[AuxTown]

For all of YOWs shortcomings, we really do have a lot of great connections across the country. I have 4 flights booked this summer to Halifax, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto and appreciate all the different direct options and carriers. Now if only we could get 1 or 2 more international options....