Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW)

[Dominion301]

Today could set a post-March 2020 record.

Today’s departure count: 99

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

For the second day in a row, gates 29 & 30 are getting used. Haven’t seen 19 used in several days so perhaps it’s closed at the moment for maintenance.

AF 327 on gate 17, AC 888 on 15 and AC 345 on gate 27 - I didn’t know that gate could handle a Code E aircraft. AC flight status confirms a 789, FIN 861 is on AC 345 today and also lists gate 27 at the moment. I have a feeling this will get swapped to 28 with AC 357 to YYC.

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Today could set a post-March 2020 record.

Today’s departure count: 99

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

For the second day in a row, gates 29 & 30 are getting used. Haven’t seen 19 used in several days so perhaps it’s closed at the moment for maintenance.

AF 327 on gate 17, AC 888 on 15 and AC 345 on gate 27 - I didn’t know that gate could handle a Code E aircraft. AC flight status confirms a 789, FIN 861 is on AC 345 today and also lists gate 27 at the moment. I have a feeling this will get swapped to 28 with AC 357 to YYC.

Nice, so Monday's in August must indeed be the high benchmark this summer.

Gate 28 didn't used to support code E aircraft either until a minor adjustment before summer 2024. In theory it wouldn't be that hard to do the same to gate 27, too. I wonder if they re-did gate 29 or any of the 30A/B/C lines.

[RomanR27]

WS has loaded in the rest of their winter schedule. The only minor change I see for YOW is that YYC will moderately increase to 13x weekly from 12x last winter, with the second flight going from days x36 to days x6. Sunwing flying looks unchanged too, but it may take a while for the changes to percolate from WestJet to Sunwing, if there are any.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Nice, so Monday's in August must indeed be the high benchmark this summer.

Gate 28 didn't used to support code E aircraft either until a minor adjustment before summer 2024. In theory it wouldn't be that hard to do the same to gate 27, too. I wonder if they re-did gate 29 or any of the 30A/B/C lines.

Well the best that can happen today is 96 as there's now three cnld thus far.

AC 357 to YYC and AC 345 to YVR ended up swapping 27 & 28 as I suspected would occur.

[Rhb]

Ottawa AA numbers are out for July 2026.

https://www.yow.ca/business/passenger-volume

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by Rhb

Ottawa AA numbers are out for July 2026.

https://www.yow.ca/business/passenger-volume

Here's the full breakdown. International's net seat factor will be in line with June's 83.4% as I think there were fewer 77Ws but with an extra day. The 1 day AF didn't operate in June is offset by the AC 888 cancellation on July 1st. The difference is the international % gain for July is only slightly more than 1/3 as large as June.

Sector / Jul-25 / Jul-26 / % Change
Dom: 359,522 / 365,526 / +1.7%
TB: 51,115 / 52,592 / +2.9%
Int'l: 29,318 / 32,719 / +11.6%
TTL: 439,955 / 450,837 / +2.5%

Sector / YTD 2025 / YTD 2026 / % Change
Dom: 2,061,674 / 2,164,857 / +5.0%
TB: 457,901 / 449,361 / -1.9%
Int'l: 309,421 / 384,887 / +24.4%
TTL: 2,828,996 / 2,999,105 / +6.0% - YTD July 2019 was 3,011,094 so the pre-pandemic gap is down to 12K

July % of traffic recovered vs 2019 / YTD vs 2019
Sector / July / YTD % recovered
Dom: 98.5% / 94.6% - that's the closest any month domestically has come to full recovery thus far
TB: 111.5% / 103.6%
Int'l: 132.2% / 133.7%
TTL: 101.8% / 99.6%

12 Months Rolling / % Change vs Year End 2024
Dom: 3,757,467 / +9.5%
TB: 717,771 / -3.2%
Int'l: 561,107 / +29.3%
TTL: 5,036,345 / +9.3%

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 89

Today's cancellation count (so far): 3

With the higher average daily departure count in August vs July, I suspect August's pax total will come in at around 475,000. The all-time monthly record is 480,898 from August 2018.

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 84

Today's cancellation count (so far): 7 - interestingly all AC

AF 327 on gate 17, AC 345 on 28 & AC 888 on 15

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Here's the full breakdown. International's net seat factor will be in line with June's 83.4% as I think there were fewer 77Ws but with an extra day. The 1 day AF didn't operate in June is offset by the AC 888 cancellation on July 1st. The difference is the international % gain for July is only slightly more than 1/3 as large as June.

There were 38,316 total seats in July by my count, so seat factor up a couple ticks to 85.4%.

AF had 30 round trips for the month (01JUL diverted/cancelled) - 20 on the 772, 6 on the 472-seat 77W, two on the 292-seat variant (premium heavy) 359, and one each on the 296- and 312-seat variants of the 77W (both with four F class seats). 21,168 total seats

AC had 17 total round trips - 9 on the 333, 6 on the 788 and 2 on the 789. August will have a bit more capacity as it's all 333. 9,598 seats there.

TS has 13 total round trips for 5,174 total seats.

Finally, PD has 9 total round trips to CUN for 2,376 total seats. As an aside, the final northbound of July arrived at YOW after midnight on 01AUG so not sure if it actually counts in July.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

There were 38,316 total seats in July by my count, so seat factor up a couple ticks to 85.4%.

AF had 30 round trips for the month (01JUL diverted/cancelled) - 20 on the 772, 6 on the 472-seat 77W, two on the 292-seat variant (premium heavy) 359, and one each on the 296- and 312-seat variants of the 77W (both with four F class seats). 21,168 total seats

AC had 17 total round trips - 9 on the 333, 6 on the 788 and 2 on the 789. August will have a bit more capacity as it's all 333. 9,598 seats there.

TS has 13 total round trips for 5,174 total seats.

Finally, PD has 9 total round trips to CUN for 2,376 total seats. As an aside, the final northbound of July arrived at YOW after midnight on 01AUG so not sure if it actually counts in July.

Thanks for that breakdown. North of 85% is solid. That's encouraging for TS returning next summer to LGW. Like I mentioned, YYZ-LGW is only showing as 9x for summer 2027 down from 11x, so perhaps TS are holding out loading YOW for summer 2027 until they announce their summer schedule with a YOW expansion. If they announce it in a month and assume a mid-May resumption, that'd still give them about 8 months lead time to sell seats for the first flight of the season.

As for the wee hours of 01AUG26 arrival, that would/will most definitely count towards August's total. Would be the exact same thing in winter when there's routinely 3-5 international arrivals nightly between 0000 & 0500.

[RomanR27]

In that case reduce the denominator by 132 seats which bumps it up a couple points to 85.7%.

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 91

Today's cancellation count (so far): 4 - all AC

AF 327 on 17B and AC 888 on 15B...FIDS also showing AC 888Z on 43 so maybe it'll tow to a remote stand for a couple of hours today.

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 91

Today's cancellation count (so far): 5 - all AC again so far today

UA's 319 this morning used gate 3.

[Richard Eade]

Interesting that Air Canada has been canceling so many flights recently. Any speculation (or actual knowledge) about why? Lack of resources (planes or crew)? Or just consolidation of flights with small loads (i.e., cost cutting)?

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

Interesting that Air Canada has been canceling so many flights recently. Any speculation (or actual knowledge) about why? Lack of resources (planes or crew)? Or just consolidation of flights with small loads (i.e., cost cutting)?

No idea for the reasons but it would be surprising for consolidation reasons at the peak demand time of year, especially since some of them have been to 1x daily destinations like YFC and YQB.

Today’s departure count: 86

Today's cancellation count (so far): 2 - both AC

AF 327 on gate 17, AC 345 on 28 and AC 888 on 15

[RomanR27]

AC889/888 loads for this week

Monday: AC889 full Y, 13/24 PY, 13/31 J; AC888 full Y, 22/24 PY, 29/31 J
Wednesday: AC889 17/24 PY, 14/31 J; AC888 full Y, 23/24 PY, 27/31 J
Thursday: AC889 11/24 PY 8/30 J; AC888 full Y, 21/24 PY, 28/31 J
Saturday: AC889 19/24 PY, 25/31 J; AC888 full Y, 18/24 PY, 28/31 J

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 91

Today's cancellation count (so far): 4 - 3/4 AC

[Dominion301]

Today could not only be a post-March 2020 record but had it not been for a cancellation, also the first time in almost 6 1/2 years in triple digits. Here’s hoping no thunderstorms this afternoon otherwise 97 will still stand.

Today’s departure count: 99

Today's cancellation count (so far): 1 (and not AC)

AF 327 on gate 17, AC 345 on 28 and AC 888 on 15

[RomanR27]

Noticed that PD has reduced YLW from 6x to 3x weekly in October (days 247). Still not loaded for the winter, and I'm guessing that frequency reduction doesn't bode well for that happening.

[J.OT13]

Why aren’t there more direct flights from YOW?

We’re the capital of Canada. Yet the limited number of direct flights in and out of YOW frustrates locals and visitors alike. Robyn Bresnahan finds out who holds the cards when it comes to getting more non-stop routes – and meets a television executive who’s dubbed Ottawa “the greatest city you can’t get to.”

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1...arent-there-more-direct-flights-from-yow