Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW)

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

AC has started making the upgrade list which show premium cabin loads available 72 hours in advance rather than at T-24, so here is this weeks premium loads. Everything except Saturday was still pulled at T-24 or later and Saturday is still only 36-48 hours in advance. Not sure how much this will impact the stats, i.e. whether the bid upgrades will process after the numbers are pulled.

Monday: AC889 16/31 J, 16/24 PY; AC888 full Y, full PY, 30/31 J
Wednesday: AC889 27/31 J, full PY; AC888 full Y, full PY, 30/31 J
Thursday: AC889 21/31 J, 12/24 PY; AC888 full Y, full PY, 29/31 J
Saturday: AC889 28/32 J, 13/24 PY; AC888 full Y, 23/24 PY, 28/32 J

So AC888 going out pretty much full all week which is good to see. Somewhat surprised given French board is back this week and English board is back next week?

I see Saturday’s 32J. Was that on a 789?

Today’s departure count: 94

Today's cancellation count (so far): 1

[Tesladom]

Originally Posted by fanofYOW

It's not low, it's roughly 10-15% of YOW's pax gone.

I just counted and based on my travel this year alone, I have 24 return trips for me and the people I travelled with just in 2026 alone. I could also look at my employee travels as well since if they need to travel to say Dallas, they will drive to Montreal to catch a direct flight
1) It's Cheaper
2) Its quicker even with drive factored in. It takes me 1h40 to YUL, and 35 minutes to YOW, so its only 1hour net difference
3) Less risk of missing connections and delays

I will only fly out of Ottawa on a non-direct when there is not a YUL direct connection, and most people I know do the same

Random Example: Montreal- Dallas 3 hr 43 min
Round tripEconomy (include Basic)
CA$705

Ottawa -Dallas 7 hr 27 min
Round tripEconomy (include Basic)
CA$1,244

[fanofYOW]

^ The point of my post wasn’t to try to convince anyone to fly from YOW, the point of my reply was to show that 500-750k lost pax for YOW is not insignificant and that if all these people suddenly stopped leaking to other airports in a hypothetical scenario, YOW could generate enough data to get quite a bit of non-stop options. This is a free market and people can fly from where they want.

Price plays a major role in this. There are times where YOW/YUL prices are on par, and sometimes even cheaper in YOW. Are YUL people driving to YOW in those circumstances? Possibly but I have never heard anyone actually doing it. The connection point I don’t really understand. A car can break down, a bus/train can be delayed. To me that’s the same risk as having to use 2 flight legs to get to a destination. Not to mention the 2 hour drive to get to YUL so your timing isn’t actually 3 hours and 43min, it’s 5 hours and 43min give or take (definitely give if there’s that good old Montreal traffic).

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

I see Saturday’s 32J. Was that on a 789?

Today’s departure count: 94

Today's cancellation count (so far): 1

The 789s are 30 seats in J. The 330 has 32, although it seems pretty routinely that one is blocked (pilot rest?) so only 31 are available.

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Of note on this podcast episode, 14% of passengers through YOW are people connecting flights here to get elsewhere. That's higher than I imagined.

It shouldn't surprise you. Previous OAA annual reports had the numbers.

2024 was 11.8% connecting.
2025 was 12.4% connecting.

So ~13-14% for 2026 isn't far fetched. It's right where the number should be.

Originally Posted by Tesladom

Per month? Probably, Per year - that's wayyy too low IMO

750k per month? Think about that for a second !

What you are saying implies that up to half of Ottawa's metro area population is driving to YYZ/YUL every month !

[jumpyjoe1]

Its hard to believe that 2000 people drive daily to YUL/YYZ

[fanofYOW]

Originally Posted by jumpyjoe1

Its hard to believe that 2000 people drive daily to YUL/YYZ

Believe it. My own family does it too. Then people have the audacity to be 100% sure of themselves that YOW doesn’t have the demand to X Y Z…

Could you imagine if YUL uses this as a selling point to new carriers. “You’re not only getting access to the Montreal catchment, but also Ottawa’s!” I’m joking of course

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by jumpyjoe1

Its hard to believe that 2000 people drive daily to YUL/YYZ

Drive, bus and train. Mostly to YUL but also YYZ, SYR, OGS, etc. 10-15% leakage isn’t surprising when squeezed between two fortresses. I know someone who drove to BOS with their family to save a few hundred over any Canadian airport even with the exchange rate. A place like YXU probably has 300% leakage at present. PD will start to change that.

Today’s departure count: 87

Today's cancellation count (so far): 2

[MountainView]

AF sent the B77W today and will tomorrow as well.

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by MountainView

AF sent the B77W today and will tomorrow as well.

I'm pretty sure today was a last minute sub. Tomorrow has been on the schedule for a while. AF is back down to 5x weekly as of Thursday (days x46).

Tomorrow is the final Air North departure of the season - and the last Air North 738 for even longer since, as MountainView noted, it's set to switch back to a 735 next summer.

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 94

Today's cancellation count (so far): 1

[Coho]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Tomorrow is the final Air North departure of the season - and the last Air North 738 for even longer since, as MountainView noted, it's set to switch back to a 735 next summer.

Is it actually likely to be the 737-500 or is that just a schedule placeholder?

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 93

Today's cancellation count (so far): 7

Could have been 100 again this Monday.

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by Coho

Is it actually likely to be the 737-500 or is that just a schedule placeholder?

Hard to say - you'd think the 738 would make more sense on longer routes since it's more fuel efficient than the classics.

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Today’s departure count: 93

Today's cancellation count (so far): 7

Could have been 100 again this Monday.

Likely our last chance to crack it for the summer. Today is the final day of a second YOW-YYT for example, I'm sure there are some more Porter reductions soon.

[Dominion301]

We had a pile of YYZ diversions last night (including one exotic bird) as follows:

- AC 1192 from YQT arr 2224 - mainline MAX
- AC 1143 from YQB arr 2304 - mainline MAX
- S4 331 from TER arr 2319 (SATA Azores Airlines 321)
- AC 1996 from YLW arr 2321
- PD 662 from LAX arr 2325, dep 0141 as PD 1662 & arr YYZ at 0322
- WS 722 from YVR arr 2327
- PD 618 from BOS arr 2330
- PD 306 from YVR arr 2332, dep 0149 & arr again at YOW at 0331
- PD 314 from YVR arr 0015

Also, AC 7181 a Jazz DH4 ferried in from YUL at 2214

Today’s departure count: 88

Today's cancellation count (so far): 5

Gate 30 getting used a fair amount the past few days. 19 still not in use.

[RomanR27]

They must have realigned gates 29/30 as the track for a flight that arrived on gate 30 yesterday doesn't use any of the visible lines on Google Maps



Link to full res image

Nor did this one that arrived on gate 29



Link to full res image

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 89

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

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

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Today’s departure count: 89

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

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

77W on Air France today, final day of daily service unfortunately. Also the Star Alliance 330 is in today.

The mainline UA ORD flight was on a 320 last night and this morning.

The Azores Airline 321 ferried back to PDL today. I guess the pax on it will count under the international numbers for September.

[RomanR27]

Looks like WestJet quickly pulled the plug on YOW-LIR. Not available for booking on WestJet or Sunwing anymore.

[fanofYOW]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Looks like WestJet quickly pulled the plug on YOW-LIR. Not available for booking on WestJet or Sunwing anymore.

LOL. Not surprised after reading people’s posts on social media preferring to support PD over WS. YOW pax understood the assignment.