Atlantic Canada airport thread

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Good2go

From C103's web site...

New air carrier
PASCAN is launching a Fall campaign to promote their new Moncton to St. John's, Newfoundland direct route, which goes into effect on Monday, November fourth. The company has announced an introductory price of $550 for a round-trip all inclusive direct flight. The introductory price will remain in effect until January 24th of next year. The new Monday-to-Friday service will see the direct flight leave Moncton at 7:00 in the morning and arrive in St. John's at 9:30 local time. The return flight leaves St.John's at 10:00 in the morning (local time) and arrives in Moncton at 11:30.

This is certainly an improvement, but I agree with Budyser, this should be their standard fare (at least for booking well in advance). If they want to tap the casual tourist market as well as the business crowd, they really can't afford to go any higher than this.

This fare is getting into the competitive range for tourists, if they are thinking of travelling to NL for 4-5 days or more, because you would have to factor in the fuel costs and parking fees at Halifax Stanfield into the equation if you drove down there to catch a flight. There is also the convenience factor too of being able to fly out of the GMIA........

To get me really excited, their regular all inclusive round trip fare for advanced bookings should be around $450, not $550.

[Sunnybrae]

To put a different spin on the PASCAN route of Moncton to St. John's, this may shine a spotlight on the city pairing. Other airlines will be monitoring the pricing and loads and this will provide them with information. Bigger airlines with better economies of scale might think that this pairing can indeed be profitable and worth flying. Obviously, PASCAN cannot make the profit they need at the lower fares people on this forum want. That does not mean this entire exercise will be a failure. I for one certainly hope they do succeed and that there is that much business travel between the two cities.

[SignalHillHiker]

I hope it works out as well. I overheard two conversations about this already.

A friend my age said, "Greater Moncton? It's a proper city, then? Bigger than us?"

And one of my mother's friends said, "If Ryan was still in Moncton, you could fly direct now."

I never brought up this new flight to either of them so they heard about it somehow else.

[SignalHillHiker]

And in other news:

St. John's International Airport Facebook status:

From now until April 24th, WestJet has added an additional non-stop flight to Toronto Pearson (YYZ), departing 2:45 p.m. on Tuesdays/Thursdays/Sundays.

[MonctonRad]

Well, it's taken a while, but the Arrivals/Departures board at the GMIA finally is showing PASCAN flights.



I don't know what the delay was. The St. John's International Airport had shown the PASCAN flight from day one……...

[MonctonRad]

from the Globe & Mail:

WestJet Airlines Ltd., is going trans-Atlantic for the first time.

The Calgary-based airline said Friday it will begin daily 737 aircraft flights to Dublin from St. John’s beginning next June.

The service will be seasonal and will include direct flights to Dublin from Toronto. Direct flights stop, but use one aircraft so passengers don’t need to change planes.

In addition, the airline will offer daily non-stop flights between Ottawa and St. John’s, connecting to Dublin.

The flights from St. John’s will cut current travel time by nearly half, the airline said.

One-way fares from St. John’s will start at $199.

Air Canada began service to Ireland on its new Rouge discount airline this past summer.

Personal note - maybe WestJet is thinking of using St. John's International Airport as their trans-Atlantic hub, just like Iceland Air uses Keflavik for trans-oceanic connections...

[SignalHillHiker]

Just came to post that. SO EXCITED!

[Trevor3]

This is awesome news. I'm now seriously considering a vacation to Ireland over the summer.

[q12]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Personal note - maybe WestJet is thinking of using St. John's International Airport as their trans-Atlantic hub, just like Iceland Air uses Keflavik for trans-oceanic connections...

According to the Calgary Herald this only a test because they do not have long haul aircraft that can fly from Toronto, Montreal or Halifax direct to Europe.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/WestJet+announces+flights+Dublin/9170599/story.html

BY MARIO TONEGUZZI, CALGARY HERALD NOVEMBER 15, 2013 12:00 PM

This shouldn’t be construed as the beginning of transatlantic service on a permanent basis for WestJet. It’s really just a test for us.”

Canaccord Genuity analyst David Tyerman said although Dublin may seem like an exciting first step, adding more transatlantic destinations is likely still years away for WestJet.

“We suggest investors curb any enthusiasm,” he wrote in a note. “Enthusiasm is understandable, as global long-haul flying is WJA’s last major unexploited market, and it is huge... (But) to truly go global, WJA will need a long-haul aircraft.”

On a related note:

Air Canada's direct flight from Halifax to London Heathrow this winter will be daily (with only a few exceptions) due to the Edmonton - London flight becoming seasonal as they used to share the same plane in the winter schedule alternating days.

[Sunnybrae]

Just a guess but I believe once Encore is fully operational across Canada, then you will see the acquisition of widebody aircraft by Westjet.

[J_Murphy]

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&id=41370&latest=1

PASCAN, a Quebec-based airline that started a new direct flight from Moncton to St. John's to much fanfare back in October, has been forced to suspend the service as of next week.

General Manager Julian Roberts says despite passenger loads increasing, the numbers are not enough to sustain a 42 seat aircraft. He accounts the issue to one of timing, and doesn't see passenger loads increasing in the foreseeable future. The last flight will take place on Dec. 13. Anyone booked for flights after Dec. 13 will recieve a full refund.

[MonctonRad]

quelle surprise.....

Let's try again sometime with a more established airline with deeper pockets (ie - able to be patient while the service establishes itself) and with cost competitive airfares.

I think this particular experiment was doomed to failure from the very beginning......

[J_Murphy]

"General Manager Julian Roberts says despite passenger loads increasing, the numbers are not enough to sustain a 42 seat aircraft. He accounts the issue to one of timing, and doesn't see passenger loads increasing in the foreseeable future"

Maybe it had to do with the high price. Slightly lower prices may have generated some higher volumes?

Either way, you'd think they would have had a better handle on the passenger loads before launching the service onlly to have it fail a couple of months later.

[MonctonRad]

The fares were too high to attract casual air travellers. You need casual travellers to supplement the business traffic and students going back and forth to MUN. They also chose the wrong time of year to implement the service.

I think it is telling that passenger loads were increasing. If the airline could have afforded to have been patient, and were able to charge smaller airfares (using a larger airplane), I think the service could have taken off in the long run.......

[statbass]

This was just bad planning and foresight on Pascan's part, through and through.

[BlackYear]

I'm curious to know how many folks from the Moncton area are commuting the 2 hour car drive down to the Halifax Airport to grab daily Air Canada, WestJet and Porter flights to St.John's.

If all these folks were to stop the commute, would the total amount of passengers even be enough to support a 42 seat aircraft on a daily basis?

[q12]

Originally Posted by Budyser

I'm curious to know how many folks from the Moncton area are commuting the 2 hour car drive down to the Halifax Airport to grab daily Air Canada, WestJet and Porter flights to St.John's.

If all these folks were to stop the commute, would the total amount of passengers even be enough to support a 42 seat aircraft on a daily basis?

A two hour commute to Toronto Pearson from Toronto isn't a big deal so why would it be from Moncton?

[homebody]

Originally Posted by q12

A two hour commute to Toronto Pearson from Toronto isn't a big deal so why would it be from Moncton?

Simply becouse the commute is from Moncton. In some peoples eyes. It should be everyone else in the Maritimes commuting to Moncton. On a serious note. Sorry for your loss. It appears that there are not enough people in Greater Moncton that would like to visit "The Rock". Beautiful place though. As for another airline jumping inn to fill the void. Can't see it. The big players do their homework also and learn from others mistakes. Even if some other airline did step in the prices would be through the roof, becouse they too would have a monopoly on that route.

[mylesmalley]

Originally Posted by homebody

It appears that there are not enough people in Greater Moncton that would like to visit "The Rock".

It's pretty obvious that the $700+ tickets were what did this line in, not a lack of traffic.

If you tried to charge $700 from Toronto to Montreal you'd have a tough time filling a plane too.

[SignalHillHiker]

It's too bad that it's been canned. But, to be fair, this was an overpriced, minor route for both our airports.

I don't think there's enough of a relationship between the two cities to supplement the business travel with casual travelers. It's not as though most of us know very much about each other.