Calgary International Airport II

[lubicon]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Airlineroute's twitter put this out an hour ago:

"WestJet to operate Boeing 767 on Calgary - Toronto route from 02AUG15, once a day (5 weekly from 04SEP15)"

I do believe these flights will be used for crew training and ETOPS certification of the birds.

Edit: And I do believe there was some talk about aircraft utilization during the winter season AB-Hawaii runs, perhaps this follow-up tweet answers that:

"WestJet's Boeing 767 will continue to operate Calgary - Toronto route during winter season from 25OCT15 to 29MAR16, 4 times a week"

Not surprising. I was talking to a WJ employee yesterday and he said the Hawaii flights take up about 1.5 -2 aircraft with the current schedule and they will likely be taking delivery of the third aircraft this year so would need somewhere to put it. A couple of other interesting notes, and they are rumors so take it for what they are worth:

The first AC will be delivered without the new entertainment system due to delays from Panasonic and WJ needing to get the plane in service for ETOPS certification. When the second one is delivered the first will probably go back to get that finished. The third will come next and then the first one will make it back in time for winter.

Second interesting tidbit was that marketing apparently didn't put much thought into crewing issues when they started selling the flights. I have not verified this but the schedule is pretty much the same as they have been running with Thomas Cook (?) so they just ran with what seemed like a good thing. Operations noticed and asked how marketing figured the planes would be crewed since TC does long layovers in either Hawaii or Alberta for their crews (since they are already away from home either way it really didn't matter to them). Now WJ is looking at 72 hour layovers in Hawaii for their crew and a lower utilization for the pilots than is ideal. The way the schedule currently shakes out (and obviously subject to change) would put the pilots at about 50 hours per month.

Crew training for the first few crews tentatively scheduled for June / July.

[Cage]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Airlineroute's twitter put this out an hour ago:

"WestJet to operate Boeing 767 on Calgary - Toronto route from 02AUG15, once a day (5 weekly from 04SEP15)"

"WestJet's Boeing 767 will continue to operate Calgary - Toronto route during winter season from 25OCT15 to 29MAR16, 4 times a week"

The flights will be YYC-YYZ WS668 13:00-18:36 and YYZ-YYC WS683 08:00-10:00. On the good side, there is no bump for flying the new aircraft. On the downside; the schedule does not permit for any further capacity increase or operate last minute tail swap for delay recovery operations.

[J-D]

Originally Posted by yyc_engineer

Couple more shots of the holdrooms. Pictures don't do it justice, especially the wood ceilings, it looks much better in person!

Flooring install is progressing well on Transborder level - makes it look a lot nicer and more refined. It's starting to get that true International Airport feel (think Hong Kong, Heathrow etc.) I thought I would miss the carpet but I don't, the granite is sexy.

RIP YYC carpet tile!

International Holdroom (West Seating Area) looking up towards Transborder


Transborder Holdroom


Flooring Install in Transborder

I feel like I own a few of those granite tiles, $30 at a time anyways

[zooter]

Hi guys, quick question regarding any improvements planned for road access to/from YYC? Airport trail is nice, but what about Barlow?

Also, it gets pretty right once you get closer to the airport, are there any future plans to add flyovers/ramps to departures/arrivals like you see at most major airports?

So re: noise abatement... this is happening.

the airport will have all southbound planes start flying over industrial zones as of April 30.

“The general idea is to keep aircraft flying south over the industrial and commercial areas as long as possible, before they turn east, and then they’re also higher. They gain more altitude before they change east,” he said.

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news...ext-year-not-this-fall-airport-authority

I dunno if it's a YYZ type waiver... must be. The only way I see them completely avoiding Rundle is runway heading off 17L because even if they don't start a 10° turn till crossing the departure end, they're still overhead Rundle crossing 32 Ave. RNAV departures like at DFW, ATL or DEN could nail them down so they don't start turning till after Memorial. I dunno. Whatever they're doing it's preferable to 17L being landing only but without forcing climb rates, there's no real way to spare Southview/Dover and Radisson if it's 17L departures they're mad about.

New charts will be public probably the week of April 20 but I endeavour to find out before then.

[Fuzz]

Its good to see they are at least trying.

[Bigtime]

From the Canada section airport thread:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Calgary's massive new terminal - just added to Peak Aerials but was likely taken last fall



http://www.stockaerialphotos.com/media/3...rev=79f8c428-a956-4611-8328-afc190172025

[Fuzz]

That's cool how one part looks like a wing.

[YYCguys]

Originally Posted by lubicon

... Now WJ is looking at 72 hour layovers in Hawaii for their crew and a lower utilization for the pilots than is ideal. The way the schedule currently shakes out (and obviously subject to change) would put the pilots at about 50 hours per month.

A lengthier layover already occurs with the TCX/WS crews in HNL as there are only 2 flights a week there out of YYC: Mondays and Fridays. If the schedule is to remain relatively the same in the coming winter, then the 72 hours will be the longest layover there, but most will be 24 hours or less. I would like to see a YEG-HNL flight added to the schedule to help reduce the complaints of YEGers who want to go to HNL but have to overnight in YYC or connect to another carrier once in Hawaii to get to HNL.

[Cage]

Originally Posted by lubicon

(1) The first AC will be delivered without the new entertainment system due to delays from Panasonic and WJ needing to get the plane in service for ETOPS certification. When the second one is delivered the first will probably go back to get that finished. The third will come next and then the first one will make it back in time for winter.

(2) Second interesting tidbit was that marketing apparently didn't put much thought into crewing issues when they started selling the flights. I have not verified this but the schedule is pretty much the same as they have been running with Thomas Cook (?) so they just ran with what seemed like a good thing. Operations noticed and asked how marketing figured the planes would be crewed since TC does long layovers in either Hawaii or Alberta for their crews (since they are already away from home either way it really didn't matter to them). Now WJ is looking at 72 hour layovers in Hawaii for their crew and a lower utilization for the pilots than is ideal. The way the schedule currently shakes out (and obviously subject to change) would put the pilots at about 50 hours per month.

(3) Crew training for the first few crews tentatively scheduled for June / July.

(1) there is a Canadian STC for Panasonic eFX. AC rouge has this STC. If WS struck a deal with the devil they could have gotten their 763 iFE completed much sooner.

The problem could also be with the Internet connectivity component, which AC rouge does not have. However it's kind of hard to believe that Panasonic could not do an addiional order for 2-3 aircraft in order to secure WS business. The Panasonic system does not require seat back view screens, only a couple of servers and wifi connection points.

(2) marketing among never worries about crew scheduling, that is what crew schedulers get paid to worry about. That said, cabin crew will/should be cross trained on the 737 and 767 and they can do return through yvr I order to avoid a long layover. The pilots on the other hand, should be prepared for long layovers as part of their job. I do. It expect WS widebody services to be daily on a single route, more likely they will service routes 2-4 times per week.

(3) this is for cabin crew or flight crew?

[Bigtime]

With regards to point 2:

-Oh the horror of a 72 hour layover in Hawaii.

[lubicon]

Originally Posted by Cage

(1) there is a Canadian STC for Panasonic eFX. AC rouge has this STC. If WS struck a deal with the devil they could have gotten their 763 iFE completed much sooner.

The problem could also be with the Internet connectivity component, which AC rouge does not have. However it's kind of hard to believe that Panasonic could not do an addiional order for 2-3 aircraft in order to secure WS business. The Panasonic system does not require seat back view screens, only a couple of servers and wifi connection points.

(2) marketing among never worries about crew scheduling, that is what crew schedulers get paid to worry about. That said, cabin crew will/should be cross trained on the 737 and 767 and they can do return through yvr I order to avoid a long layover. The pilots on the other hand, should be prepared for long layovers as part of their job. I do. It expect WS widebody services to be daily on a single route, more likely they will service routes 2-4 times per week.

(3) this is for cabin crew or flight crew?

Re:
Point 3. Flight crew, I should have been specific on that.

Point 2. Definitely no complaining from the pilots themselves about a longer layover. It's the overall scheduling that will hurt. If what I was told is accurate it basically turns a single Hawaii turn into a 5 day pairing consisting of two flights.

Again, this is not ideal but I am sure they will sort through it and come up with something that improves efficiencies. 50 hour months are not going to cut it long term. Maybe they end up shuttling the flight crew between islands to operate a flight sooner similar to what they do (or used to do) on some of the Caribbean destinations.

[Deepstar]

Wow, I didn't realize the new terminal was going to be so huge. It's bigger than most of the airports in Canada.

[Cage]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

With regards to point 2:

-Oh the horror of a 72 hour layover in Hawaii.

If your only option is a 72 hour layover in Hawaii, this does tend to cause longer term issues with the Family as it essentially means the Pilot is away from home for 5 days all the time. The long stretches are usually balanced by shorter pairings of 2-3 days away.

At Air Canada, the 320 Captain is more senior bid position than 763 relief pilot or FO. The widebody right seat positions have been going very junior for the past 5-10 years. I believe some of the newer equipment bids have seen a few 777 FO were taken from E90/E75 crews.

[Bigtime]

I was definitely being a little tongue in cheek, and was also thinking how for a pilot with a family that is not ideal.

Now for the stereotypical "Iceman" single pilot, it could be a dream come true!

[Fuzz]

From what I understand, at Westjet you get move around to different routes a lot, and can bid on them. My brother is a co-pilot with them, and often bids on the Hawaii route over Christmas and brings the family. He's pretty much forced to work anyway, so takes a few days holiday out of it. Not saying that's going to work on every trip, but like I said, I don't think they are forced on to one route either.

[YYCguys]

The first WS flight attendant 763 class will also train in July.

Initially, flight attendants will be committing to a about a year or so on the 763 only, until scheduling permits the flight attendants to cross train between that and the 73G.

Currently, the folks operating the TCX birds do some positioning, though not exclusively, between HNL and OGG, and between YYC and YEG, in order to have crews in place to operate flights then next day from those locations.

[Cage]

Originally Posted by YYCguys

Initially, flight attendants will be committing to a about a year or so on the 763 only, until scheduling permits the flight attendants to cross train between that and the 73G.

Why limit yourself schduling wise to have 763 only cabin crews. Many airlines have cross trained their cabin crew on 737 and 763. The differences course adds about 1.5 days to the training regiment.

There has to be a good reason?

The only thing that comes to mind is service standards, specifically in WS case the provision of hot meals. But this reason seems as silly as my old man saying he doesn't know how to use the stove, so it sandwiches for dinner unless mom made us something before heading to work.

[YYCguys]

Just to get the kinks worked out, I imagine. This is all new territory for WS and its crews. Once confident that things will be going smoothly, then cross training can begin.

Originally Posted by Cage

Why limit yourself schduling wise to have 763 only cabin crews. Many airlines have cross trained their cabin crew on 737 and 763. The differences course adds about 1.5 days to the training regiment.

Aren't AC crews trained on everything?