Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW) 1.0

[YOWflier]

Originally Posted by Jim613

What's the significance of this? That it's a 747?

1) 747
2) Atlas Air

Both very rare sightings around here.

In fact, the 747 is becoming an increasingly rare sighting in general (i.e. at airports that are used to seeing them), as more and more operators send them to the desert in favour of newer, much more efficient types (777s, 787s, etc.).

[bikegypsy]

Originally Posted by ac888yow

1) 747
2) Atlas Air

Both very rare sightings around here.

In fact, the 747 is becoming an increasingly rare sighting in general (i.e. at airports that are used to seeing them), as more and more operators send them to the desert in favour of newer, much more efficient types (777s, 787s, etc.).

They're becoming rare birds. I haven't seen one of these in a few years.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by bikegypsy

They're becoming rare birds. I haven't seen one of these in a few years.

Yup seeing at 747 at YOW is now a rare treat...heck even YYZ doesn't get too many of them anymore. I'm guessing the Atlas bird brought in (or stopped in to pick up) some type of oversized cargo?

Back in the mid-90s AC operated the 741/742/744 on the old AC865/866 YOW-YMX-LHR routing 3 or 4 times a week. Before that there was KL and before that Wardair. I even remember Nationair had 741s to LGW in the early 90s for a summer or two. I remember as a young teenager circa 1991 going out to YOW and seeing two 747s depart with passengers in the same evening. KL to AMS (via YHZ) and Nationair to LGW (don't remember whether it came in from YYZ enroute or stopped at YMX).

[Dominion301]

I don't know if anyone's been to the airport lately, but at long last domestic baggage carousel #5 is now open.

This could reduce baggage wait times at peak periods. However, it may not as the Airport Authority is now putting all domestic AC bags exclusively on 3, WS exclusively on 4 and PD + 7F, 5T (and I'm assuming 4N) on 5. In other words if 4 AC flights arrive within 10 minutes of each other, they're not spreading them out, while the other 2 carousels may sit empty. That's beyond silly.

Why this was never built when the terminal opened 12 years ago is also beyond me.

[HighwayStar]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

In other words if 4 AC flights arrive within 10 minutes of each other, they're not spreading them out, while the other 2 carousels may sit empty. That's beyond silly.

I was going to respond with, "well how often does that happen?"... then I did a quick spot-check for today and there are 5 AC domestic arrivals (YVR, YUL, YHZ, YYZ, YYC) from 16h57 - 17h28... so 5 significant flights in 31 minutes.

A couple minutes early or late on any one of those and I wouldn't want to be hanging around for waiting for checked baggage during that timeframe

[YOWflier]

As of right now, YOW-FRA is scheduled with an A333 (A330-300) next summer.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by ac888yow

As of right now, YOW-FRA is scheduled with an A333 (A330-300) next summer.

Woo hoo! Since I haven't checked is that daily or a temporary 1 month sub with reduced 5x frequency in May like summer 2014? Also is it a 763 in April/May or a 333 the entire way through?

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

I was going to respond with, "well how often does that happen?"... then I did a quick spot-check for today and there are 5 AC domestic arrivals (YVR, YUL, YHZ, YYZ, YYC) from 16h57 - 17h28... so 5 significant flights in 31 minutes.

A couple minutes early or late on any one of those and I wouldn't want to be hanging around for waiting for checked baggage during that timeframe

Both as a passenger and as a former airline employee at YOW (about a decade ago), I can tell you it can be a nightmare and frustrating to see one carousel jammed and the other one sitting idly empty (i.e. AC had 3 to themselves and everyone else was on 4). After the airline I worked for complained, the flights were then spread out more and it stayed this way until recently. Why they reverted back is nothing more than lazy convenience of assigning each of the 3 main domestic airlines their own carousel with no regard to time of day demand.

[YOWflier]

It looks to be 763 until the end of May, then 333 Jun-Aug, then back to 763 from Sept. It also looks to be daily.

[HighwayStar]

Originally Posted by ac888yow

It looks to be 763 until the end of May, then 333 Jun-Aug, then back to 763 from Sept. It also looks to be daily.

oh boy oh boy... just a hop, skip and jump to 788 or 777!! (though I'm not crazy about the 1" tighter seat pitch on the 787-8.

P.S. - AC888YOW - could you please do something about your avatar... It's so distracting I have a hard time actually getting to your posts

[YOWflier]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

oh boy oh boy... just a hop, skip and jump to 788 or 777!! (though I'm not crazy about the 1" tighter seat pitch on the 787-8.

P.S. - AC888YOW - could you please do something about your avatar... It's so distracting I have a hard time actually getting to your posts

Never! The fabulous Melissa must stay.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

oh boy oh boy... just a hop, skip and jump to 788 or 777!! (though I'm not crazy about the 1" tighter seat pitch on the 787-8.

P.S. - AC888YOW - could you please do something about your avatar... It's so distracting I have a hard time actually getting to your posts

As a passenger give me the 333 or 763 any day over a 788 or 777. All the 777s are going 3-4-3 in Y, so it'll be just as nightmareish as the 'dreamliner'.

My hope is the 333 is a sign of strength for the eventual return of year-round FRA service. The 333 also has to do with aircraft rotation as FRA used to see 1 of the 2 YYZ rotations as a 763, whereas now YYZ is 77W & 77L. YUL-FRA is also 333 next summer. YUL used to be a 77W until LH also added YUL-FRA last summer on their own metal.

[Dominion301]

YOW's October and November Stats are out as follows:

Sector / Oct-14 / Oct-15 / % Change
Dom: 315,872 / 309,718 / -1.9%
TB: 60,459 / 55,545 / -8.1% -the Cdn $ making this just awful + the US carrier cutbacks.
Int'l: 15,709 / 17,694 / +12.6% - even if WG's weekly CUN was 85% full, it means AC still put 700 more pax on LHR & FRA in 2015.
TTL: 392,040 / 382,957 / -2.3%

Sector / Nov-14 / Nov-15 / % Change
Dom: 272,384 / 284,816 / +4.6% - loss of 1 daily to YEG, but gains to YQM on WS and YHZ on WS.
TB: 59,605 / 54,621 / -8.4% - continues to be awful.
Int'l: 22,650 / 20,297 / -10.4% - looks like fewer sun flights were launched this November vs last year.
TTL: 354,639 / 359,734 / +1.4%

YTD thru Nov.
Sector / YTD 2014 / YTD 2015 / % Change
Dom: 3,160,638 / 3,205,190 / +1.4%
TB: 667,936 / 673,665 / +0.5% - if December has strong Florida traffic the year-end number will be about even with 2014.
Int'l: 397,008 / 390,275 / -1.7% - might break even with 2014 if there's a strong finish.
TTL: 4,225,582 / 4,269,130 / +1.0% - assuming 1% growth in Dec. YOW will still end the year about 23,000 pax shy of the 2012 total. If you check the annual reports from 12-15 years ago, YOW was projecting 6 million pax by 2020. I think 5 million by 2020 is now more realistic. If there's going to be a year with a big jump between now and the end of the decade, it'll be in 2017 with all the Canada 150 celebrations.

12 Months Rolling / % Change vs Year End 2014
Dom: 3,478,761 / +1.3%
TB: 744,696 / +0.5%
Int'l: 434,221 / -1.5%
TTL: 4,657,678 / +0.9%

[JCL]

There will be a Boeing 777 later today on Air Canada 458 and Air Canada 463.

It's probably to makeup for all the earlier cancelled flights between Ottawa and Toronto because of the freezing rain this morning.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by JCL

There will be a Boeing 777 later today on Air Canada 458 and Air Canada 463.

It's probably to makeup for all the earlier cancelled flights between Ottawa and Toronto because of the freezing rain this morning.

Cool. There might be a couple more later this week after tomorrow's snowstorm hits.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by ac888yow

It looks to be 763 until the end of May, then 333 Jun-Aug, then back to 763 from Sept. It also looks to be daily.

I was playing with Air Canada's timetable planner tool (http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/traveller/timetables/index.html), it appears that the Airbus A330-300 will be assigned to ACA838 from May 20 to August 31; and ACA839 from May 21 to September 1.

Assuming it's a done deal, I would predict that on May 20 there will be a Toronto-Ottawa flight converted for A330-300 assignment in order to bring the aircraft over to Ottawa in order to do ACA838, and vice-versa on September 1.

[eemy]

That's interesting, as they will be keeping LHR as a 767. I'd have thought they'd stick the larger aircraft on that route first.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

That's interesting, as they will be keeping LHR as a 767. I'd have thought they'd stick the larger aircraft on that route first.

It could be a lot of factors that internal people at AC know. Perhaps more business seats on the A330 is a plus. I know some people on here and other forums have noted that when they fly the route the first class cabin seems full. It could also be an increase in cargo carrying capacity. Or even since AC is assigning half of their B767s to Rouge they may want to keep their remaining 17 planes on routes that certainly wouldn't handle the A330. It could also be a rotational thing where the A330 also flies a Calgary/YYC-FRA-YOW-FRA-YYC routing and this makes it simpler for their flight schedules and aircraft allocation.

This is all speculation on my part but nevertheless something I look forward to plane spotting at YOW!!

[MountainView]

Here you go:

Posted at 0530GMT 30DEC15

Air Canada has revised planned operational aircraft for Ottawa – Frankfurt‘s service for summer 2016 season, based on recent schedule update. From 20MAY16 to 31AUG16 (YOW departure), the Star Alliance member will operate Airbus A330-300 aircraft on daily basis, replacing Boeing 767-300ER.

Planned schedule as follow.

AC838 YOW1905 – 0820+1FRA 333 D
AC839 FRA1000 – 1205YOW 333 D

Source: airlineroute.net

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

That's interesting, as they will be keeping LHR as a 767. I'd have thought they'd stick the larger aircraft on that route first.

Originally Posted by MountainView

It could be a lot of factors that internal people at AC know. Perhaps more business seats on the A330 is a plus. I know some people on here and other forums have noted that when they fly the route the first class cabin seems full. It could also be an increase in cargo carrying capacity. Or even since AC is assigning half of their B767s to Rouge they may want to keep their remaining 17 planes on routes that certainly wouldn't handle the A330. It could also be a rotational thing where the A330 also flies a Calgary/YYC-FRA-YOW-FRA-YYC routing and this makes it simpler for their flight schedules and aircraft allocation.

This is all speculation on my part but nevertheless something I look forward to plane spotting at YOW!!

I think the A333 on AC838/9 this summer is all about aircraft rotation. The routing will be YUL-FRA-YOW-FRA-YUL, so having only 1 333 and 1 763 ex-FRA departure each would making crewing the flights much less efficient (but it'll actually be this way before and after the peak summer rushes - I'm guessing YOW-FRA will be 6x/week at the beginning and end of the summer season. YYC is all 789 to Europe this summer...which actually means only 1 787 ex-FRA, but since YYC is a crew base and YOW is not, it's much easier for AC to staff and assign the 789 to YYC-FRA-YYC-LHR-YYC.

The 763 is kept to LHR as YHZ is also still 763. So 763s will rotate something like YYZ-YOW-LHR-YHZ-YYZ.

Hopefully the A333 will keep loads this summer to FRA above 80%. Given YUL next summer gets the earlier FRA slot and YOW the later slot, it might allow for more connections via YOW (including YUL-FRA misconnects). Like you said, they can also route more cargo through YOW this summer.

[Dominion301]

WestJet and AeroMexico have starting codesharing, including on YYZ-YOW.

http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/aer...sign-code-share-agreement-565110761.html