YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[Orcair]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Which has more pax capacity, an A320 or a 738?

737-800 (160) v. A320-200 (150)

[Hourglass]

Air Canada announces launch of seasonal non-stop YVR - Delhi flights:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...s-from-vancouver-to-delhi-577240551.html

Nice to see YVR getting more love from AC.

[Vagabond]

Originally Posted by Hourglass

Air Canada announces launch of seasonal non-stop YVR - Delhi flights:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...s-from-vancouver-to-delhi-577240551.html

Nice to see YVR getting more love from AC.

Success!! This is big news, and happened sooner than I anticipated. I was almost certain that AC would start YYZ-BOM before YVR-DEL. I'm sure the BC Liberals would have preferred an announcement next spring (allowing them to capitalize right before the election), although I see PCC is already taking some of the credit.

The flight timings are OK. Not super conducive to connecting to/from other cities in India, although I doubt that is a priority for AC given the heavy O&D on this route.

But excellent news nonetheless for both YVR and the Indo-Canadian community (the new flight shaves 5 hours off the current quickest routings).

Now let's see if the Chinese carriers answer this new competition with heavy discounting.

[thenoflyzone]

Weird that it's winter seasonal, no?

[Klazu]

787-9 to DEL - nice! Jusr strange to have the arrival time in DEL at 1:20am. I doubt there is much to connect to at that time. Otherwise great news.

So is this going to be a true polar route?

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Klazu

787-9 to DEL - nice! Just strange to have the arrival time in DEL at 1:20am. I doubt there is much to connect to at that time. Otherwise great news.

So is this going to be a true polar route?

Mmmmm almost polar, anyway. Take a look if you're interested:
http://www.airmilescalculator.com/distance/yvr-to-del/

If succesful, I wonder of this might become year-round? That'd be great.

[vanlaw]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

Weird that it's winter seasonal, no?

Maybe to capture the peak tourist season? Service ends in April, monsoons start in the south of India around May I think and it rains for most of the summer in most parts of India? I could be wrong.

Just checked random dates in December. $1,041 return. Pretty good I'd say. 14h10 on the way there, 13h55 on the way back.

[Canadian74]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

Weird that it's winter seasonal, no?

That's the busiest time for Canada-India traffic

[nname]

Originally Posted by Klazu

787-9 to DEL - nice! Jusr strange to have the arrival time in DEL at 1:20am. I doubt there is much to connect to at that time. Otherwise great news.

21:40 departure and 6:55 arrival at YVR is good for connections at this end:

Our non-stop Dreamliner flights from our Vancouver hub will also offer the shortest elapsed flying time from Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles to Delhi

[madog222]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Which has more pax capacity, an A320 or a 738?

738 has more, American also has premium economy seats on it.

[LeftCoaster]

Huge news on Delhi!

I agree that it is strange it is seasonal, if demand is strong I would imagine they could keep it year round though. Winter may be peak season for India but summer is peak season in Vancouver and the western US. With the growing Indian middle and upper class there may be strong inflow demand during the summer.

Either way this is amazing news, and fills a huge gap in YVRs coverage.

Also, even more proof AC is giving YVR a lot of love and not forcing everyone to route through YYZ!

Originally Posted by ShawnShank

American switches PHX to 738 (from A320) and reduces LAX to 1 daily E175 instead of 2, starting this fall

http://airlineroute.net/2016/04/27/aa-yvr-aug16/

Is the AA a typical post summer reduction or more fallout from the huge buildup on YVR-LAX? I'd be surprised if AA yielded too much in the LAX battle considering they are the largest of the big 3 US carriers at LAX.

[sacrifice333]

Originally Posted by ShawnShank

American switches PHX to 738 (from A320) and reduces LAX to 1 daily E175 instead of 2, starting this fall

http://airlineroute.net/2016/04/27/aa-yvr-aug16/

Interesting, as a "partner" of Alaska and codesharer with WJ, I wonder if we'll see either pick up that capacity. Fingers crossed for Alaska mainline (and not a 6AM departure!)!

[Vagabond]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Huge news on Delhi!

I agree that it is strange it is seasonal, if demand is strong I would imagine they could keep it year round though. Winter may be peak season for India but summer is peak season in Vancouver and the western US. With the growing Indian middle and upper class there may be strong inflow demand during the summer.

The numbers actually sort of back this up. According to Destination BC's International Visitor Arrivals stats, BC received approx. 8,000-9,000 entries from India in the summer (2015) months, vs. approx. 3,000 in the winter (2015 & 2016) months. So the seasonal traffic flows actually nicely complement each other (YVR-DEL in winter, DEL-YVR in summer). Cue our local tourism agencies!

However, I can't see a lot of connecting traffic to/from the USA (not without TWOV). Many of the US-based passengers going to India are still Indian citizens (on long term visas) and the non-stop SFO-DEL flight on Air India would likely capture much of the California market.

Finally, I actually think the flight timings are a bit of a lost opportunity. Daytime arrivals/departures for international flights are rare in India, despite their obvious appeal to tourist and VFR passengers. Most European and Asian carriers have to time their India flights in the middle of the night to accommodate their home base ops and connecting flights, but AC wouldn't be restricted by this same concern with YVR-DEL. A mid-morning departure out of YVR (landing in Delhi mid-day +1) and a later afternoon return departure out of DEL (with an early evening arrival into YVR) would have likely better served the needs of many of the passengers on this route. Just my 2 cents!

[trofirhen]

This will still be the ONLY flight to Delhi out of Western Canada, and the US PNW. I sure hope it ultimately goes to full-time

[yyc_engineer]

NUTS!! I didn't expect this for a couple years!!

Congrats to AC and YVR. Interesting that this is now the fastest way to India from BC, Alberta, Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles (a combined catchment area of 30+ Million).

New flight will offer fastest elapsed flying time from YVR, Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles to Delhi
http://micro.newswire.ca/release.cgi?rkey=2404277791&view=13213-0&Start=&htm=0

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by yyc_engineer

NUTS!! I didn't expect this for a couple years!!

Congrats to AC and YVR. Interesting that this is now the fastest way to India from BC, Alberta, Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles (a combined catchment area of 30+ Million).

New flight will offer fastest elapsed flying time from YVR, Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles to Delhi
http://micro.newswire.ca/release.cgi?rkey=2404277791&view=13213-0&Start=&htm=0

As I understand it, you could subtract Los Angeles out of the catchment area, as they'd go via San Fran. Still, a large catchment area, and maybe one that will produce big results!!

[LeftCoaster]

I tried a few test bookings from various locales south of us and the YVR to Delhi route came up as either the best or second best one stop option almost every time.

Flying Saturday to Saturday YVR came up as the preferred option from LAX, SEA and even Mexico city (through YYZ to DEL and through YVR on the return). The route was both price and time competitive, especially for LAX, where the only reasonable competition was through CAN on China Southern.

[nname]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

As I understand it, you could subtract Los Angeles out of the catchment area, as they'd go via San Fran. Still, a large catchment area, and maybe one that will produce big results!!

Interesting that UA and AI does not codeshare with each other. You cannot book flight to LAX through AI, and if you try to book with UA, they will route you through EWR, YYZ, or FRA (and YVR after it gets into their system). In fact, LAX-YVR-DEL will be the shortest flight with a single ticket and without risky connection between two different airlines.

[deasine]

Actually it isn't too strange that it is seasonal. The reason why is traffic patterns are varied throughout the year, significantly more during the winter period but relatively flat in the summer.

[Vagabond]

Originally Posted by nname

Interesting that UA and AI does not codeshare with each other. You cannot book flight to LAX through AI, and if you try to book with UA, they will route you through EWR, YYZ, or FRA (and YVR after it gets into their system). In fact, LAX-YVR-DEL will be the shortest flight with a single ticket and without risky connection between two different airlines.

The next big piece of this puzzle, however, is getting India added to the TWOV list. If this is implemented, then you unlock the huge West Coast market for travel to/from India (especially in J class). Without it, you limit this new, great option to only US citizens.

The other tricky thing with California is that AC's DEL flight doesn't connect to any decently-timed flights to Bangalore (a popular destination ex-SFO and SJC). There is a 5+ hour overnight layover in DEL before flying onto BLR in the early morning, which eliminates any time savings with the more direct routing. While DEL is India's premier, largest, international airport, traffic between the USA and India is more diversified (and not as heavily concentrated at DEL) then to/from YVR or even YYZ.