YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[CareerShow]

What routes may come to fruition now that Westjet has a new low cost carrier on route, and what current routes may be transferred?

[SpongeG]

speaking of the ferries

Island Ferry singled out for possible Nanaimo-Vancouver service - See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/business/is...r-service-1.6550060#sthash.yi2PIXsn.dpuf

---

how much more no frills can westjet go? no magazine?

[nname]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

how much more no frills can westjet go? no magazine?

no tv, no wifi, check-in counter fee, carry-on luggage fee, no free drink, boarding pass printing fee, surcharge for additional baggage at airport, 29' or 28' pitch, etc...

they could also invent some new fees (washroom usage fee!?), or adventure into sub-28in seat pitch....

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

speaking of the ferries

Island Ferry singled out for possible Nanaimo-Vancouver service - See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/business/is...r-service-1.6550060#sthash.yi2PIXsn.dpuf

---

how much more no frills can westjet go? no magazine?

no recline, no tray table, smaller pitch, seats without conforming headrest, ads on seat backs, no in flight entertainment (except maybe usb charging ports?), charge for carry-on in the overhead, rush seating

[LeftCoaster]

Are they going to start charging passengers for the shitty jokes their flight attendants tell?

I think in all honesty I'd pay them to stop.

[casper]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Are they going to start charging passengers for the shitty jokes their flight attendants tell?

I think in all honesty I'd pay them to stop.

They could create a dedicated YukYuk comedy cabin. Special cabin with access to poor jokes every 10 minutes during the flight. The only question is that will be a premium cabin or a deeply discounted cabin.

[jlousa]

Love to see someone attempt an autonomous flight with no pilot and flight attendants. Heck no checked luggage either. Walk on Walk off only. Doubt the authorities would allow it but the tech already exists and as a bonus no need to shuffle airliner employees around.

[mezzanine]

Although flying on a no-frills WJ flight seems like eating a shit sandwich, i can see this making sense in a strategic way - when facing the big choice for growing the company, instead of taking a major risk and going full-service alliance flying internationally and going head-to-head with AC, they are aiming for growth against shaky competitors and gives them leverage with their labour negotiations. and i suspect there is a large untapped market for ULCCs within canada.

Would they automatically base it out of YYC? to me it would seem that it would cannibalise WJ mainline ops...

[POCO]

Originally Posted by mezzanine

Although flying on a no-frills WJ flight seems like eating a shit sandwich, i can see this making sense in a strategic way - when facing the big choice for growing the company, instead of taking a major risk and going full-service alliance flying internationally and going head-to-head with AC, they are aiming for growth against shaky competitors and gives them leverage with their labour negotiations. and i suspect there is a large untapped market for ULCCs within canada.

Would they automatically base it out of YYC? to me it would seem that it would cannibalise WJ mainline ops...

I can see them using their Calgary headquarters but being based at and flying primarily to smaller secondary airports where these upstarts ULCCs are likely to try to get a foot hold. A Hamilton hub with a focus city out West.

I would personally like an airline to use YOW as a hub as it's a lovely airport but Hamilton sits closer to Toronto and the States.

What does everyone think on potential names? Does it make sense to go with something totally different so as not to sully the WestJet brand? or will it just be "WestJet X" or something of the like?

[SpongeG]

how about "we're the cheap version of westjet so we won't tell you jokes air" or the "no jokes air" for short

[MalcolmTucker]

With the launch of Encore, there was an open process where they took bids for crew bases.

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

no recline, no tray table, smaller pitch, seats without conforming headrest, ads on seat backs, no in flight entertainment (except maybe usb charging ports?), charge for carry-on in the overhead, rush seating

I would expect that they will have a purely WiFi-based bring-your-own-device in-flight entertainment system that is fee-based. I took a flight last summer to Frankfurt with Condor ($200 w/ tax one-way fare for the August long weekend booked one week before!!) and one had the choice of pre-purchasing access to the in-flight entertainment system (seatback) for something like $10 and onboard it was something like $25. Same thing for meals, pre-purchase for a discount and guarantee of the meal of your choice or on-board at a premium for whatever's left. Granted, it was a transatlantic flight, but I could see Westjet-ULCC going this path, especially if they one day offer transatlantic (U)LCC service a la Norwegian with some of Westjet's ordered 737-Max8 aircraft.

Longer-term, if this is a successful venture, I could see Westjet-ULCC leasing/buying some 788/9 or A358/9 to launch ULCC-long haul service to Europe and Asia, tying into Westjet/Encore and Westjet-ULCC domestic feeder network(s). I'm not sure if Westjet would want to cannibalize their transatlantic 767-based service, but perhaps they would chose their destinations accordingly, with premium destinations being served by mainline Westjet (LHR and others, in time) while lower-cost destinations being served by Westjet-ULCC (LGW, MAN, etc.)

Interesting times!

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Love to see someone attempt an autonomous flight with no pilot and flight attendants. Heck no checked luggage either. Walk on Walk off only. Doubt the authorities would allow it but the tech already exists and as a bonus no need to shuffle airliner employees around.

A autonomous flight would probably be safer. I have seen those May Day episodes. Most of them are pilot error and if only the pilot buggered off the plane would correct the issue and everyone would be alive instead.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by nname

no tv, no wifi, check-in counter fee, carry-on luggage fee, no free drink, boarding pass printing fee, surcharge for additional baggage at airport, 29' or 28' pitch, etc...

they could also invent some new fees (washroom usage fee!?), or adventure into sub-28in seat pitch....

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

no recline, no tray table, smaller pitch, seats without conforming headrest, ads on seat backs, no in flight entertainment (except maybe usb charging ports?), charge for carry-on in the overhead, rush seating

You forgot this one...

The Ryanair CEO last year said he wants standing room only flights (this proposal was shot down years earlier by regulators)...

This has a concept image.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/New-call-for-standing-seats-on-planes/

[YVR Bruce]

It will be interesting to see whether the 10 x 738s are new to the combined fleet or to be drawn from the "mainline". With the latter, some leakage from YVR to XX to be expected, as happened at SFO during the early days of WN

[casper]

Originally Posted by YVR Bruce

It will be interesting to see whether the 10 x 738s are new to the combined fleet or to be drawn from the "mainline". With the latter, some leakage from YVR to XX to be expected, as happened at SFO during the early days of WN

Some of the rumors are the new generation of 737 will have proper business class seats to better compete against Air Canada in the premium market. If this happens (and that is a big if) more likely to be the older aircrafts.

[nname]

Hmm... no service update in this thread anymore..?

Seems like Xiaman Air is thinking of what to do with the 3x weekly YVR-XMN... At one point, service was reduced to 2x weekly after Oct 24, but the 3rd weekly was added back later, starting Dec 12, but available for full fare only.

I'm wondering if they would re-allocate that weekly to somewhere (similar to moving 1 weekly from XMN-SZX-SEA to XMN-TAO-LAX to supplement their 4x weekly XMN-LAX service). Adding new 1x weekly route to claim the authority of a route seems to be a new trend there, as the available frequency from bilateral is being depleted...

[Gordon]

YvR seems to have added a new Trans border gate E88 . There does not seem to be any room after E87

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by nname

Hmm... no service update in this thread anymore..?

It's been awfully quiet on that front. My guess is a mix of summer schedules being more or less set and the effects of the end of expansion capacity to China.

Only news on airlineroute of late was a reduction to Brisbane, 787-9 down to an 787-8 for the peak winter season. Not a great sign for the route.

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airl...ada-w17-long-haul-changes-as-of-26apr17/

I have noticed KLM has been subbing in their 777-300 a lot over the last few weeks. It's most likely just an equipment utilization thing, but they sure do look great!




https://www.instagram.com/planelovers15/?hl=en

[nname]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

It's been awfully quiet on that front. My guess is a mix of summer schedules being more or less set and the effects of the end of expansion capacity to China.

Only news on airlineroute of late was a reduction to Brisbane, 787-9 down to an 787-8 for the peak winter season. Not a great sign for the route.

Or Johnny is becoming inactive in the forum

Also there is the Air China change - YVR-PEK is now 1x daily 77WHD and 1x daily 333

wrt BNE - at least they it still maintains a daily service instead of dropping down to 3-4x weekly... or it could be a reduction to coincide with a MEL launch (I wonder if there will be any new route for W17.. if there are, announcement should be coming soon)