YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by nname

And only 1 jetbridge (gate 3)

Gate 1 use stairs
Gate 2 is for prop planes

And probably only gate 3 can be used for international departure/arrival as it connects to the custom facility and duty-free

That is all correct - I just flew YWG-YXX and back last weekend. Westjet was on gate 3 (the international gate). The Flair flight to YWG was at gate 1 using the stairs.

[CareerShow]

Did Air Canada shut down its Crew Base for E90's in Vancouver? And do we have any Air Canada crew types based out of here? And what about Westjet?

[nname]

According Airlineroute, AC's YVR-TPE flight will be reduced to 5-6x weekly over the winter season:

29OCT17 – 30NOV17 5 weekly (Day x25)
01DEC17 – 08FEB18 6 weekly (Day x2)
09FEB18 – 23MAR18 5 weekly (Day x25)

Seems like I need to change my plan for my November trip now....


And according to Taiwanese media, the LF for the route so far is over 90%

[POCO]

Originally Posted by nname

Seems like I need to change my plan for my November trip now....

Look at Hong Kong Airlines to HKG or connecting to TPE. I've seen some pretty decent fares recently.

[lubicon]

Originally Posted by CareerShow

Did Air Canada shut down its Crew Base for E90's in Vancouver? And do we have any Air Canada crew types based out of here? And what about Westjet?

Not sure about Air Canada but WestJet has a pilot base (737) and Jazz does as well (Q400) at YVR.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

A lot of Westjet traffic really can't go to YXX - there are like 3 gates.

As for that map - I really doubt some of those. If Air Canada couldn't make somewhere like Istanbul or Rio work, I am seriously doubting that Westjet can.

3 gates should be able to handle a few ULCC flights per day. They've ordered 10 High-capacity 737s. I'm sure they'll repurpose some of the shorter YXX flights that WestJet currently has
Today's flights:

WestJet 158  Edmonton     9:00 AM Departed 9:00 AM
WestJet 3306 Calgary      9:15 AM Departed 9:15 AM
NewLeaf 850  Edmonton     9:20 AM Departed 9:20 AM
WestJet 140  Edmonton    10:40 AM On Time 10:40 AM
WestJet 332  Winnipeg     1:10 PM On Time 1:10 PM
WestJet 122  Calgary      2:10 PM On Time 2:10 PM
Island Exp  004 Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Comox 4:30 PM On Time 4:30 PM
WestJet 190  Calgary      5:05 PM On Time 5:05 PM
WestJet 106  Calgary      8:10 PM On Time 8:10 PM
WestJet 496  Edmonton     8:25 PM On Time 8:25 PM

They could easily take one of those WestJet planes going to YYC/YEG and move it to a different route out of YVR, and replace it at YXX with their new ULCC. This solidifies YXX as the discount airport of choice for Metro Vancouver residents who will have fewer and fewer reasons to cross the border and use BLI.

ULCCs also usually prefer not to use Jetbridges as airports charge more for their use, if I'm not mistaken. As many of their customers are flying with just a personal item, not even carry-on, it's less important to be able to roll luggage onto the plane. It also allows them to more easily load from the front and back doors (something Alaska does at BLI).

I found an interesting little report from BLI regarding their plans for growth: http://www.portofbellingham.com/DocumentCenter/View/6708

They anticipate a drop when Paine field opens, but not long-term, as that airport has limited long-term capacity ( 2 gates ).

I charted their forecast here:


Some interesting tidbits. It's clear that YVR very competitive right now with BLI, for almost all flights except Las Vegas, which is Allegiant's hub.

YXX, however, is the most expensive to fly out of. As such, a ULCC would make it more competitive. Interestingly, some US destinations are cheaper out of YVR than out of SEA!

YXX also has a 9000' runway capable of landing most planes.

Here's the numbers if you want to see it for yourself and play with the data.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...WQmmgWagWRtMWLt_fOHh05M/edit?usp=sharing

[excel]

Originally Posted by lubicon

Not sure about Air Canada but WestJet has a pilot base (737) and Jazz does as well (Q400) at YVR.

AC has a319/320, 777, 787 pilot bases at YVR. They will be basing 737 pilots here as well when they begin flying them later this year.

[Gordon]

why did AC switch from the Embraers to the RJ705s in Vancouver.

I suspect it will be a while before BLI attracts the numbers of Vancouver pax with par or near par dollar not likely for a while.

How close is the current terminal to capacity?

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by Gordon

why did AC switch from the Embraers to the RJ705s in Vancouver.

I heard the Embraer's have issues clearing the Canadian Rockies on single engine.

[Gordon]

Wpould those have been better plans for the new transboarder routes?

[Johnny Aussie]

"Major Announcement" at YVR tomorrow 10:00am.

Live feed on Facebook....

[excel]

Terminal construction start maybe?

[Cage]

The announcement primer mentions Musequem First Nations band, so this makes me think this will be about an art piece or exhibit coming to YVR.

I will be dissapointed if this is in relation to the terminal or whole airport naming rights.

[Gordon]

The D pier expansion is supposed to have a First Nations theme.

If it is the D pier announcement . I wonder how long it will take the 1st couple of gates in service?

[CareerShow]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

I heard the Embraer's have issues clearing the Canadian Rockies on single engine.

Are the CRA 705 any better over the rockies? Also I remember reading AC was disappointed with the E90 performance, hence why they are being phased out only 10 years into their lifespan.

[casper]

Originally Posted by CareerShow

Are the CRA 705 any better over the rockies? Also I remember reading AC was disappointed with the E90 performance, hence why they are being phased out only 10 years into their lifespan.

The version of the story I have been told is the E75 have a single engine performance issue that results in them not meeting minimum AC requirements for operating over certain parts of the Rockies. To simplify things AC decided to only fly their very small fleet of E75 east of Calgary. The reason an AC E75 has never come to Vancouver. The E75 were recently all moved form AC operated to being operated by a regional carrier (not Jazz) that is based in eastern Canada.

The E90 are fairly regular on routes in and out of Vancouver. Given the number of aircraft at AC has been going down they reached the point where it made sense to only have a single base. Many of the old E90 routes (such as YYC-YVR) tend to have A32x these days.

[mezzanine]

Originally Posted by Cage

The announcement primer mentions Musequem First Nations band, so this makes me think this will be about an art piece or exhibit coming to YVR.

I will be dissapointed if this is in relation to the terminal or whole airport naming rights.

It is national aboriginal day, so my guess is something important related to that, perhaps a land-use/land claim agreement. Less likely, but possibly a naming announcement. something like terminal groundbreaking or an art announcement would be farther down the list.

[CareerShow]

Originally Posted by casper

The version of the story I have been told is the E75 have a single engine performance issue that results in them not meeting minimum AC requirements for operating over certain parts of the Rockies. To simplify things AC decided to only fly their very small fleet of E75 east of Calgary. The reason an AC E75 has never come to Vancouver. The E75 were recently all moved form AC operated to being operated by a regional carrier (not Jazz) that is based in eastern Canada.

The E90 are fairly regular on routes in and out of Vancouver. Given the number of aircraft at AC has been going down they reached the point where it made sense to only have a single base. Many of the old E90 routes (such as YYC-YVR) tend to have A32x these days.

Yea makes sense. Although ac no longer flies a single e90 out of yvr, all routes have been converted to the a320 family or cra. It's amazing to think just four years ago there were only Vegas, la, and sfo, pdx, and sea as transborder routes with only E90 as the largest aircraft type, as well as only syd, Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and London, with Hong Kong not daily in the winter, London downgraded to a a333, and the other four Asian destinations all 763 (which actually now may be the most comfortable aircraft type)

[officedweller]

Jet Fuel Pipeline project underway:

https://www.biv.com/article/2017/6/new-150-million-jet-fuel-pipeline-project-underway/

[Gordon]

That's not suprising, good to see that project has started. It will be interesting to see when construction starts on the terminal expansion.