Canadian Airport Thread

[SignalHillHiker]

We now know what more of the new tenants at YYT will be, and it's great news.

[Marty_Mcfly]

It's great that there'll be something in the departures lounge once phase one of the expansion is completed. If your flight is delayed/cancelled back there, there's nothing to do but sit down, and stare at the wall. The only food being Tim Hortons express and....maybe that's it?

There'll probably be another coffee shop to go along with Tims and Jumping Bean (probably Starbucks).

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

Weird winch? Lol....it's unofficially called the "barking dog."

http://www.askthepilot.com/questionanswers/the-barking-dog-airbus-noises/

Also, add me to the list of A320 lovers. Several reasons.

Canada already had plenty of B737 operators.
A320 is fly by wire. B737 isn't.
A320 can take containers below deck. B737 cannot.

I'm glad Delta went with Airbus for their narrowbody order today.

When you said 'barking dog', I knew exactly what you meant. I've always wondered what that weird noise was.

I personally prefer the A320 series too, and I really wish that Air Canada had purchased the NEO model rather than the 737.

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by chris

The windows of the A320 are a little higher up, meaning there's less "bending down the head" to look out the windows...and it also means that there's more natural light that enters the cabin.

The higher window placement on the A320 is nice, however they are quite a bit smaller than 737 windows.

The 737-A320 debates never ends and there really is no definitively better plane. The C-Series, on the other hand, is a dramatically superior aircraft from a passenger perspective than the A317/18/19 Airbus products and their B737-600 and -700 Boeing competitors and it's not even a competition vs Bombardier CRJs and Embraer first-gen E-Jets. I can't wait for them to be in widespread service with Air Canada.

[chris]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

The 737-A320 debates never ends and there really is no definitively better plane. The C-Series, on the other hand, is a dramatically superior aircraft from a passenger perspective than the A317/18/19 Airbus products and their B737-600 and -700 Boeing competitors and it's not even a competition vs Bombardier CRJs and Embraer first-gen E-Jets. I can't wait for them to be in widespread service with Air Canada.

Couldn't agree more! The C-Series is a fantastic aircraft and I look forward to it gracing our skies over the coming years.

[Alexcaban]

Air Canada mainline service is returning to the YUL-YWG route as of May 1st.

1 daily A320 May,
Peak summer 2x daily A320

[yyzer]

Philippine Airlines are commencing their MNL - YYZ nonstop flights today, with PR 118 currently enroute with 777-300ER RP-C7779 eta 1732.. also, googling around it looks like they might become YYZ's first A350 operator, starting in June 2018...

http://philippineairspace.blogspot.ca/2017/12/pal-announces-delivery-schedule-for-a350.html

[DrNest]

I'm looking forward to seeing the A350 regularly into Pearson. I had wondered if Cathay would use one on some of their flights, but to be honest I've no idea what their loads are like. If Finnair return to Pearson, I can see them using one of theirs from Helsinki, but for now, I guess PAL will be the first.

[thenoflyzone]

As of yesterday, YUL became the second airport in Canada with year-round non-stop flights to 5 continents, with the launch of Rouge flights to LIM.

South America is the 3rd new continent Air Canada serves from YUL in 2 years (after launching Africa and Asia). Over the past 5 years AC has increased capacity from YUL by 83% and added 29 new destinations.

Impressive stuff. 2018 promises more of the same by AC, with the launch of non stop flights to NRT, DUB, LIS, OTP, PHX, YYJ, BWI and PIT.

YUL will serve roughly 18.4 million passengers this year, and with current growth rates continuing, close to 20 million passengers next year.

[SaskOttaLoo]

Originally Posted by casper

Victoria is a very unique market. Float aircraft from the harbour to Vancouver and Seattle. Helijet service to vancouvrr. The bus service that runs on bc ferries includes a link to yvr. Three different marine passage connections to the us.

Still YYJ is a fairly significant transportation hub for the region.

I know the whole 'Quebec airports aren't busy relative to their population vs. the rest of Canada' thing has been hashed out many times on here and I'm not looking to restart it. I simply find it really hard to understand in comparing Victoria with Quebec City, that Victoria could have more passengers annually. Given that both are major tourist cities, QC has such a higher population, and that many people don't fly from the Victoria airport as you mention, I would have thought that it wouldn't have been this way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Canada

[SaskOttaLoo]

I was really surprised yesterday to find out that there are no regularly scheduled Saskatoon to Regina flights. I was trying to think of whether these would be the largest two nearby cities in Canada with no regular flight service. Maybe Hamilton to London would also quality, but that's about half the distance or so and so a lot more convenient to drive. Anyone have a sense of why demand is so low between the two? I'd have thought with one the biz capital and the other the government capital that there would be more demand. Maybe now that they've cancelled the STC it'll change?

[casper]

Originally Posted by SaskOttaLoo

I was really surprised yesterday to find out that there are no regularly scheduled Saskatoon to Regina flights. I was trying to think of whether these would be the largest two nearby cities in Canada with no regular flight service. Maybe Hamilton to London would also quality, but that's about half the distance or so and so a lot more convenient to drive. Anyone have a sense of why demand is so low between the two? I'd have thought with one the biz capital and the other the government capital that there would be more demand. Maybe now that they've cancelled the STC it'll change?

There is regular service Monday to Friday. It is operated by Westwind aviation and departs from the FBO.

http://www.westwindaviation.ca/express-air/

In years past Air Canada operated A320 service between the two cities. An artifact of how Air Canada use to run: Toronto-Regina-Saskatoon-Toronto flights once a day and then have the other flight be Toronto-Saskatoon-Regina-Toronto. That routing stopped when they started to us the Embrear aircraft and CRJ-705 aircraft to serve both cities non-stop several times per day.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SaskOttaLoo

I know the whole 'Quebec airports aren't busy relative to their population vs. the rest of Canada' thing has been hashed out many times on here and I'm not looking to restart it. I simply find it really hard to understand in comparing Victoria with Quebec City, that Victoria could have more passengers annually. Given that both are major tourist cities, QC has such a higher population, and that many people don't fly from the Victoria airport as you mention, I would have thought that it wouldn't have been this way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Canada

Well, from Quebec City you can easily drive to the closest big city and the rest of the continent without taking a ferry.

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by SaskOttaLoo

I know the whole 'Quebec airports aren't busy relative to their population vs. the rest of Canada' thing has been hashed out many times on here and I'm not looking to restart it. I simply find it really hard to understand in comparing Victoria with Quebec City, that Victoria could have more passengers annually. Given that both are major tourist cities, QC has such a higher population, and that many people don't fly from the Victoria airport as you mention, I would have thought that it wouldn't have been this way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Canada

What's so hard to understand? YYJ is on an island. If you live on Vancouver Island and need to fly out, taking a ferry to YVR is a pain in the ass. So you suck it up and use YYJ.

People living in Quebec City, on the other hand, can drive to YUL in 2 hours. No floats, ferries or choppers needed.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by SaskOttaLoo

I was really surprised yesterday to find out that there are no regularly scheduled Saskatoon to Regina flights. I was trying to think of whether these would be the largest two nearby cities in Canada with no regular flight service. Maybe Hamilton to London would also quality, but that's about half the distance or so and so a lot more convenient to drive. Anyone have a sense of why demand is so low between the two? I'd have thought with one the biz capital and the other the government capital that there would be more demand. Maybe now that they've cancelled the STC it'll change?

It seems that with each passing decade service between prairie cities gets more and more minimal with the exception of service to Calgary, which acts as a regional hub.

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by SaskOttaLoo

I was really surprised yesterday to find out that there are no regularly scheduled Saskatoon to Regina flights. I was trying to think of whether these would be the largest two nearby cities in Canada with no regular flight service. Maybe Hamilton to London would also quality, but that's about half the distance or so and so a lot more convenient to drive. Anyone have a sense of why demand is so low between the two? I'd have thought with one the biz capital and the other the government capital that there would be more demand. Maybe now that they've cancelled the STC it'll change?

Tourists have 3 choices, they can fly to Montréal, rent a car and drive to Quebec City, or they can drive to Quebec City from the US, or they can fly to Quebec City.

100km radius from downtown Montréal , about 4.8M people
900km radius from downtown Montréal , about 97M people

about 100 million people who can reach southern Quebec by car. 11hrs drive max

that's about the time it takes to go from Vancouver to Calgary by car.

[casper]

Originally Posted by esquire

It seems that with each passing decade service between prairie cities gets more and more minimal with the exception of service to Calgary, which acts as a regional hub.

I would say it is the opposite. Yes, Calgary has grown but so have service to other parts.

From Saskatoon (a city I know well), WestJet and AC Jazz run flights into Edmonton and Winnipeg. When I moved there around 2000, that was around the Canadian merger with Air Canada. Service to Edmonton was non-existent. Service to Winnipeg was far more limited than it is today. Saskatoon also picked up more flights to Toronto and an Ottawa flight in that time. Las Vegas and Phoenix was non-existent and now they are seasonal services.

[thenoflyzone]

Air China and Air Canada are expanding their codeshare services and lounge agreement in time for the 2018 Canada-China Year of Tourism.

https://aircanada.mediaroom.com/2017-12-...Network-in-Advance-of-Full-Joint-Venture

CA will place it's code on AC's YUL-PVG flight.

AC will place its code on CA's flights between PEK and Zhengzhou, Xiamen, Shenzhen and Nanjing as well as CA's flight between YUL-HAV.

Both carriers have also implemented an expanded lounge agreement. In addition to Star Gold customers, all CA First and Business class customers will now have access to Air Canada's recently upgraded International MLLs.

The expanded codeshare cooperation is planned to come into effect in April 2018, subject to regulatory and government approvals.

[ghYHZ]

Not really Canada....but close enough. ASL Airlines is launching non-stop transatlantic '737 service between Paris and Saint-Pierre et Miquelon.

http://laerien.fr/2017/12/18/saint-pierr...rance-vol-direct-paris-air-saint-pierre/

Previously you had to take an Air St. Pierre ATR-42 to Halifax, St. John's or Montreal to connect to France.

http://airsaintpierre.com/en/

Saint-Pierre et Miquelon is a Territory "Collectivité" of France located about 15 miles off the south coast of Newfoundland. The islands might be in North America but the local currency in the Euro and the food and wine.....excellent!

[esquire]

^ That's a long route for a place with 6,000 visitors to sustain, even if it is just once week. I know tourism is a big part of their economy, but still.