Canadian Airport Thread

[thenoflyzone]

2018 full year stats are out for YUL

19,425,488 +6.9%

Domestic 7,146,479 +3.3%
Transborder 4,416,169 +7.5%
International 7,862,840 +10.2%

Aircraft movements: 240,159 +2.5%

https://www.admtl.com/sites/default/files/2018/ADM_Statsdet_2018_EN.pdf

[lubicon]

Originally Posted by nname

AC597/598 YYZ-AUS E90 daily

Which was *just* being removed in this week's schedule update. Whether it's route number change, or move to Rouge/Express, or cancelled altogether is yet to be seen.

AC schedule update is still on-going...

EDIT: YYZ-AUS is now Express E75 and increase to 13x weekly.

Also, YYZ-YQB is now fully Rouge, 5x daily, and all flights upgauged to A320.

Yuck.

[SpongeG]

Winnipeg airport debt nearly triples over 9 years, now stands at $728M

Long-term debt incurred to pay for Richardson International's modernization
Bartley Kives · CBC News · Posted: Jan 22, 2019

Long-term debt at Winnipeg's airport has nearly tripled over the past decade to $728 million, but officials say they're managing the liability responsibly.

At the end of 2008, the Winnipeg Airports Authority (WAA) reported $256 million worth of long-term debt.

The authority's long-term debt stood at $728 million at the end of 2017, the most recent year captured by a WAA annual report.

Most of the rise in debt can be attributed to Richardson International Airport's new terminal, which opened in 2011, as well as other improvements and expansions undertaken in an effort to increase passenger and cargo traffic.

WAA vice-president Tyler MacAfee said the expenditure was worth it.

"The airport has become a real source of pride in the community," MacAfee said Monday in an interview at the airport. "There's a cost associated to that, for sure, and that's something that we're vigorously dealing with now."

MacAfee said the airports authority plans to reduce its debt without relying on significant increases to the airport's improvement fee, which stands at $25 per passenger. The debt does not represent a risk to the organization, he added.

...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-airports-authority-debt-1.4986872

[q12]

Over 4.3 Million Passengers in 2018 for Halifax Stanfield!

Halifax Stanfield Growth Reaches New Heights, 4.3 Million Passengers Served in 2018

POSTED ON JANUARY 29, 2019

Halifax, N.S. – Halifax Stanfield continued to experience steady growth in 2018, achieving a new record of 4,316,079 passengers served. This is an increase of 5.7 per cent over the previous year of 4,083,188 passengers served, which was the first time the airport surpassed the 4 million passenger milestone.

“We’re really pleased to see more and more passengers choosing to use Halifax Stanfield as their destination, point of departure or preferred transfer airport” said Joyce Carter, President & CEO, Halifax International Airport Authority. “We believe this achievement is in part due to our ongoing focus with airline, government and tourism partners to provide the right connections for travellers to get to and from their destination of choice and making smart infrastructure investments to accommodate our growing service offerings.”

In 2018, the biggest percentage area of growth was seen in the international sector, primarily as a result of new services to London and Paris, and additional capacity to Glasgow, Reykjavik and Frankfurt.

Last year, Halifax Stanfield was served by 18 scheduled and charter passenger airlines flying to 43 destinations. The airport served an average of 170 flights each day to various points within Canada, the United States, Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean.

“We’ve seen an increase in the travel choices available to our passengers, from ultra low-cost flights connecting Halifax to other parts of Canada and more nonstop flights to popular transborder and European destinations,” remarked Carter. “More choice and price points give passengers more reasons to travel, and our team is happy to be able to welcome so many travellers here at Halifax Stanfield. It’s one of the first and last stops for many visitors to our beautiful region and we’re pleased to play such an important role in the provincial and regional
tourism sector.”

Halifax Stanfield has been steadily growing over the last five years, with passenger volume increasing by 17.8 per cent, which equates to an additional 650,000 passengers.

2018 By the Numbers:

Total Passengers Served = 4,316,079 (up 5.7 percent over 2017)
Domestic Air Travel = 84 per cent of all traffic (up 4.6 per cent over 2017)
International Air Travel = 9 per cent of all traffic (up 19.5 per cent over 2017)
Transborder Air Travel = 7 per cent of all traffic (up 4.1 per cent over 2017)

https://halifaxstanfield.ca/2019/01/hali...ghts-4-3-million-passengers-served-2018/

[SpongeG]

does Ottawa have any international flights?

[wave46]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

does Ottawa have any international flights?

Aside from the US/sun destinations?

London-Heathrow year-round and Frankfurt seasonal on Air Canada

[Rogie]

Halifax joins a long list of airports reporting record passenger numbers:

https://westernaviationnews.com/2019/01/29/halifax-international-sets-passenger-record-in-2018/

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by wave46

Aside from the US/sun destinations?

London-Heathrow year-round and Frankfurt seasonal on Air Canada

ok, similiar to Edmonton. Was just curious.

[zahav]

Do you think the LHR and FRA flights will be switch to 330s? Along with YYC-NRT, these are some of (if not the) last flights on 767-300s, which are scheduled to be done after the summer. I don't think AC would ditch either of those destinations from YOW, so guessing they will be 330s or Dreamliners

[SpongeG]

Drunk WestJet passenger who caused plane to reroute ordered to pay $21,000 for the fuel

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/w...qwWCoevlREcoixdwpX8ulUa2bDSc_V1gki7RBhT8

[Canadian74]

Originally Posted by zahav

Do you think the LHR and FRA flights will be switch to 330s? Along with YYC-NRT, these are some of (if not the) last flights on 767-300s, which are scheduled to be done after the summer. I don't think AC would ditch either of those destinations from YOW, so guessing they will be 330s or Dreamliners

Can the 737max do YOW-LHR?

[nname]

Originally Posted by Canadian74

Can the 737max do YOW-LHR?

Yes, it's a shorter distance compared to YUL-BOD.

It will be a big reduction in seats, however...

[thenoflyzone]

Recap of North America's busiest airports in terms of international passengers in 2017.

1. JFK 32.4 million
2. YYZ 29.6 million
3. LAX 24.8 million
4. MIA 21.5 million
5. CUN 15.79 million
6. MEX 15.75 million
7. PTY 15.6 million
8. SFO 13.4 million
9. EWR 12.9 million
10. ORD 12.46 million
11. YVR 12.4 million
12. ATL 12.03 million
13. YUL 11.2 million
14. IAH 10.3 million
15. DFW 8.5 million
16. FLL 7.18 million
17. BOS 7.16 million

Not much will change in 2018. YYZ should finish close to 31 million. YUL caught up to ATL (from a 800,000 split in 2017 to a mere 200,000 in 2018), while so far, the gap between ORD and YVR has widened. Here are the numbers we know so far.

1. JFK 31.1 million (til November)
2. YYZ 24.3 million (til September, should finish around 31 million)
3. LAX 26.05 million
4. MIA 21.86 million
5. CUN 16.4 million
6. MEX 15.75 million
7. PTY
8. SFO 13.05 million (til November)
9. EWR 12.9 million (til November)
10. ORD 12.67 million (til November)
11.YVR 13.49 million
12. ATL 11.5 million (til November, should finish around 12.4 million)
13. YUL 12.27 million
14. IAH 9.77 million (til November)
15. DFW
16. FLL
17. BOS

[someone123]

Those international passenger numbers favour smaller countries like Canada. If you look at the global list it's dominated by places like Hong Kong (apparently China flights still count as international?), Dubai, Qatar, and Singapore. The list for total passengers is topped by Atlanta and Beijing.

[wave46]

Stirring the pot....

All those tourists going to sun destinations really help inflate the international numbers for Canadian airports. I'd be curious to see what happens if you factor out Mexican (aside from MEX), Caribbean and Florida airports.

I'm pretty sure somewhere like LAX or JFK has a quite different mix of travellers.

[SaskOttaLoo]

Originally Posted by someone123

A main factor behind the rationale is no doubt that Halifax is the hub for Atlantic Canada, population 2.3 million, and in Atlantic Canada driving to other destinations is relatively inconvenient compared to flying. An Ottawa-Hamilton flight is a lot less enticing than Halifax-Hamilton, particularly if your true destination is the GTA.

I agree, but I'm thinking less of Halifax and more about both companies deciding to focus on Edmonton as a hub with no one even considering flights to YOW or Quebec. Having lived in Ottawa, it seems to me to be ripe for more direct options than it has now and would seem to have many of the same arguments for being a focus that Edmonton has, including nearly identical populations and that both are not hubs whereas nearby cities are (meaning that flying from both tends to often require connections).

[SaskOttaLoo]

Originally Posted by Rogie

Halifax joins a long list of airports reporting record passenger numbers:

https://westernaviationnews.com/2019/01/29/halifax-international-sets-passenger-record-in-2018/

Rogie, if you're behind Western Aviation News I just wanted to say kudos! It's a nice site to stay updated with the latest developments.

[Rogie]

Of the 4.8 million passengers between Canada and Mexico last year, 1.1 million flew to Mexico City. The rest were to sun resorts.



from: https://westernaviationnews.com/2019/01/26/canada-mexico-air-travel-reaches-4-8-million/

[SpongeG]

a swoop flight

• Video Link

[whywhyzee]

Originally Posted by wave46

Stirring the pot....

All those tourists going to sun destinations really help inflate the international numbers for Canadian airports. I'd be curious to see what happens if you factor out Mexican (aside from MEX), Caribbean and Florida airports.

I'm pretty sure somewhere like LAX or JFK has a quite different mix of travellers.

YYZ is one of the busiest international destinations to many of Europe's hubs, such as AMS, FRA, and LHR, not to mention maintains a strong presence in Asia. I seem to recall seeing on another forum that YYZ is the second or third largest gateway to North America, so it's fair to say it wells reserves that rank, all without a massive ME3 presence that some competing airports have, and other highly restrictive bilaterals.

YUL is even more impressive given it's size, they punch waaaaaay above their weight on the global scale. If you want to see airports with numbers that might be considered excessive, look at Europe, where just about every flight is international. Especially in the EU, where it may as well be domestic, those airports tend to see massive numbers.