Atlantic Canada airport thread

[MonctonRad]

3x daily Q400 service to Toronto from CYQM is nice, but it will be interesting to see if WestJet will bring jet service back to the region again, especially with Air Canada switching over to Airbus service on our routes.

WestJet is also probably our best hope for establishing a route from CYQM to St. John's as well.

[MonctonRad]

From the CYQM Twitter feed:

#MonctonYQM is making great progress creating the pedway to connect the mezzanine to the bistro to open in February. Once open, the bistro will only be accessible from the post-security area. Details: http://bit.ly/31XhCjT #Moncton

Interesting that they are referring to the old bar as a "bistro" instead. Apparently, the function of the second level bar will change once the airside conversion is completed, and food service will be available as well as drinks.

This will be a great addition to the airside part of the airport, with passengers in the waiting area having access to a new bistro as well as the current Tim Horton's.

[MonctonRad]

Swoop is planning route expansion in 2020.

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/288390/swoop-s20-domestic-network-expansion/

There will be:

1) - 3x weekly service from Moncton to Hamilton beginning 16/10/20
2) - 1x weekly service from Charlottetown to Hamilton beginning 15/10/20
3) - 1x daily service from St. John's to Hamilton beginning 22/06/20

[Bishop2047]

Swoop is coming back to Moncton and starting up in Charlottetown. Not the best frequency but it's a start. Hope it sticks this time.

Edit:MonctonRad beat my by a hair*

[MonctonRad]

I misread the schedule:

Hamilton – Charlottetown eff 27JUN20 3 weekly (1 weekly from 15OCT20)
WO352 YHM1550 – 1846YYG 7S8 246
WO457 YYG1935 – 2052YHM 7S8 246

Hamilton – Moncton eff 24JUN20 4 weekly (3 weekly from 16OCT20)
WO260 YHM1600 – 1851YQM 7S8 X246
WO287 YHM1940 – 2050YHM 7S8 7
WO355 YQM1945 – 2055YHM 7S8 135

Hamilton – St. John’s NFLD eff 22JUN20 1 daily
WO146 YHM0800 – 1218YYT 7S8 D
WO159 YYT1305 – 1504YHM 7S8 D

To be clear:

1) - Hamilton to Charlottetown 3x weekly effective June, decreasing to 1x weekly in October
2) - Hamilton to Moncton 4x weekly effective June, decreasing to 3x weekly in October

[J81]

Originally Posted by theshark

Article in the Telegraph Journal saying the new owners of Westjet want to have a better presence in eastern Canada once the grounded planes are back in service.

Would be nice a direct Bathurst-Toronto flight with Westjet Encore, if this would ever happen, I see one of our daily flight to Montreal with AC express switch to Toronto to compete. Better connection opportunities!

Eastern Canada is referring to Ottawa and Montreal in this case where WJ has stated in the past their network is lacking.

[lirette]

Another airplane has slid off the runway in Halifax

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/westjet-flight-runway-toronto-to-halifax-1.5415604

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by lirette

Another airplane has slid off the runway in Halifax

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/westjet-flight-runway-toronto-to-halifax-1.5415604

Getting to be a habit, isn't it...........

[L'homard]

No, no. It's just a "hard landing," remember?

[MonctonRad]

[Nathan2280]

I think closing Saint John Airport should be considered if we want more destinations in a central airport like Moncton.I'm Saint Johner saying this too

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Nathan2280

I think closing Saint John Airport should be considered if we want more destinations in a central airport like Moncton.I'm Saint Johner saying this too

An airport's catchment area doesn't go up because another airport closes. Air Canada isn't going to say "Well, we would run a flight to Vegas out of Moncton, but we can't because that pesky Saint John airport is there". If they look at the Moncton catchment area and decide that area can support a flight, they will add it. It's not likely that the feeder traffic from Saint John to a hub and onwards to Vegas would be enough to matter to that hub flight if it moved to the direct flight from Moncton.

[Dalreg]

Originally Posted by Nathan2280

I think closing Saint John Airport should be considered if we want more destinations in a central airport like Moncton.I'm Saint Johner saying this too

Closing Saint John would not equate to Moncton gaining all the traffic. Some people would drive to Moncton but a lot wouldn't.

In the perfect world Moncton should be the one closed and the traffic would probably split between Saint John and Halifax.

[Bishop2047]

Originally Posted by Dalreg

Closing Saint John would not equate to Moncton gaining all the traffic. Some people would drive to Moncton but a lot wouldn't.

In the perfect world Moncton should be the one closed and the traffic would probably split between Saint John and Halifax.

You are correct. Closing SJ (not happening) would not equal a boost to Moncton alone. It would surely help Bangor/Freddy/ Moncton, but overall would most likely mean fewer people flying total.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Dalreg

Closing Saint John would not equate to Moncton gaining all the traffic. Some people would drive to Moncton but a lot wouldn't.

In the perfect world Moncton should be the one closed and the traffic would probably split between Saint John and Halifax.

You do most of your posting in western Canadian threads (especially Saskatchewan based), therefore I don't know how well grounded you are in the realities of the Maritimes. Do you have roots here?

In any event CYQM (Moncton) is by far the busiest airport in NB, with nearly 700k PAX. The Saint John Airport is the smallest of the "big three", with only about 280k PAX.

I doubt that the three airport model in NB will disappear, but I think you could argue that there should be maybe two main airports in the province, one for eastern NB (Moncton), and the other for western NB (either Freddy or SJ). This could allow for economies of scale, and more frequent connections for western NB PAX, but I have my doubts that route selection would be any better.

Halifax seems to have sewn up the honours of being considered the "regional airport" for Atlantic Canada. The big airports being Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary & Vancouver.

I don't think there will be any additions to the "big eight".

[Sunnybrae]

As a side note, aviation, specifically leisure travel, is in the cross-hairs for negative impacts on the environment and climate change. I wouldn't be surprised in the not too distant future, that air travel will be held to account and that taxes will be increased in an attempt to reduce air travel and it's negative impacts on the environment.

[habs33]

Here's Swoop official announcement about adding flights to Moncton, Charlottetown and St. John’s
Swoop grows its East Coast network

[homebody]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

You do most of your posting in western Canadian threads (especially Saskatchewan based), therefore I don't know how well grounded you are in the realities of the Maritimes. Do you have roots here?

In any event CYQM (Moncton) is by far the busiest airport in NB, with nearly 700k PAX. The Saint John Airport is the smallest of the "big three", with only about 280k PAX.

I doubt that the three airport model in NB will disappear, but I think you could argue that there should be maybe two main airports in the province, one for eastern NB (Moncton), and the other for western NB (either Freddy or SJ). This could allow for economies of scale, and more frequent connections for western NB PAX, but I have my doubts that route selection would be any better.

Halifax seems to have sewn up the honours of being considered the "regional airport" for Atlantic Canada. The big airports being Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary & Vancouver.

I don't think there will be any additions to the "big eight".

Here is the best scenario: Have one major airport in Fredericton close the other two in Moncton and Saint John. Fredericton is fairly equal driving distance from both cities and easily accessible from the northern part of the province. That would also give Moncton residents the option of Halifax that is a couple of hours away. We really only need one airport here in the province. I almost forgot. If the residents of Moncton didn't feel that was enough options then they could also cross over to Charlottown and use their airport which is roughly an hour away give or take.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by homebody

Here is the best scenario: Have one major airport in Fredericton close the other two in Moncton and Saint John. Fredericton is fairly equal driving distance from both cities and easily accessible from the northern part of the province. That would also give Moncton residents the option of Halifax that is a couple of hours away. We really only need one airport here in the province. I almost forgot. If the residents of Moncton didn't feel that was enough options then they could also cross over to Charlottown and use their airport which is roughly an hour away give or take.

If anything, if we had one airport, it should be in the Sussex area with convenient transit links to the three city centres. If any city loses an airport it makes doing business in that city a lot more difficult.

[homebody]

Originally Posted by OliverD

If anything, if we had one airport, it should be in the Sussex area with convenient transit links to the three city centres. If any city loses an airport it makes doing business in that city a lot more difficult.

OliverD that would be another good scenario for sure. It should have happened years ago.