Canadian Airport Thread

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by hollywoodcory

And Delta is dropping YEG until September too.

Other then YWG, I believe all Transborder flights will occur at the big 4 in July?

United still plans to resume service to YYZ, YUL, YVR and YYC next week.

Also KLM modified its plans for July too.

YVR is now 4x weekly from July 12, and YYC is 2x weekly 333 (instead of 772)

I see AS at YYJ and YLW in August, but not sure about July.

Isn't DL still serving YHZ and YQB in July?

It's puzzling why DL are doing month-to-month at YEG, yet suspended YOW indefinitely.

AA cutting YOW was an easy way to layoff staff. AA above wing at YOW was legacy US staff and not contractors.

[Dominion301]

I see AC have pared down July internationally and YYC-FRA is gone.

[hollywoodcory]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

I see AS at YYJ and YLW in August, but not sure about July.

Isn't DL still serving YHZ and YQB in July?

It's puzzling why DL are doing month-to-month at YEG, yet suspended YOW indefinitely.

AA cutting YOW was an easy way to layoff staff. AA above wing at YOW was legacy US staff and not contractors.

YEG is being dropped in July too. I suspect it will also be dropped in the fall too. I don't see YHZ/YQB on DL's schedule in July.

I was mostly talking about July, as most August schedules aren't finalized. AS is only serving YVR in July.

---

As for Air Canada, they will fly the same amount of flights to Rome as they will from any point in Western Canada to any point in Europe in July. KLM will have a better presence in Western Canada than they will.

I'm starting to get the impression that they'll end up resuming YVR-FRA first (even though its just a seasonal route, while YYC-FRA is year-round.) They just don't seem interesting in trying to be competitive in YYC at all.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by hollywoodcory

I'm starting to get the impression that they'll end up resuming YVR-FRA first (even though its just a seasonal route, while YYC-FRA is year-round.) They just don't seem interesting in trying to be competitive in YYC at all.

I'd speculate that it's not so much 'not trying to compete' as it is 'staunching the worst bleeding spots'.

Head-to-head battles can work in good times. So, yeah, AC can probably make a dent in Westjet in Calgary over the Atlantic in good times. Now? If anything doesn't lose wads of money, airlines consider that a success. This typically means retrenching to the strongest hubs.

Easier to stick that YYC passenger on a flight across the Atlantic via Toronto. Sucks for the passenger but chances are if they're headed to FRA, they're heading somewhere else anyway.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

Seems WS doesn't want to waste a good crisis.

No better time than the present to clean up house and blame it on COVID. Wages and working conditions at all airlines are going one way, down, for the foreseeable future.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/unifor-condemns-westjet-outsourcing-scheme-882148461.html

Unifor has now weighed in. Looks like ground staff were on the verge of unionizing:

"It is disgraceful and downright un-Canadian that WestJet would punish the workers who made this historic Western Canadian start-up so successful. This is pandemic capitalism at its worst," said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. "I find it disturbing that WestJet is using the pandemic to justify its outsourcing scheme as so many of the workers who will lose their jobs were in the process of signing union cards with Unifor."

WestJet's plans were announced by its parent company, Onex Corporation, one of the largest private equity firms in Canada. At the time Onex acquired WestJet in 2019, Unifor warned workers and the public of its reputation as a predatory takeover specialist with a long history of devastating cost-cutting and restructuring.

"Up until the time Onex's takeover, WestJet employees were considered owners," said Kellie Scanlan, Unifor's Director of Organizing. "But after this week's announcement, it's clear that at WestJet, management does not want workers to have a voice."

Unifor has a proven record of securing collective bargaining language that specifically protects airline workers from outsourcing schemes. While Unifor has been working hard to organize workers at WestJet it has faced an aggressive management-led campaign to undermine card signing efforts. In recent weeks, Unifor organizers have noted a substantial increase in the number of WestJet workers reaching out to sign union cards.

"This outsourcing scheme at WestJet shows what happens when workers do not have a union to protect them," added Dias. "We will continue to fight for frontline WestJet workers and stand with them during this difficult time."

[Dominion301]

Porter are pushing back their start date by another month to August 31st: https://app.meltwater.com/mwTransition/?...BP4W1rlyFMvzzNjLK8JXGQ&s=mail-newsletter

Smart move to keep their cash outlays to a minimum. Also shows show demand for biz travel (PD's bread & butter) is still really low. Plus I don't think PD carry any cargo.

[LO 044]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/unifor-condemns-westjet-outsourcing-scheme-882148461.html

"This outsourcing scheme at WestJet shows what happens when workers do not have a union to protect them"

Isn't it the other way around? Once employees started unionizing at WestJet, the company reacts accordingly to run its business.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by LO 044

Isn't it the other way around? Once employees started unionizing at WestJet, the company reacts accordingly to run its business.

A lot of ground staff at other airlines have it in their collective agreement that once a station sees X flights or more per day, the work must be done in house. I believe at WN it's 8/day. If WS ground staff already had the same protections, all the medium stations outside of WS' big 4 would have protection. In other words: YYJ, YLW, YXE, YQR, YWG, YOW, YUL, YHZ and LGA...and maybe even YMM. In other words, they moved to protect themselves too late.

So if I understand correctly, all below wing at YYC and YYZ are also getting the boot?

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by LO 044

Isn't it the other way around? Once employees started unionizing at WestJet, the company reacts accordingly to run its business.

Bingo.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

A lot of ground staff at other airlines have it in their collective agreement that once a station sees X flights or more per day, the work must be done in house. I believe at WN it's 8/day. If WS ground staff already had the same protections, all the medium stations outside of WS' big 4 would have protection. In other words: YYJ, YLW, YXE, YQR, YWG, YOW, YUL, YHZ and LGA...and maybe even YMM. In other words, they moved to protect themselves too late.

So if I understand correctly, all below wing at YYC and YYZ are also getting the boot?

Most of those station in normal times do not have 8 departures a day on WS. Take YXE as an example. There is likely 1-2 flights a day to Toronto, 1-2 to Calgary. The rest are WestJet Encore. Even on the Air Canada side, YXE has gone a couple of time between being staffed by AC or Jazz employees over the year.

YYJ is again the same things there are likely one 2-3 flights a day that are mainline. The rest are regional.

The union is part of the problem. WS need to find ways of reducing costs especially when it is operating a fraction of its schedule. If the union comes it with work conditions that make it difficult to have all these outstations maybe the solution is not to have them.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by casper

Most of those station in normal times do not have 8 departures a day on WS. Take YXE as an example. There is likely 1-2 flights a day to Toronto, 1-2 to Calgary. The rest are WestJet Encore. Even on the Air Canada side, YXE has gone a couple of time between being staffed by AC or Jazz employees over the year.

YYJ is again the same things there are likely one 2-3 flights a day that are mainline. The rest are regional.

The union is part of the problem. WS need to find ways of reducing costs especially when it is operating a fraction of its schedule. If the union comes it with work conditions that make it difficult to have all these outstations maybe the solution is not to have them.

I was talking about mainline + Encore. It's not like WS will have separate vendors at these stations for mainline and Encore...or that they already do so for below the wing.

Tell me, how can a union be a 'problem' when they still have no legal standing with an organization? If you'd read the article, it says Unifor were in the process of getting employees to sign union cards to eventually certify. It's always amusing that the first reaction so many have is 'it's the union's fault'.

[Dominion301]

Here's an airline that isn't talked about much. Pascan are renewing their fleet with 'new' Saab 340s. I love their new livery and have taken a queue from AC with the black flight deck windows:



Link to story (in French): https://cfim.ca/pascan-aviation-renouvelle-sa-flotte-dappareils/

It says the first route the SF3 will be deployed on is Montreal-Quebec-Bonaventure-Iles-de-la-Madeleine.

[Bishop2047]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Here's an airline that isn't talked about much. Pascan are renewing their fleet with 'new' Saab 340s. I love their new livery and have taken a queue from AC with the black flight deck windows:



Link to story (in French): https://cfim.ca/pascan-aviation-renouvelle-sa-flotte-dappareils/

It says the first route the SF3 will be deployed on is Montreal-Quebec-Bonaventure-Iles-de-la-Madeleine.

I fly on the SAABs regularly in Saskatchewan with Transwest. It is not a bad plane and not sure why they are not more utilized in Canada. Typical layout is 9 rows or passenger seating with a 1 and 2 seat arrangement. Back row is often a bench, so max capacity is 28. It is cramped but not much more than a Q400 would be.

https://transwestair.com/

[ghYHZ]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

It says the first route the SF3 will be deployed on is Montreal-Quebec-Bonaventure-Iles-de-la-Madeleine.

Ahhh...the Magdalens!!

I was there a couple of years ago but not looking good for a trip back this year!

(trip report here)

https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=979987&p=13168249&hilit=iles#p13168249

[BenYOW]

Air Canada has announced a widespread series of changes to its domestic network, including the closure of the following stations and the termination of 30 routes:

• Bathurst (New Brunswick)
• Wabush (Newfoundland and Labrador)
• Gaspé (Quebec)
• Baie Comeau (Quebec)
• Mont Joli (Quebec)
• Val d’Or (Quebec)
• Kingston (Ontario)
• North Bay (Ontario)

Press Release

[YYCguys]

Originally Posted by BenYOW

Air Canada has announced a widespread series of changes to its domestic network, including the closure of the following stations and the termination of 30 routes:

• Bathurst (New Brunswick)
• Wabush (Newfoundland and Labrador)
• Gaspé (Quebec)
• Baie Comeau (Quebec)
• Mont Joli (Quebec)
• Val d’Or (Quebec)
• Kingston (Ontario)
• North Bay (Ontario)

Press Release

I note that one of the route cancellations is YQR-YXE. I didn’t know they even did the route and must be one of the few who even did it!

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by BenYOW

Air Canada has announced a widespread series of changes to its domestic network, including the closure of the following stations and the termination of 30 routes:

• Bathurst (New Brunswick)
• Wabush (Newfoundland and Labrador)
• Gaspé (Quebec)
• Baie Comeau (Quebec)
• Mont Joli (Quebec)
• Val d’Or (Quebec)
• Kingston (Ontario)
• North Bay (Ontario)

Press Release

Whew Castlegar survives!

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Whew Castlegar survives!

I didn't know Castlegar was served by AC. I am surprised to see Kingston go as it appeared to be reasonably busy. Not really surprised about the rest of the list though.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by le calmar

I didn't know Castlegar was served by AC. I am surprised to see Kingston go as it appeared to be reasonably busy. Not really surprised about the rest of the list though.

Kingston is too close to Toronto by car and not really a business hub. Since governmental organizations have basically eliminated travel, it destroys the business case.

Perhaps service comes back when Queens and the like allow travel again, since the leisure travelers probably don't justify the costs.

If AC can't make money with 100% market share in these places, they were pretty marginal to begin with.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by YYCguys

I note that one of the route cancellations is YQR-YXE. I didn’t know they even did the route and must be one of the few who even did it!

It's weird that this was listed as I'm not entirely sure it was bookable on AC's website, but the route was a triangle route YOW-YQR-YXE-YOW that ran summer seasonally, usually May through October.