YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[nname]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

There is hope afterall then! Flair has a flair for flipping routes around all the time.

Well, for now assuming YXS is coming back, the only route that's lost compared to last summer is YQU and YMM... and YQU is basically a last minute replacement for cancelled YXS-YEG route.

[Monolith]

Hong Kong bans Air Canada flights from Vancouver for 2 weeks

According to a statement issued Friday, one passenger aboard Air Canada flight AC007, arriving in Hong Kong from Vancouver on Oct. 13, was confirmed to have COVID-19 by arrival testing.

Another passenger on that flight failed to comply with requirements under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Regulation of Cross-boundary Conveyances and Travellers) Regulation.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Monolith

Hong Kong bans Air Canada flights from Vancouver for 2 weeks

Poor AC. Punished for some passengers not following the rules.

[Klazu]

Seems very unfair indeed, especially for the hundreds of other passengers that need to be now rerouted.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Seems very unfair indeed, especially for the hundreds of other passengers that need to be now rerouted.

It makes absolutely no sense, of course... but then... I mean it does make it look like the government is taking charge of the situation... HK also banned flights from UK in June if I recall correctly.

OF course, I DO wonder if there's more to this story than meets the eye.

Does anyone know who the guilty party was? It would not surprise me in the least if there exists some bogus labs that will "validate" a negative COVID test in Richmond... and that someone could save a few bucks getting a faked test. IF that was the case, I could see Air Canada being held responsible.

But I'll assume the test was legit. I'm going to guess the passenger who didn't obey covid rules left the quarantine hotel room... or didn't go directly to the hotel.

[JakeLRS]

Flair will be adding YVR - San Francisco (SFO) this winter. That might explain the empty slots they have roughly 3 times a week.

Flair will also be expanding into YQQ offering flights to/from YYC and YEG.

[s211]

Is Air Canada still operating the merged domestic and international check-ins? Haven't been there in a few weeks (transborder) but about to fly domestic. Are they back open next to Westjet? Just curious.

[stiffdeadman]

looks like the new land border rules will put YVR at a disadvantage in terms of passengers that are closer to the US border. no covid test required to go south through the land border and fly out of bellingham or seattle to wherever. only need one coming back into north korea, oh sorry i meant canada. however if you fly south out of YVR you need one going down and coming back. so in addition to higher airfares out of YVR you get hit with an extra $200 for the first covid test. southwest selling roundtrip fares at $118USD. no way canadian carriers can match that.

[Johnny Aussie]

Sun Country to operate YVR-MSP flights next summer.
I know this was supposed to start this year but… they have been operating sporadic flights on random routes.
Flights to operate twice weekly effective 15 June and operate to 3 Sep.
Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Will have to wait and see if JetBlue launches the YVR-BOS and YVR-JFK routes next summer that were announced earlier this year.

[Orcair]

Originally Posted by s211

Is Air Canada still operating the merged domestic and international check-ins? Haven't been there in a few weeks (transborder) but about to fly domestic. Are they back open next to Westjet? Just curious.

Yes, they were back to having a separate domestic check-in operation when I was there last Monday (10/11)!

[s211]

Originally Posted by Orcair

Yes, they were back to having a separate domestic check-in operation when I was there last Monday (10/11)!

Thanks for the update. That's helpful.

[nname]

Originally Posted by JakeLRS

Flair will be adding YVR - San Francisco (SFO) this winter. That might explain the empty slots they have roughly 3 times a week.

Flair will also be expanding into YQQ offering flights to/from YYC and YEG.

No, this is the summer schedule. So seems like they will base a third plane at YVR next summer.

From the current schedule, it will do the YVR-SFO run 3x weekly in the morning, and YVR-YLW-YYJ-YLW-YVR 3x weekly. Mid-day, it will do 2x weekly YVR-YXS, and rest of the slots are not assigned yet. By Flair's standard, expect 2-4 new routes to be announced soon.

The YQQ flight explains the empty slot created by the YVR-YYC schedule. So the new YYC-YQQ 3x weekly flight will use a YVR-based plane (the other 4x weekly it goes to YYJ)


So the full schedule out of YVR so far for next summer:

Plane 1:
Morning: YVR-YQR/YXE/LAS-YVR (YQR x2, YXEx2, LASx3)
Afternoon/Evening: YVR-YUL-YVR

Plane 2:
Morning: YVR-YYC-YYJ/YQQ-YYC-YVR (YYJ x4, YQQ x3)
Afternoon/Evening: YVR-YWG/BUR-YVR (YWG x3, BUR x4)

Plane 3:
Morning: YVR-SFO/[YLW-YYJ-YLW]-YVR (SFO x3, YLW x3, unassigned x1)
Afternoon: YVR-YXS-YVR (YXS x2, unassigned x5)
Evening: unassigned

YYZ, YEG, YOW, YKF flights are not run by plane based in YVR.

So they can still add 2x weekly YQU or YMM after the YXS run, and still have 5x weekly left, with 3 of them that could go as far as YQB, or red-eye from YHZ that arrives at 6am...

[nname]

Edmonton, Alberta, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flair Airlines, Canada’s only independent ultra low-cost carrier (ULCC), continues its unprecedented growth with the deployment of four brand new 737 MAX aircraft in April and May 2022. Two additional aircraft will be added to Flair’s Toronto base, bringing the total there to five. A second aircraft will be added to Flair’s Edmonton base and a third aircraft to its Vancouver base. Flair’s Spring 2022 schedule will expand from twelve aircraft to sixteen, delivering 33% schedule growth.

So indeed YVR will get the third aircraft. So the number of aircraft for each base is something like this?

YYZ - 5
YVR - 3
YOW - 2
YKF - 2
YEG - 2
YYC - 1
YXX - 1

[Johnny Aussie]

Sun Country press release about YVR-MSP

https://ir.suncountry.com/static-files/b12c07b3-88bf-47da-b7e8-bed3831dab0a

And AC rouge to YQB 3 x weekly next summer.

https://aircanada.mediaroom.com/2021-10-...da-From-Quebec-City-Starting-Next-Summer

[Calfan12]

Aviacionline (AL) interviewed WestJet Frank Satusky who is currently their new Director for Network and Schedule Planning & he used to work for Air Canada.

Key points he said WestJet plans to continue to build its 3 busiest hubs in Calgary,Toronto & Vancouver 1st✅! "FS: We have three hubs, and we will continue to focus on building our three hubs. But part of WestJet’s mandate is to be across the country; we have bases across the country, from Vancouver to Halifax and everything in between, and we want to continue to grow, and our focus also needs to be on building that up. Calgary will remain our main base of operations and Vancouver and Toronto our other major hubs – we want to continue to grow our hubs, while remaining present across the country".

Also he mentioned WestJet plans to continue to focus on Europe & along with Arizona, Las Vegas, California, Florida leisure destinations in the United States,etc.

He also mentioned WestJet plans to use their 787 planes✈️ out of their hubs to build and carry flows from across North America, across the Atlantic, into Europe and beyond.

https://www.aviacionline.com/2021/10/wor...director-of-network-planning-at-westjet/

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by Calfan12

Also he mentioned WestJet plans to continue to focus on Europe

Hardly surprising. IATA's recent forecast for 2022 international travel paints a grim picture for Asia.

North America-Asia traffic in 2022 is forecast to be only 25% of 2019 levels. North America-Europe, by contrast, will be 65% of 2019 levels.

https://centreforaviation.com/analysis/r...tating-outlook-for-asias-aviation-578571

It's no surprise AC is focusing mostly on Europe right now. And WS will do the same. Assuming it's able to get their 787 deliveries from Boeing next year, that is.

[Denscity]

Too much competition to Asia for Westjet at least from Vancouver.

[CloudInspector]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Too much competition to Asia for Westjet at least from Vancouver.

Every route from YVR to Asia only has one to two carriers serving it. WestJet competes on YYZ-LON, which has four airlines (AC, BA, TS and WS), and they do quite well.

[hehehe]

Originally Posted by CloudInspector

Every route from YVR to Asia only has one to two carriers serving it. WestJet competes on YYZ-LON, which has four airlines (AC, BA, TS and WS), and they do quite well.

Fair. But WS going to Asia is out of the picture for now and they seem to be building up YYC the most. Hopefully, AC can get their Asia flights back in order in the next few months. Excited to see QF come back.

[Tysonbrown]

Anything new "Expansionwise"? Parkade construction, etc? On the island here. Cheers