Calgary International Airport II

[agamemnon]

I think this is something that Edelweiss just does, for whatever reason: sell (potential) triangle flights as two separate non-stop flights, and then consolidate the reservations closer to departure when it's operationally advantageous.

There's been a couple of threads on FlyerTalk about other routes where this occurs, including Kilimanjaro-Zanzibar, and Maldives-Seychelles, e.g. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/swiss-in...8-edelweiss-jro-zrh-hidden-stop-znz.html. See post #8 in particular.

Maybe it's become a more frequently-used tactic in the last couple of years in response to the unpredictability of demand. (I can't recall seeing this happen on ZRH-YYC/YVR in the "before times", but wasn't keeping a close watch either!)

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by hollywoodcory

Edelweiss is back on Sunday, but there's still 2 different schedules in the OAG.

WK14/15 routing ZRH-YYC-ZRH as well as WK18 which is loaded as a circle route ZRH-YYC-YVR-ZRH.

WK15 has a block time of 13 hours, which seems rather off?

^ That's weird indeed.

You could do YYC-FRA-ZRH on AC/LH in 12h15 min, so maybe WK is stopping in YVR on WK15 as well. The non stop from YVR arrives in ZRH at the exact same time. 2h30pm. Something is off.

My understanding is that Edelweiss has described the operation for us as "variable" and have done nothing to clarify what that will entail.

[hehehe]

Were there minor cuts made to WS' schedule for September/October? It seems like YXU was cut for those two months.

Originally Posted by hehehe

Were there minor cuts made to WS' schedule for September/October? It seems like YXU was cut for those two months.

Yes, it has disappeared. Not sure why, definitely not due to performance.

[hehehe]

https://calgaryherald.com/business/westjet-ceo-unveils-new-strategic-plan-for-airline
I'd assume this means an even stronger focus on YYC? I guess the 787 fleet won't be growing anymore either.

[LO 044]

Originally Posted by hehehe

https://calgaryherald.com/business/westjet-ceo-unveils-new-strategic-plan-for-airline
I'd assume this means an even stronger focus on YYC? I guess the 787 fleet won't be growing anymore either.

I just read this myself. This has me confused. Where will all these 737 Max's fly to if they're not feeding the 787's? Will the 737 Max's go to Sunwing and/or Swoop? Will WS look at removing the NG's for the Max's? Or push the NG's to Sunwing? How many planes are parked, is it just the 600's? I thought WS wanted to be an international airline. Without adding destinations with 787's that ain't going to happen unless they want to add a hub in Halifax.

[hehehe]

Originally Posted by LO 044

I just read this myself. This has me confused. Where will all these 737 Max's fly to if they're not feeding the 787's? Will the 737 Max's go to Sunwing and/or Swoop? Will WS look at removing the NG's for the Max's? Or push the NG's to Sunwing? How many planes are parked, is it just the 600's? I thought WS wanted to be an international airline. Without adding destinations with 787's that ain't going to happen unless they want to add a hub in Halifax.

I think they're taking one more 787. What I think will happen is the 737 MAX's will continue the YYZ/YHZ-Europe flights, and the 787's will focus almost entirely on YYC (besides YYZ/YVR-LGW) for those connections through YYC to occur. But I agree with your sentiments.

[YYCFlier]

Originally Posted by LO 044

I just read this myself. This has me confused. Where will all these 737 Max's fly to if they're not feeding the 787's? Will the 737 Max's go to Sunwing and/or Swoop? Will WS look at removing the NG's for the Max's? Or push the NG's to Sunwing? How many planes are parked, is it just the 600's? I thought WS wanted to be an international airline. Without adding destinations with 787's that ain't going to happen unless they want to add a hub in Halifax.

600s left the fleet last year.
For YYC what this means - an even bigger fortress hub.

For a LCC. Which is what they are calling themselves again.

Sigh.

[bakersdozen]

Originally Posted by hehehe

https://calgaryherald.com/business/westjet-ceo-unveils-new-strategic-plan-for-airline
I'd assume this means an even stronger focus on YYC? I guess the 787 fleet won't be growing anymore either.

Few thoughts in no particular order.

- New CEO putting his mark on the direction of the company. Sometimes change for changes sake isn’t the best. Seems to be hiring executives/buddies from Austrian. Gives me a bad feeling.
- A lot of mention of focus back to a LCC. Growth plan for international may be dead. I don’t like sound of low cost focus. Product usually suffers. Is he thinking an airline along the lines of Eurowings which was part of the Lufthansa group where he has experience.
- Without international focus good luck getting Calgary business customers.
- With interest rates (expensive housing) and higher cost of fuel Ontario discretionary income may suffer going forward. I suspect they are focusing on the oil price supporting the western economies.
- Competition is intense in YYZ and pricing must be difficult. With KLM being the last real foreign airline standing in YYC it will be a lot easier to compete out of YYC.
- Air Canada seems to be scaling back YYC. Let’s see their reaction if they start to abandon YYC more or this causes them to react. If western economy starts to rise they may want a bit of the action.
- Whenever asia reopens from their covid slumber… maybe a western focus could move for a connection to Tokyo or Seoul.

[thenoflyzone]

WS de-emphasizing the east.

AC, Porter and Transat are smiling and saying thank you right about now.

WS seem lost. Back to an LCC focus mostly from out west. Its safe to say their 787/ full service / international expansion agenda hasn't panned out.

[outoftheice]

Sounds like an airline that is a bit lost. I don't know how want amounts to a legacy carrier now turns back the clock into a low cost entity. Some interesting excerpts I found that haven't already been mentioned here.

The acquisition of Sunwing will facilitate the scaling of WestJet Vacations and Swoop.

“Swoop is an important part of our strategy with a tremendous cost structure, and we still have plenty of room to grow and bring lower fares to our guests,” added von Hoensbroech. “WestJet and Swoop will run more complementary networks and collectively meet the demand of leisure travellers.”



Responsible for leading WestJet’s strategic transformation to a low-cost carrier, the strategy team will also encompass the office of the CEO, enterprise strategy and fleet.

https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/news/2022/...%3Aproject-redbull%3Alinkedin%3A20220616

[Rollerstud98]

They think they will be like Southwest Airlines or something? Just rebrand as Northwest and run a fleet solely of 737s? Fuck you then west jet.

[LO 044]

BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan have a catchment area of 10 million people. That's what WS wants to focus on with the addition maybe of the west US coast. Compare that with the Southwest's catchment area of oh... ...all of the US population. I feel like WestJet has tapped out it's market out west and last time I checked AC, Flair and Lynx ain't going anywhere. Sure WS can have Prince George-YYC with 5x daily flights if they want but the demand isn't there. The other three only care about YVR-YYC/YEG-YYZ/YUL. I think pretty soon we'll see YEG-LAS on a WS 787.

[hollywoodcory]

YYC May 2022 Pax Stats:

Domestic: 958,060 +453.8% (YTD: 3,338,823 +246.97%)
Transborder: 200,777 +1455.6% (YTD: 787,101 +934.48%)
International: 106,132 +2961.2% (YTD: 504,271 +ALOT)

May 2022 Total: 1,264,969 +565.7%
2022 Year-to-Date: 4,630,915 +332.54%

Originally Posted by Rollerstud98

They think they will be like Southwest Airlines or something? Just rebrand as Northwest and run a fleet solely of 737s? Fuck you then west jet.

They're simply reducing the size of Encore, not even by half, and focusing it more on the west. Dreamliners already on property will remain. Nowhere is there even a hint that they intend to "run a fleet solely of 737s." The Q400 is the wrong airplane for what they were attempting to do in the east. The new yet to be announced narrowbodies will presumably open new doors in that regard.

Read the articles again and calm the hell down.

[Rollerstud98]

Originally Posted by ace.yyc

They're simply reducing the size of Encore, not even by half, and focusing it more on the west. Dreamliners already on property will remain. Nowhere is there even a hint that they intend to "run a fleet solely of 737s." The Q400 is the wrong airplane for what they were attempting to do in the east. The new yet to be announced narrowbodies will presumably open new doors in that regard.

Read the articles again and calm the hell down.

I was hoping they’d get in the 777 game!

The international boarding area is an absolute zoo with all the Dreamliners going to Europe. It just blows my mind that people are moronic enough to say this terminal is overbuilt when every gate is occupied and it's jam packed full of people. It is busier here at this hour than pre-covid, without question.

[casper]

Originally Posted by ace.yyc

The international boarding area is an absolute zoo with all the Dreamliners going to Europe. It just blows my mind that people are moronic enough to say this terminal is overbuilt when every gate is occupied and it's jam packed full of people. It is busier here at this hour than pre-covid, without question.

It is not over built, its poorly though out.

The original configuration for widebody flights to Europe was the hammerhead of B concourse. That was a mess with more than one flight at a time. Somehow Air Canada managed to make it work.

The A concourse actually worked surprisingly well for the smaller widebody aircraft before the new international concourse opened.

If WestJet is going to bank more of the 787 at the same time, they need to talk to the airport about renovations to that international concourse.

They just need Dreamliners leaving at the same time to not be on adjacent gates. Crisis averted. The airport has no money.