Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW) 1.0

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by solo748

Had mid-Nov YOWFLL nonstop flights booked. Received notice from AC. Looks like theyve scrapped those for a while. Sigh.

I'm booked YOW-MCO direct in mid-November as well, and for now they're still on. Though they're just running on days 67 until closer to Christmas, and my outbound flight has Premium Rouge sold out and my return flight seat map is shockingly full, much moreso than the outbound flight. So I'm hopeful they'll stick around. It is too bad they're back to Rouge though, originally they were showing mainline A320s on those flights.

[MountainView]

From BenYOW in the Canada portion of the forum:

Originally Posted by BenYOW

WestJet has announced its latest series of route cuts: Halifax to Ottawa, Montreal, and St. John's. With the previous announcement of the termination of Halifax to Sydney, I believe this is the end of all WestJet Encore operations in Halifax.

CBC News

In the linked article, WestJet didn't say whether the suspended routes will be re-introduced in the spring.

[MountainView]

Yesterday was the last day of the 789 on AC3442/345 until a one-off on Oct 10. Now scheduled as A321 until the Fall.

Next summer is currently planned for 4x daily B737-Max8 as opposed to this summer's mix of B78M and 789 (3x daily).

Edit: this is on YVR routing on Air Canada

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 64

Today’s cancellation count: 1

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by MountainView

From BenYOW in the Canada portion of the forum:



In the linked article, WestJet didn't say whether the suspended routes will be re-introduced in the spring.

I imagine YOW-YHZ will be once daily on a 737 next summer, ditto YYT-YHZ. YUL-YHZ I bet only comes back if the YHZ transatlantic stuff remains.

[solo748]

Originally Posted by MountainView

That's unfortunate. Did you have it booked for travel on Wednesday? It seems like they removed Wednesday from their planned schedule. Currently only flying on days 156 (Monday, Friday, Saturday). They had filed 1357 (M, W, F, Sat) previously. All on Rouge.

7=sunday, right. Your note says Sat
Had great flights for my schedule Wed PM, back Sunday late.

Schedule changes are part of the business. Just wish there was a 3month min head's up or something.

Cancelled online, got refund. I'll book another carrier

[fanofYOW]

Originally Posted by MountainView

From BenYOW in the Canada portion of the forum:



In the linked article, WestJet didn't say whether the suspended routes will be re-introduced in the spring.

Looks like Westjet is beginning it’s pull out from the East and not surprisingly Halifax will get hit hard. It’s not bad news though, it means more room for Porter growth.

[mxg308]

Originally Posted by solo748

7=sunday, right. Your note says Sat
Had great flights for my schedule Wed PM, back Sunday late.

Schedule changes are part of the business. Just wish there was a 3month min head's up or something.

Cancelled online, got refund. I'll book another carrier

It looks like AC Rouge will run daily to FLL between Jan 12 and April 6 which is nice. Still Rouge and much more expensive than Flair or flying out of YUL but at least we are getting back to a bit of a more normal schedule.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by solo748

7=sunday, right. Your note says Sat
Had great flights for my schedule Wed PM, back Sunday late.

Schedule changes are part of the business. Just wish there was a 3month min head's up or something.

Cancelled online, got refund. I'll book another carrier

Yes, 7 is Sunday. My mistake with that typo. Hopefully your new itinerary works out for you! Cheers.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

I imagine YOW-YHZ will be once daily on a 737 next summer, ditto YYT-YHZ. YUL-YHZ I bet only comes back if the YHZ transatlantic stuff remains.

They might just leave it to Swoop too if there aren't connections to be made. They would have to position a 737 just for a single daily flight.

[Calfan12]

Originally Posted by fanofYOW

Looks like Westjet is beginning it’s pull out from the East and not surprisingly Halifax will get hit hard. It’s not bad news though, it means more room for Porter growth.

And also WestJet's retreat/ pull back from Eastern Canada ,also helps out Air Transat Canada's 3rd largest airline. As majority of Air Transat nonstop flights operate out of Montreal YUL, Toronto YYZ & Quebec City YQB.

I'm sure Air Transat is happy about it & Air Canada too!

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 57

[fanofYOW]

Originally Posted by Calfan12

And also WestJet's retreat/ pull back from Eastern Canada ,also helps out Air Transat Canada's 3rd largest airline. As majority of Air Transat nonstop flights operate out of Montreal YUL, Toronto YYZ & Quebec City YQB.

I'm sure Air Transat is happy about it & Air Canada too!

I didn't even think of Air Transat, you're right. But I don't have any hopes of them actually doing something in YOW. They're very useless here. As much as I hate supporting Westjet, I will be using Sunwing this winter instead of Air Transat. I tend to go with the airlines that have the highest number of options to fleet number ratio.

[hehehe]

Wow I was looking at this winter from YOW and I don't think (outside of the pandemic) it's been this bad for a while. But it looks like things start getting a lot better in S23.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by hehehe

Wow I was looking at this winter from YOW and I don't think (outside of the pandemic) it's been this bad for a while. But it looks like things start getting a lot better in S23.

At least for Air Canada, their current filed plans for S23 is a lot of the pre-pandemic stuff from YOW. A later start to YYT, no YXE-YQR, and as we all know, no LHR. But they are back to 4x on YVR, 3x YYC, 1x YEG, 2 YWG, 4-5x YHZ and return to YFC, YQM, and YQB. As well as an increase to YYZ, YUL and YTZ. As well as transborder flights to EWR, DCA (2x), and a return to BOS.

Hopefully S23 is near-normal (2019 levels of traffic).

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by hehehe

Wow I was looking at this winter from YOW and I don't think (outside of the pandemic) it's been this bad for a while. But it looks like things start getting a lot better in S23.

Outside the pandemic? Most people in Ottawa consider that we are still in the pandemic. It is shocking being in US or Europe how different it is. And outside of the Maritimes I Think we are the most still in the pandemic WFH don't travel mode.

[fanofYOW]

Originally Posted by MountainView

At least for Air Canada, their current filed plans for S23 is a lot of the pre-pandemic stuff from YOW. A later start to YYT, no YXE-YQR, and as we all know, no LHR. But they are back to 4x on YVR, 3x YYC, 1x YEG, 2 YWG, 4-5x YHZ and return to YFC, YQM, and YQB. As well as an increase to YYZ, YUL and YTZ. As well as transborder flights to EWR, DCA (2x), and a return to BOS.

Hopefully S23 is near-normal (2019 levels of traffic).

Is LHR completely off the table for next summer? If so, I really hope BA spots this and is at least a bit interested in it, if they've gotten over their staffing issues by then.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by fanofYOW

Is LHR completely off the table for next summer? If so, I really hope BA spots this and is at least a bit interested in it, if they've gotten over their staffing issues by then.

As of right now, it's completely "off the table". They have moved the daylight YHZ-LHR back to its traditional overnight slot, and returned the daylight slot to YYZ-LHR where it traditionally has been. This route will return to 4x daily. YUL, which "took" YOW's LHR slot this summer, is still scheduled to have it next summer. Meaning YUL-LHR will be 2x daily, whereas it has traditionally only been 1x daily.

The positive thing in all of this, is that AC did a lot of flight renumbering recently, but did not reassign YOW's AC888 & AC889 to any other route. Meaning there is still hope for this to return in the future.

Long shot... if bookings are solid for YOW-LHR in this upcoming shoulder season, they may think to move the route back to YOW... but otherwise, S24 is looking a lot more likely for its return.

Of course it would be a good time for someone else to jump on the route... but staff/plane shortages (excuses) would likely not make it feasible.

We need to remember that filling the front of these A330s or B787s is what can make the route profitable. AC and other carriers need to see the business travelers return and willing to pay business class fare for YOW's route to return.

We can perhaps cross our fingers that LH might want to start/re-start YOW-FRA in S23... I think this would work great. LHR is a great O&D destination, but I know so many people who traveled this past summer to Europe, where a connection in FRA direct from YOW would have been optimal. I am not sure they have the best aircraft to make the route profitable right now (with lack of business class travel), but their A340 with 18/19/261 layout might be perfect right now at 4/5x weekly in S23.

[hehehe]

Originally Posted by MountainView

At least for Air Canada, their current filed plans for S23 is a lot of the pre-pandemic stuff from YOW. A later start to YYT, no YXE-YQR, and as we all know, no LHR. But they are back to 4x on YVR, 3x YYC, 1x YEG, 2 YWG, 4-5x YHZ and return to YFC, YQM, and YQB. As well as an increase to YYZ, YUL and YTZ. As well as transborder flights to EWR, DCA (2x), and a return to BOS.

Hopefully S23 is near-normal (2019 levels of traffic).

If not AC I'm pretty sure some ULCC will start YXE/YQR-YOW. So it seems like Europe is the biggest problem right now.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by MountainView

As of right now, it's completely "off the table". They have moved the daylight YHZ-LHR back to its traditional overnight slot, and returned the daylight slot to YYZ-LHR where it traditionally has been. This route will return to 4x daily. YUL, which "took" YOW's LHR slot this summer, is still scheduled to have it next summer. Meaning YUL-LHR will be 2x daily, whereas it has traditionally only been 1x daily.

The positive thing in all of this, is that AC did a lot of flight renumbering recently, but did not reassign YOW's AC888 & AC889 to any other route. Meaning there is still hope for this to return in the future.

Long shot... if bookings are solid for YOW-LHR in this upcoming shoulder season, they may think to move the route back to YOW... but otherwise, S24 is looking a lot more likely for its return.

Of course it would be a good time for someone else to jump on the route... but staff/plane shortages (excuses) would likely not make it feasible.

We need to remember that filling the front of these A330s or B787s is what can make the route profitable. AC and other carriers need to see the business travelers return and willing to pay business class fare for YOW's route to return.

We can perhaps cross our fingers that LH might want to start/re-start YOW-FRA in S23... I think this would work great. LHR is a great O&D destination, but I know so many people who traveled this past summer to Europe, where a connection in FRA direct from YOW would have been optimal. I am not sure they have the best aircraft to make the route profitable right now (with lack of business class travel), but their A340 with 18/19/261 layout might be perfect right now at 4/5x weekly in S23.

AC have also not re-allocated AC838/839, so the odds of LH showing up here this decade I think are low. Probably double XLRs is in our future, but S24 at the earliest.

Today’s departure count: 69