Saskatoon and Regina Air Service

[Dino35]

Originally Posted by Robag

I meant that 20% of the staff that are working for them right now were there before the pandemic. The rest that are working are newer. And they are still way down from pre-pandemic regardless. It's not just simple supply and demand, when a buddy of mine that works for AC at the airport says they are slammed all of the time. The demand is there, the supply is not.

The airlines are not way down in staffing from pre-pandemic levels. In august 2022, air Canada had 34,000 employees as compared to 34,700 pre-pandemic. And there is no way 80% of the employees at the airlines are new. Although I’d be happy to entertain your assumption if you had any stats to back that up.

And I agree that the airports are busy - and the timing and frequency of fights for some cites are terrible - but that doesn’t mean the supply (I.e. available seats) is not there.

[EDM753Fan]

Originally Posted by Dino35

The airlines are not way down in staffing from pre-pandemic levels. In august 2022, air Canada had 34,000 employees as compared to 34,700 pre-pandemic. And there is no way 80% of the employees at the airlines are new. Although I’d be happy to entertain your assumption if you had any stats to back that up.

Ok supposing you are correct in stating this. Why are the flight frequencies, on time %, amounts of baggage lost, cancelations, changes etc so bad right now? I can't find any other way to explain it other than "HR upheaval". How else can you explain the many and constant issues?

[McBean]

Hope nobody is going on a cruise. The first huge COVID outbreak had 800 passengers and crew sick before coming back to Sydney.

[casper]

Originally Posted by EDM753Fan

Ok supposing you are correct in stating this. Why are the flight frequencies, on time %, amounts of baggage lost, cancelations, changes etc so bad right now? I can't find any other way to explain it other than "HR upheaval". How else can you explain the many and constant issues?

I believe WestJet let nearly all of their airport staff go in stations like Saskatoon, Regina, and Victoria. The people wearing those WestJet uniforms mostly work for an airport services company.

The biggest issue is they have limited authority. So when it comes to rebooking that involves a reroute onto another airline they have to call someone in Calgary or it has to be done by the one or two WestJet employees that were retained to supervise the contractors.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by McBean

Hope nobody is going on a cruise. The first huge COVID outbreak had 800 passengers and crew sick before coming back to Sydney.

I have seen some absolutely amazing deals on cruises but then I read things like this, ha

[SkydivePilot]

Don't forget the fact guys that there's a shortage of flight crews as well. ✈ ✈ ✈

[Robag]

Originally Posted by Dino35

The airlines are not way down in staffing from pre-pandemic levels. In august 2022, air Canada had 34,000 employees as compared to 34,700 pre-pandemic. And there is no way 80% of the employees at the airlines are new. Although I’d be happy to entertain your assumption if you had any stats to back that up.

And I agree that the airports are busy - and the timing and frequency of fights for some cites are terrible - but that doesn’t mean the supply (I.e. available seats) is not there.

I wasn't talking Air Canada, I was talking WestJet, and you can see in another post that smaller centres like YQR and YXE that WestJet cut almost if not all of their staff. And re-calculate your math, 20% of pre-pandemic staff, does not necessarily mean 80% of the employees are new, as there is no way they are even close to the staffing of pre-pandemic levels. That 20% that stayed could work out to be 50 or 60% of staff now. Again, these are things I heard from a source that works at YQR. Take it how you want. The demand is there, the supply is not.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Current booking search has May 1st with the resuming of 3 flights daily with Air Canada mainline (A220-300) YQR - YYZ.

[kattiff]

Originally Posted by casper

I believe WestJet let nearly all of their airport staff go in stations like Saskatoon, Regina, and Victoria. The people wearing those WestJet uniforms mostly work for an airport services company.

The biggest issue is they have limited authority. So when it comes to rebooking that involves a reroute onto another airline they have to call someone in Calgary or it has to be done by the one or two WestJet employees that were retained to supervise the contractors.

WestJet let go or well fired all WestJet employees across Canada except in YVR YYC YEG YYZ l, everywhere else they are a third party contract.
My friends in YWG wished they unionized because they could of had a better fight to keep their jobs but WestJet was bleeding money and found Covid the prefect excuse to let go the check in/gate employees except in the main 4 cities. Their old CEO made that announcement during when Covid restrictions began saying everyone is gone except the 4 cities. Was a sad day for WestJet. And now these third party contract employees barely know anything of how to read/ understand a ticket or e ticket and interline rules with other airlines. They just know basic check in and that’s it. Or as said only 1 or 2 contracted supervisors understand what to actually do. I have switched to Air Canada until WestJet gets their home issues sorted first as it is a new young generations with limited experience

[casper]

Originally Posted by kattiff

WestJet let go or well fired all WestJet employees across Canada except in YVR YYC YEG YYZ l, everywhere else they are a third party contract.
My friends in YWG wished they unionized because they could of had a better fight to keep their jobs but WestJet was bleeding money and found Covid the prefect excuse to let go the check in/gate employees except in the main 4 cities. Their old CEO made that announcement during when Covid restrictions began saying everyone is gone except the 4 cities. Was a sad day for WestJet. And now these third party contract employees barely know anything of how to read/ understand a ticket or e ticket and interline rules with other airlines. They just know basic check in and that’s it. Or as said only 1 or 2 contracted supervisors understand what to actually do. I have switched to Air Canada until WestJet gets their home issues sorted first as it is a new young generations with limited experience

Agreed.

With Air Canada you get those agent that work for a services company in places like Rome or Nashville where they may only have one or two flights a day. The contractor wears an Air Canada uniform for a few hours then goes on break and come back with a different airlines uniform for the second half of their shift.

If there is anything beyond a very basic issue they are on the phone to someone at the airline to resolve. But domestically in Canada I think Air Canada has their people or Jazz staff at all the stations they serve.

WestJet contracting out most of their domestic stations is a real step back.

[casper]

Disappointing it looks like both Saskatoon and Regina are going to lose AC to Calgary.

Going back to the 90s I think AC has always been on those route. But no more next summer.

There was only a short period during the high of COVID that AC suspended that route.

I think is the negative impact of those ultra low cost airlines.

[McBean]

Originally Posted by casper

Disappointing it looks like both Saskatoon and Regina are going to lose AC to Calgary.

Going back to the 90s I think AC has always been on those route. But no more next summer.

There was only a short period during the high of COVID that AC suspended that route.

I think is the negative impact of those ultra low cost airlines.

Are you Effin serious ??? No more AC to Calgary from Regina? How am I supposed to connect in Calgary anymore? Are they going to just funnel us all to Vancouver or Toronto now ?

[Nick]

Originally Posted by McBean

Are you Effin serious ??? No more AC to Calgary from Regina? How am I supposed to connect in Calgary anymore? Are they going to just funnel us all to Vancouver or Toronto now ?

They don't want you as a customer unless unless you are going to YVR/YYZ then beyond. Time to get an RBC Westjet Mastercard.

[casper]

Originally Posted by McBean

Are you Effin serious ??? No more AC to Calgary from Regina? How am I supposed to connect in Calgary anymore? Are they going to just funnel us all to Vancouver or Toronto now ?

I was shocked by the move. I moved out of Saskatoon about ten years ago but I can't remember a point in time where there was no AC flight to Calgary. It is now going away. Same thing for Regina. They are expecting all the connecting traffic to be via Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver.

If you try to book a flight from Saskatoon to Calgary on AC it is only offering flights via connections in Vancouver. I suspect Regina is the same.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Current timetable update online with Air Canada…where are you getting your info, Casper?

Effective Dec. 8th 2022 - March 12th 2023

[casper]

Originally Posted by one_brick_at_a_time

Current timetable update online with Air Canada…where are you getting your info, Casper?

Effective Dec. 8th 2022 - March 12th 2023

See the ongoing discussion in the main Canadian Airline threat.

I tried to do some booking in August from Saskatoon and there are no flights to Calgary. Looks like January 15th is the last day for the the Calgary-Saskatoon/Regina flights. Same things is happening with Calgary-Victoria flight.

[Calfan12]

Originally Posted by casper

See the ongoing discussion in the main Canadian Airline threat.

I tried to do some booking in August from Saskatoon and there are no flights to Calgary. Looks like January 15th is the last day for the the Calgary-Saskatoon/Regina flights. Same things is happening with Calgary-Victoria flight.

Yep on January 15 2023 it looks like. Air Canada is quietly cutting back on some Domestic flights out of YYC & along with YYC - Los Angeles LAX, San Francisco SFO & Pheonix PHX too.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Calfan12

Yep on January 15 2023 it looks like. Air Canada is quietly cutting back on some Domestic flights out of YYC & along with YYC - Los Angeles LAX, San Francisco SFO & Pheonix PHX too.

Lets hope they compensate but increasing service from Saskatoon and Regina to Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

[Newstart]

Originally Posted by casper

Lets hope they compensate but increasing service from Saskatoon and Regina to Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

As a regular air service user from Regina to Calgary this makes little to no sense pulling out like this. The pricing for flying is already insane and now with just one carrier its going to get far worse.

[EDM753Fan]

Originally Posted by Newstart

As a regular air service user from Regina to Calgary this makes little to no sense pulling out like this. The pricing for flying is already insane and now with just one carrier its going to get far worse.

100% Agree. Regina is very hard to get to as it is. When there is weather in Vancouver and you are looking for another way home - Calgary is a great 2nd option. Not to mention if you're trying to get to Calgary or Edmonton (or anywhere in Alberta).

The message is pretty clear to me. AC simply don't care about YQR or YXE and are essentially handing the keys over to WestJet. Pretty frustrating if you're AC Super Elite 100K!

Even their Toronto service is really sparse right now. When I moved to Regina in 2017 I'm sure I can recall 4 x Daily E190 service YQR-YYZ. Anyone else remember if this is right? Now its 2 x Rouge A320 or A321.