YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[nname]

Looks like the domestic check in counters are currently being reassigned to make room for permanent check-in counters for Porter. Not sure if the airlines have to be physically moved, or it's just one of the YVR renumber scheme again.

But if the number represents the area they take, then both Westjet and Flair have to give up some space

Old:
001-008 Flair
009-012 Air North
015-034 Westjet

New:
002-005 Air North
006-012 Flair
013-015 Porter
016-034 Westjet

Lynx and Transat still doesn't have a permanent location. Where did they find the space for the additional counters though...

Now Porter get the dedicated counter, wonder if they will ever get the dedicated gates they requested too...

[EDIT] Speaking of Transat, looking like they'll be pulling out of Western Canada altogether, with YVR-YUL cancelled for W23 at least. Not sure if PD will be taking over the route...

[whatnext]

WestJet begins canceling flights, parking planes ahead of lockout deadline:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-westjet-pilot-strike-flight-cancellations/

[nname]

AC published the first 2 weeks of W23 schedule, up to Nov 15.

So what appears in the schedule so far:

YVR-YQB extend to year-round, 3x weekly mainline, AC395/396
YVR-YHZ increase to 4x weekly (last winter 2x, summer 1-2 daily)
YVR-MIA increase to 6x weekly
YVR-PHX increase to 2x daily
YVR-SAN back to 2x daily mainline
YVR-DEN convert to 2x daily mainline, AC 572-575
YVR-PVR increase to 6x weekly (from 3x weekly)
YVR-CUN remains 4x weekly, all 787 operation
YVR-SJD increase to 4x weekly (from 3x weekly)
YVR-KOA seasonal resumption push forward to late Oct (instead of Mid Dec)
YVR-YXY down to 2x daily express
YVR-LAX reduce to 4x daily
YVR-SFO reduce to 4x daily, all mainline
YVR-AUS continue to be suspended for the winter

Note, this is the low season... so for peak winter season (Dec, Jan, March), the frequency should be the same or more than this, assuming no frequency rollback from the later schedule updates.

All mainline flights are operated by 7M8 unless otherwise noted.

Other routes not listed, either there's no change, or I didn't check.

And this schedule update further shows AC is moving resource from YYC to YVR. YYC-YHZ/PHX both suspended for the first half of W23.

[Denscity]

Thank you for the continuous Vancouver updates nname.

[Johnny Aussie]

Air Canada press release:

https://media.aircanada.com/2023-05-25-A...chedule-to-Popular-Vacation-Destinations

The airline is also deploying a substantial increase in capacity from its Vancouver hub to sought after sun destinations such as Mexico, Miami, Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Diego,

Increased capacity from Vancouver year-over-year is as follows:
Route
Increase from 2022
Vancouver-Las Vegas
14 weekly flights (up from 7)
Vancouver-Phoenix
14 weekly flights (up from 7)
Vancouver-Puerto Vallarta
7 weekly flights (up from 3)
Vancouver-Cancun
7 weekly flights (up from 4)
Vancouver-Miami
6 weekly flights (up from 3)
Vancouver-Los Cabos
5 weekly flights (up from 3)
Vancouver-San Diego
+110% capacity increase with larger aircraft

[nname]

The new AC schedule should have even more departures to Mexico compared to what was planned for W19 before the MAX grounding. The CUN flight would be daily 788 I believe.

And of course, some of these frequency are coming from YYC, who will be losing PHX, and possibly OGG, SJD, PVR this winter...

[LeftCoaster]

Nice!

I also see that they just launched YYZ-MTY. A good sign for that route maybe someday coming to the west coast too.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Nice!

I also see that they just launched YYZ-MTY. A good sign for that route maybe someday coming to the west coast too.

Yes, I was pleased to see that route coming online, too. However, MTY is a major corporate and banking centre - like Toronto - whereas Vancouver really is not, and that might hinder any YVR><MTY route.

[Denscity]

Surely not every building in that city is a bank.
There must be other reasons to visit.

Also is a Guadalajara flight in the cards for Vancouver one day you think?

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Denscity

...../

Also is a Guadalajara flight in the cards for Vancouver one day you think?

Given the large numbers of Mexicans moving to Vancouver these days, it might be something to hope for. Seattle already has a nonstop to Guadalajara, and maybe YVR will get that route one day, too.

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Surely not every building in that city is a bank.
There must be other reasons to visit.

Also is a Guadalajara flight in the cards for Vancouver one day you think?

Remember Mexicana? When they had two daily flights one went nonstop to MEX, the second was a one stop shared with MTY and GDL 3-4 per week shared. I cannot recall which was 3 and which was 4.
So of course it’s possible that will come back.

Good to see AC increasing both CUN and PVR to daily and SJD increasing too.
So AC will be 27 weekly to Mexico this winter with the daily MEX and once weekly ZIH. Definitely continuing to transfer capacity from YYC. The press release doesn’t mention YYC in the part about SJD so assuming that’s going to be chopped too. There is still enough market for AC to hold on to some sun routes. However, transferring the YYC-PHX flight to YVR is a huge one. YYC-PHX is a huge market. Alas WS will continue pushing others out.

[nname]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

Remember Mexicana? When they had two daily flights one went nonstop to MEX, the second was a one stop shared with MTY and GDL 3-4 per week shared. I cannot recall which was 3 and which was 4.
So of course it’s possible that will come back.

As I posted in the other thread, PVR and SJD frequency are all transfer from YYC too. You can argue that LAS as well. There's almost no YYC sun routes left from AC...

I think if AM ever want to add a 4th daily flight to YVR, it will most likely have to come from their secondary hub at GDL and MTY. MEX is full so they cannot add any more flight.

Maybe even faster if YVR is able to attract those ULCC from Mexico.

As for ZIH... I'm not sure if it would survive. YUL-ZIH is already dead (replaced with SJD), so now AC only have 1x weekly each from YVR and YYZ. Both flights was not changed during this schedule update... so either there's no change, or they just haven't really decide what to do with it...

Here is the latest W23 morning 7M8 departure for flights that are not daily:

AC 544	7M8	1 3 5 7	YVR - KOA
AC 362	7M8	1 3 56	YVR - YHZ
AC 1034	7M8	 234567	YVR - MIA
AC 978	7M8	12 4 67	YVR - SJD
AC 1342	7M8	 2	YVR - ZIH
AC 1036	7M8	1 3 5 7	YVR - IAD
AC 396	7M8	 2 4 6	YVR - YQB

So ZIH still fits within the schedule (and there's still a Thurs slot).. but doesn't mean it won't get cut though. This summer AC cut the Wednesday flight to AUS, and just leave the plane on the ground instead of reallocate it to another route.

[Johnny Aussie]

^ looks like CUN will be a daily 788

EWR will be a daily Dreamliner too
OGG and HNL both back to twice daily and KOA 4 x weekly

[Johnny Aussie]

And JetBlue maintaining daily JFK this winter on a 223 to boot

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/230526-b6nw23yvr

B61975 JFK1759 – 2120YVR 223 D
B61974 YVR2220 – 0633+1JFK 223 D

[nname]

AC looking to resume YVR-MEL, likely W24

Citing not enough planes to run the route this winter. Not sure fleet in the winter is ever a constraint for AC, or maybe they are planning to return as a year-round service?

But then, they do have plane to run a 10x weekly YVR-SYD, which I just noticed they are all 77L now instead oh 77L+789.

[Johnny Aussie]

Meanwhile on the Europe front

Condor, Edelweiss, Icelandair and LH to MUC have all resumed and BA to LGW has started

[ninjakafi_81]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

Meanwhile on the Europe front

Condor, Edelweiss, Icelandair and LH to MUC have all resumed and BA to LGW has started

I saw a post on Airliners net that Swiss will be operating the ZRH-YVR flights this July on behalf of Edelweiss.

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by ninjakafi_81

I saw a post on Airliners net that Swiss will be operating the ZRH-YVR flights this July on behalf of Edelweiss.

Looks right.

And Condor flying their much larger 339 Neos on 3 of their 5 weekly flights this summer compared to their smaller 763s last summer.

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by ninjakafi_81

I saw a post on Airliners net that Swiss will be operating the ZRH-YVR flights this July on behalf of Edelweiss.

If the weekly frequencies are staying the same, that’s a significant drop in seats.

WK A343 have 314 seats
LX A333 have 236 seats.

Considering number of seats on YVR-Europe this summer is significantly below that of last year, this won’t help.

[casper]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

If the weekly frequencies are staying the same, that’s a significant drop in seats.

WK A343 have 314 seats
LX A333 have 236 seats.

Considering number of seats on YVR-Europe this summer is significantly below that of last year, this won’t help.

Sounds like Air Canada needs to get back that extra slot at Heathrow from whoever has it.

What would be fantastic is if TAP Air Portugal would come to Vancouver. They are a star alliance operator outside the Air Canada/Lufthansa/United alliance. Provide some real competition. However it is not likely