Saskatoon and Regina Air Service

[Crisis]

Originally Posted by The Bess

Wow I hope this ends soon

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/air-canada-suspending-flight-routes-covid-19-1.5632898

Flights from Regina to Winnipeg, Regina to Saskatoon, Regina to Ottawa and Saskatoon to Ottawa have been halted indefinitely.

I didn't know they ran flights between Saskatoon & Regina.

[Draftsman]

Originally Posted by Crisis

I didn't know they ran flights between Saskatoon & Regina.

The press release from Air Canada probably had an error, as there is no direct service between Regina (YQR) and Saskatoon (YXE), nor is there any service between Regina and Ottawa (YOW). There is however, a seasonal (summer) flight that originates in Ottawa that flies non-stop to Regina, then it continues on to Saskatoon, and then it heads back to Ottawa non-stop. So basically, this flight made a loop between the three cities. And this seasonal flight only ran 6 days a week.

Regina is only losing two flights, not three.

[PhotoJim]

Originally Posted by Draftsman

The press release from Air Canada probably had an error, as there is no direct service between Regina (YQR) and Saskatoon (YXE), nor is there any service between Regina and Ottawa (YOW). There is however, a seasonal (summer) flight that originates in Ottawa that flies non-stop to Regina, then it continues on to Saskatoon, and then it heads back to Ottawa non-stop. So basically, this flight made a loop between the three cities. And this seasonal flight only ran 6 days a week.

Regina is only losing two flights, not three.

Service to a distant airport via another airport (or even several) where you can stay on the same plan eis called "direct" in the airline industry, so a flight on the same craft via Saskatoon to Ottawa is direct, just not non-stop.

You could buy a flight to Saskatoon on that route and get off there. You could also connect in Saskatoon to elsewhere (which I'm sure is how it was used, if ever anyone got off in Saskatoon).

So, technically, we had non-stop (and direct) service to Saskatoon, and direct (but not non-stop) service to Ottawa.

[Crisis]

So, in theory, Air Canada could fly you from Regina to Saskatoon but not from Saskatoon to Regina.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Originally Posted by Crisis

So, in theory, Air Canada could fly you from Regina to Saskatoon but not from Saskatoon to Regina.

Weren’t there once flights from Ottawa to Saskatoon and looping
to Regina back to Ottawa as well?

[PhotoJim]

Originally Posted by one_brick_at_a_time

Weren’t there once flights from Ottawa to Saskatoon and looping
to Regina back to Ottawa as well?

Yes. It was, I think, Saskatoon-Regina-Ottawa; Ottawa-Regina-Saskatoon. (I might have Regina/Saskatoon inverted.) So that way, there was a return pair between Regina and Saskatoon (and either and Ottawa) every day.

Later, AC changed it to Saskatoon-Ottawa-Halifax and Regina-Ottawa-Montreal, arriving in Ottawa within 2-3 minutes of each other, so that Saskatoon passengers could connect to Montreal and Regina passengers could connect to Halifax with an easy 45-minute connection in Ottawa. But later, they changed back to the single pair of flights a day involving both Regina and Saskatoon.

[EDM753Fan]

aaaaaand welcome to SK Flair Airlines..... https://globalnews.ca/news/7210239/flair-airlines-saskatchewan/

What's the consensus folks? Good? Bad? Ugly?

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Originally Posted by EDM753Fan

aaaaaand welcome to SK Flair Airlines..... https://globalnews.ca/news/7210239/flair-airlines-saskatchewan/

What's the consensus folks? Good? Bad? Ugly?

Finally!!!!

[Stormer]

When I flew Flair from YQR to Kelowna a few years back I think my fair was $14 + taxes. Everything was a la carte. It is great to have some competition.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Originally Posted by Stormer

When I flew Flair from YQR to Kelowna a few years back I think my fair was $14 + taxes. Everything was a la carte. It is great to have some competition.

I agree. Having 3 airlines flying from Regina/Saskatoon to and from Vancouver and Toronto-Pearson will be a good thing. Hope this will keep the prices competitive.

[caveat.doctor]

Originally Posted by PhotoJim

Shutting down parts of the airport would be difficult because we only have a few gates. I haven't been to the airport since the pandemic struck, but I'd guess they're only using two or three gates. It would be difficult to shut down some of the gates unless lighting and such can be controlled discreetly. (That ability may never have been foreseen as being useful.)

We don't have the luxury of shutting a large section of a large terminal. We only have one terminal and it isn't large to begin with.

They've done their best to cordon off sections that aren't needed and close the cafe/lounge airside to reduce cleaning effort, but as you said it's not really possible to close the whole thing:







Kind of spooky really:

















Gate 3 seems to be the main one in use, people were mostly congregated around there, and the Tim Horton's and the Relay now that they're airside:







The expansion really makes the sharp drop in passengers all the more stark. Compared to a few years ago before they expanded the footprint, it might not have been as noticeable:

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Some excitement today at YQR!

[PhotoJim]

Flair's not at all my things, but once the dust settles on travel, assuming they stick it out here, they will help to keep WestJet's and Air Canada's fares down.

If Flair got their service up to daily levels at convenient times, I could ese them being tempting for a weekend trip to Toronto or Vancouver. Unfortunately, urban holidays are exactly what I'm not interested in right now. My 2020 holiday is a week in an isolated cabin in northern Saskatchewan instead.

[Draftsman]

For what it's worth, their livery is ugly! Did they have a design contest at an elementary school?

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Originally Posted by Draftsman

For what it's worth, their livery is ugly! Did they have a design contest at an elementary school?

I actually don’t mind it and enjoy the mint and black.

[Missinglink]

Originally Posted by Draftsman

For what it's worth, their livery is ugly! Did they have a design contest at an elementary school?

I don't know about "Livery" but the paint job isn't to bad.

[Draftsman]

Originally Posted by Missinglink

I don't know about "Livery" but the paint job isn't to bad.

Livery:
An aircraft livery is a set of comprehensive insignia comprising color, graphic, and typographical identifiers which operators (airlines, governments, air forces and occasionally private and corporate owners) apply to their aircraft.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Flair Airlines pauses Regina operations as customer demand remains low

https://www.cjme.com/2020/12/11/flair-ai...erations-as-customer-demand-remains-low/

[curo]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatche...r-traffic-controllers-covid-19-1.5896077

Some more terrible news for YQR. First it was U.S. airlines now this. Despite the chatter from local politicians I don't see them changing the Feds minds which have zero love for this province. So what's with this airport. Were the pre-covid numbers really that low? Is YQR cost prohibitive compared to other airports or what's really going on? I know nothing about airports but it just frustrates me so much that the capital city of Saskatchewan has an absolutely terrible airport.

[prairieguy]

That is a serious blow to our province. I would think it essential that there be two major connecting airports in our Province. I can't see how connections required through Saskatoon to get anywhere is a sustainable model.