It is quite a lot of European capacity for YHZ, and I am surprised they are doing EDI instead of CDG. I know NS and Scotland have historic connections etc, but that can't be the only reason? CDG is not only home to one of its partner airlines (AF), but it is a massive connection point. EDI is the complete opposite, it is an odd choice TBH, I wonder if EDI is greasing Westjet behind the scenes lol. Edinburgh is an important city for sure, but historically most of the Scotland service to Canada has been from Glasgow (whether it is Transat, Zoom, Mytravel, etc.) they usually did Glasgow first. Interesting that WS is going all in on Edinburgh, from YYC, YYZ, and YHZ. Any Scots experts here, did something happen to switch preference away from Glasgow? I just assumed WS got some kind of sweetheart deal or something. The LGW route from YHZ will likely do well, just not sure about the DUB or EDI. Speaking of DUB, I can't believe WS is dumping more capacity on YYZ-DUB, it is already very well served (4x daily including 2 widebodies with Air Canada and Are Lingus running one each). Then TS operates one daily 321. And now that WS has collapsed its domestic capacity, where is the feed? They must be relying on O&D only, and with lots of competitors? The YYZ transborder network is very leisure oriented from Canada, I doubt it would see much International connections from the Florida beach towns. Are they relying on Delta to feed these flights? Delta already operates to DUB from MSP, BOS, ATL, and JFK, so I don't think Delta's YYZ flights would add that much? Essentially WS just did a direct swap from YOW and YUL to DUB and EDI. How bad must domestic have been to ditch them entirely and add these? Very odd, at least to an outsider like me.
On another note, I am feeling bad for YYF (Penticton). First Air Canada cancels the YVR service, which I was surprised by, and now WS drops YEG. Edmonton and Vancouver would be 2/3 of their biggest markets in and out, so to lose them both entirely is sad. I know the pilot shortage was one factor, but definitely YYF's proximity to YLW was another factor. The distance between them is probably one of the closest of any two airports AC served, if not the closest (other airports could be closer to each other ie. YVR and YXX, but AC doesn't serve them both, ditto with YYZ and YKF). But YLW and YYF both had AC service, so they really must have used that as a factor. In my opinion, this hurts other communities in the Southern Okanagan and Similkameen more (towns like Keremos Osoyoos, Oliver), since they are quite a ways to YLW, and it isn't really convenient. Especially for people from the Vancouver area, flying to YLW and then driving to Osoyoos wouldn't make a ton of sense, it's over 2 hours while the drive from Metro Van to Osoyoos is only 4/5 hours. So I feel for these places most. Penticton itself isn't going to suffer as much because it's not too far from YLW. I think they will get something back, I don't see AC staying away forever. The thing I hope helps Penticton is that a lot of people do a big Okanagan visit, where they go to Kelowna and Penticton, and lots of other small places in between (for wineries, mainly). So I think they will get a decent amount of tourism. And in the summer at least, a lot of people vacationing there have driven from the Lower Mainland or Alberta (I'm sure more Calgary than Edmonton, but healthy representation from both). So they will still have a ton our tourists, families, etc. But makes it harder for outbound travel as well as international visitors coming by plane (not sure how much of a number the international ever was, always seemed a major domestic destination mostly).
I am more than ready for all of these frickin issues to stop. Pilot shortages, supply chain problems, material shortages, chip shortages, etc... Pre-pandemic these things were almost never a thing, now it's like a bunch at once, plus inflation. It's so nuts, when Covid hit all people were thinking about was the health aspect and the isolation/distancing factor (plus the remote working thing). But no one really thought how it would affect economic things years later, like these shortages of everything