Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport

[CoryB]

And not just "someone" but rather "some Canadian citizen"

[Curmudgeon]

Fargo currently has two non-stops daily to DFW on American Eagle using Embraer 175s. I wonder if it would be viable to extend these flights up to YWG. This would give Wpg direct service to AA's DFW hub which has excellent connections worldwide. Geographically, along with IAH, it is the logical connection point for YWG traffic destined to Mexico as well as Central and South America. Flight time to Fargo would be about 45 mins. gate to gate, FAR to DFW is 2h 47m gate to gate.

[esquire]

^ A connection to AA/OneWorld is easily the single biggest missing component at our airport. An AA flight to ORD or DFW would be huge for Winnipeg travellers... it would unlock a lot of options that are difficult to access without the hassle and expense of a positioning flight.

[CoryB]

FAR-YWG-FAR with a 45 minute flight time one way turns into about 2 hours of operational time by the time you factor in unloading and loading in Winnipeg.

The question becomes if it is better to spend those hours on a different route.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by CoryB

FAR-YWG-FAR with a 45 minute flight time one way turns into about 2 hours of operational time by the time you factor in unloading and loading in Winnipeg.

The question becomes if it is better to spend those hours on a different route.

I wonder if there any demand whatsoever for YWG-FAR service or if the YWG leg would result in further maximizing flight loads. Would one daily non-stop YWG-DFW , early departure from YWG, late return, be viable?. I would sure like to see that myself. AA offers dozens of connections from DFW to numerous destinations particularly in Mexico and Central America that with current schedules are not available on Air Canada, United and Delta, at least without overnighting. Not only that but DFW is far less prone to weather delays than YYZ, ORD, MSP or DEN during the winter months.

I remember in the 70s Frontier had YWG-FAR-DEN(Stapleton) service.

[esquire]

^ I can't imagine there would be much if any demand for YWG-FAR service. If AA is ever coming, it's going to be a flight to one of their hubs.

[blueandgoldguy]

Has anyone taken a flight to Churchill? What's the typical time of the flight, including time on runway prior to takeoff? 2.5 hours on Calm Air or longer?

[esquire]

^ Going by Google Flights, it seems to range from 1:40-2:00 on First Air, which would be the gate to gate time. Calm Air might take slightly longer as I believe they use turboprops?

[The Jabroni]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Going by Google Flights, it seems to range from 1:40-2:00 on First Air, which would be the gate to gate time. Calm Air might take slightly longer as I believe they use turboprops?

Yeah, their fleet consists of ATR42 and ATR72 turboprops. Last I checked, they have only 1 Dornier 328JET, which would obviously be the fastest plane in their fleet.

[CoryB]

YWG-FAR has likely the same level as demand as YWG-YBR.

The key to either route is building it as a direct/feeder route.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by CoryB

YWG-FAR has likely the same level as demand as YWG-YBR.

The key to either route is building it as a direct/feeder route.

YWG-YBR could conceivably work as a feeder for eastbound routes from Winnipeg. It would basically mirror YBR-YYC service feeding into flights headed for points west. But neither YWG nor FAR would really work as feeder points. Neither is really well connected enough to fill that role...unless all of a sudden a pile of Fargoans start travelling to Toronto or Montreal via Winnipeg on a regular basis.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by esquire

YWG-YBR could conceivably work as a feeder for eastbound routes from Winnipeg. It would basically mirror YBR-YYC service feeding into flights headed for points west. But neither YWG nor FAR would really work as feeder points. Neither is really well connected enough to fill that role...unless all of a sudden a pile of Fargoans start travelling to Toronto or Montreal via Winnipeg on a regular basis.

The point would be to get a direct connection to DFW and tap into the AA and Oneworld network there, in particular for Mexico and Central America. The number of Mexican destinations served from DFW is impressive, and not just the typical beach destinations like CUN or PVR. It is currently so hard to get to any of these destinations from YWG without an overnight somewhere. Last time I went to PVR I had to overnight in L.A. on the way down and on the way back I had to spend about 5 hours (in the middle of the night) at LAX before connecting on to ORD and YWG. Never been so tired in my life. Better yet would be a daily non-stop to DFW instead of just adding the extra leg on the existing twice daily FAR-DFW route.

Sioux Falls, S.D. and Sioux City, Ia. also get service to DFW by AA Eagle. Surely at least a daily flight would be viable from YWG.

The Fargo and area market would travel to Toronto or Montreal via MSP or ORD as they do now. And don't discount that market, Fargo-Moorhead is now larger in population than Regina, though the passenger counts are about 30% lower at Hector Int'l than they are at YQR due to the proximity of MSP, which has 8.5 times the passenger volume of YWG.

[EspionNoir]

Posted by theflyzone in Canadian Airport Thread:

Q1 numbers

YYZ - 11.7 million +2.8%
YVR - 6,034,883 +3.0%
YUL - 4,677,201 +6.5%
YYC - 4,180,045 +5.3%
YEG - 1,985,214 +3.0%
YOW - 1,248,517 +1.8%
YWG - 1.1 million +7.5%
...
...
YLW - 554,483 +3.4%
YKA - 101,966 +10.2%

[buzzg]

Crazy to me that Calgary is almost on par with Montreal.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by EspionNoir

Posted by theflyzone in Canadian Airport Thread:

Q1 numbers

YYZ - 11.7 million +2.8%
YVR - 6,034,883 +3.0%
YUL - 4,677,201 +6.5%
YYC - 4,180,045 +5.3%
YEG - 1,985,214 +3.0%
YOW - 1,248,517 +1.8%
YWG - 1.1 million +7.5%
...
...
YLW - 554,483 +3.4%
YKA - 101,966 +10.2%

I don’t know all the airport codes can you put the corresponding city?

[EspionNoir]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

I don’t know all the airport codes can you put the corresponding city?

YYZ - Toronto
YVR - Vancouver
YUL - Montreal
YYC - Calgary
YEG - Edmonton
YOW - Ottawa
YWG - Winnipeg

YLW - Kelowna
YKA - Kamloops

[HighwayStar]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Crazy to me that Calgary is almost on par with Montreal.

Even crazier that Winnipeg is catching up to Ottawa ...

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

Even crazier that Winnipeg is catching up to Ottawa ...

Yeah that's huge! A couple more years of similar growth would see us more or less on par with YOW

[esquire]

I suspect YOW must be stunted a bit by being so close to YUL. Probably a good number of Ottawans beef up the YUL numbers by connecting through there en route to Europe or elsewhere. Think about it, a trip to Paris from YOW, and you count as a departing and arriving passenger at YOW. Meanwhile, you count as 2x arriving and 2x departing at YUL.

It's the same thing with Calgary and Edmonton. For all the posturing by the YEG boosters here about refusing to ever fly to Calgary no matter how much inconvenience may arise, the reality is that you see boatloads of people in the YEG terminal holding boarding passes for YYC.

That said, I suspect that little has changed regarding the fundamentals of Winnipeg's travel market. It's just that the low cost carriers that have popped up are probably inciting more people to travel given how affordable it is now. I can tell you I've taken my family on cheap flights at $150 a head return that I would have definitely not taken at the more traditional $450 per person fares. But that sort of thing probably isn't going to incite Lufthansa to start flying here.

[bomberjet]

WestJet has been sold to Onex.