Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport

[Myst]

For interest sake - 2018 origin-destination traffic from YWG -
City. Total Passengers. Avg. Passengers per day each direction
Las Vegas. - 64,835. - 89
Phoenix. - 49,044. - 67
New York. - 45,684. - 63
Orlando. - 41,063. - 56
Los Angeles. - 38,790. - 53
Honolulu. - 31,254. - 43
Palm Springs. - 23,105. - 32
Chicago. - 23,040. - 32
San Francisco. - 22,531. - 31
Minneapolis. - 16,830. - 23

Of course making a place easier to get to can drive traffic. I’m sure that LAX numbers will have increased for that reason. And PSP is probably only that high because of low cost and ease of access.

Nonstops to 7 of the top 10 - also not bad…

[Justanothermember]

I've always wondered if San Francisco was a popular destination......and now we know it is. I could easily see WestJet doing a seasonal flight to SFO. Also the case just gets stronger for NY service (Newark most likely). These two would make great additions to YWG.

[Myst]

Total annual traffic for destinations with 4000 passengers per year or more is 529,000 for 2018. That would be 724 outbound passengers per day on average.

I haven’t figured out how many seasonal seats there are, but with ORD and DEN we will be approaching the point that YYZ / YYC / YVR / YUL connections are a small minority of passengers. Which means that giving the underlying market time to grow, not changing connection patterns, have to drive route development.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by Justanothermember

I've always wondered if San Francisco was a popular destination......and now we know it is. I could easily see WestJet doing a seasonal flight to SFO. Also the case just gets stronger for NY service (Newark most likely). These two would make great additions to YWG.

Have there ever been direct flying to NYC and SFO from Winnipeg?

I'd book flights to both locations today if they announced flights.

[Myst]

I do not believe SFO nonstop has ever existed.

A nonstop to LGA did exist. Not sure for how long, or what frequencies - it was on AC 727’s circa late ‘70’s. Regulated era flying was often just one or two per week.

Best way to encourage new routes is to make good use of the ones we have today. Flying YWG-ORD-EWR is now possible again… it’s one way to tell UA there is demand…

There may have been other direct flights without being nonstop (direct, in technical airline terms, doesn’t mean the same thing as nonstop. A YWG-MSP-SFO that used the same plane and same flight number with a station stop is direct, but not nonstop. Not as commonly done these days)

[Justanothermember]

YWG's Q4 and year-end pax numbers are out.

Sector / Dec-22 / Dec-23 / % Change
Dom: 239,854 / 234,770 / -2.1%
TB: 23,044 / 33,139 / +43.8%
Int'l: 23,851 / 33,088 / +38.7%
TTL: 286,749 / 300,997 / +5.0%

Sector / Y-E 2022 / Y-E 2023 / % Change
Dom: 2,795,720 / 3,607,922 / +29.1%
TB: 164,906 / 320,884 / +94.6%
Int'l: 70,488 / 165,987 / +135.5%
TTL: 3,031,114 / 4,094,793 / +35.1%

Month-Over-Month Change
Sector / Nov-23 / Dec-23 / % Change
Dom: 249,582 / 234,770 / -5.9%
TB: 32,314 / 33,139 / +2.6%
Int'l: 12,883 / 33,088 / +156.8%
TTL: 294,779 / 300,997 / +2.1%
Avg/Day: 9,826 / 9,710 / -1.2%
% of month's avg daily pax vs 2019 total daily average = 79.0%
$ of month's avg daily pax for month vs same month in 2019 = 85.5%
YTD TTL vs YTD 2019 = 91.3%

12 Months Rolling / % Change vs Year End 2021
Dom: 3,607,922 / +202.1%
TB: 320,884 / +1,419.3%
Int'l: 165,987 / +2,022.3%
TTL: 4,094,793 / +234.8%

[Justanothermember]

Hopefully this year we pick up where we left off in 2018 by continuing to break records in passenger counts.

[Myst]

Connections screen info from two more YWG-MSP flights, both operated by 76 seat e175’s:

#1 - Atlanta, Atlanta, Boise, Boston, Cedar Rapids, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, NYC LaGuardia, Orlando, Phoenix, Sacramento, Salt Lake City
19 different connecting flights to 17 different airports

#2 - Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Atlanta, Atlanta, Bismarck, Boise, Boston, Chicago MDW, Chicago ORD, Ft. Myers, Ft. Wayne, Hartford, Houston, Houston, Las Vegas, Louisville, NYC LaGuardia, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Paris, Phoenix
21 different connection flights to 18 different airports in 17 different cities

This is connecting flight info - each has at least one, possibly more than one connecting passenger on each.

Several points to make about that:
1. Schedule and capacity are important. Both flights had at least 2 passengers heading to ATL - implying schedule / lack of available seats / pricing / airline choice made people go via MSP.
2. That is reinforced with Los Angeles, Orlando and Las Vegas connections - people didn’t adjust their schedule to take the nonstops.
3. Surprised that DFW didn’t show up as connections on both flights. Implying its demand is less strong than Houston.
4. Surprised Miami and Fort Hollywood didn’t show up.
5. I would have expected more NYC connecting flights. Not saying they were only one passenger, but I’d have expected several different routings.
6. Reinforces that Chicago and Denver were the most important to add next.
7. The themes are: Schedule and connectivity.

[Justanothermember]

WestJet's Victoria and Kelowna routes have been reduced.

Kelowna is down to roughly 2.5 months from four months and down from three weekly flights to two weekly flights.

Victoria is down from five months to roughly four months, and still at 2 weekly flights. We've been relegated to a Saskatoon/Regina status in this case and these are now basically token routes with no meaning so I'm not too fussed.

However, they have really bulked up the Halifax service, with daily flights now occuring for almost 2.5 of the 5 months of service, however I'm slightly disappointed since it was previously 6 months of service. These changes have occured in the last two days.

[Wpgstvsouth94]

Originally Posted by Justanothermember

WestJet's Victoria and Kelowna routes have been reduced.

Kelowna is down to roughly 2.5 months from four months and down from three weekly flights to two weekly flights.

Victoria is down from five months to roughly four months, and still at 2 weekly flights. We've been relegated to a Saskatoon/Regina status in this case and these are now basically token routes with no meaning so I'm not too fussed.

However, they have really bulked up the Halifax service, with daily flights now occuring for almost 2.5 of the 5 months of service, however I'm slightly disappointed since it was previously 6 months of service. These changes have occured in the last two days.

I noticed with WestJet’s summer schedule YWG is one of the only airports with no new roots or no increased capacity whatsoever. We’re not even mentioned on anything in the press release.

[Justanothermember]

Originally Posted by Wpgstvsouth94

I noticed with WestJet’s summer schedule YWG is one of the only airports with no new roots or no increased capacity whatsoever. We’re not even mentioned on anything in the press release.

It does seem like WS announces anything for YWG separately from bulk announcements like summer or winter schedules. But I agree, for the seventh busiest airport in Canada, we are not treated as such, not even by WestJet.
Still, I hold out hope that WS will wake up and begin to value us as such.

[Authentic_City]

I finally had a chance to use the WestJet direct flight to LAX. It was really great, super convenient, and the plane was close to full both ways. Informally, chatting with a few passengers, seemed like quite a few were using the route to connect overseas. But lots of families obviously vacationing in southern California too. Hope we can keep this route, along with ATL, ORD and DEN, it makes traveling to the US much more appealing.

[hehehe]

I foresee one or both of YWG-SLC/DTW on WS eventually. I don't think WS is ignoring Winnipeg yet.

[FactaNV]

As an aside, there are <300 buck return flights to Atlanta in mid March...just saying.

[Justanothermember]

Originally Posted by hehehe

I foresee one or both of YWG-SLC/DTW on WS eventually. I don't think WS is ignoring Winnipeg yet.

Yet.......as in, perhaps there is an expectation that they will at some point? lol

[Justanothermember]

Detroit has been discussed, but not much has come of this, and truthfully I don't know how well used that route will be.

Slat Lake City? How many Manitobans fly down to Salt Lake City? I personally don't know anyone who has ever considered Salt Lake City for holidaying purposes, so I don't know how much use this route would serve either. In terms of a connection hub, Denver is better for international destinations and the Inland Mountain West region of the US than SLC, and would essentially be doubling up in that geographical locality.

Boston, NYC and/or Dallas make more sense and would be better used IMO. I also wonder if Alaska Airlines or Sun Country have any expansion plans for YWG given their recent Canadian expansion history. I could see these as being great seasonal connections routes to US sun destinations in the winter.

[Jammon]

Originally Posted by Justanothermember

Detroit has been discussed, but not much has come of this, and truthfully I don't know how well used that route will be.

Slat Lake City? How many Manitobans fly down to Salt Lake City? I personally don't know anyone who has ever considered Salt Lake City for holidaying purposes, so I don't know how much use this route would serve either. In terms of a connection hub, Denver is better for international destinations and the Inland Mountain West region of the US than SLC, and would essentially be doubling up in that geographical locality.

Boston, NYC and/or Dallas make more sense and would be better used IMO. I also wonder if Alaska Airlines or Sun Country have any expansion plans for YWG given their recent Canadian expansion history. I could see these as being great seasonal connections routes to US sun destinations in the winter.

If you remember, we had both a Detroit and SLC route in the past. The SLC route was discontinued very quickly- I was on one of the flights for a connection and it was only about half full. When I had asked one of the flight attendants, she told me she had flown the route a few times and very few were above 50% capacity.

I'm "meh" on Detroit. I don't see why would need a route when we have access to bigger airports with more options. Detroit is rarely a final destination for Winnipeg travelers and with Minneapolis having fairly large access for Delta, I don't see the point of reestablishing that route. I would much prefer a NYC/NJ option as it is a final destination for a lot of people and offers connectivity options as well.

[Zmonkey]

Originally Posted by Justanothermember

WestJet's Victoria and Kelowna routes have been reduced.

Kelowna is down to roughly 2.5 months from four months and down from three weekly flights to two weekly flights.

Victoria is down from five months to roughly four months, and still at 2 weekly flights. We've been relegated to a Saskatoon/Regina status in this case and these are now basically token routes with no meaning so I'm not too fussed.

However, they have really bulked up the Halifax service, with daily flights now occuring for almost 2.5 of the 5 months of service, however I'm slightly disappointed since it was previously 6 months of service. These changes have occured in the last two days.

Winnipeg has between 10-15 more daily Westjet flights than Saskatoon, Regina. All with more destinations and frequencies. Saskatoon and Regina generally get smaller planes and more focused on the Q400 going to Calgary.

[bomberjet]

I can barely fly Winnipeg-Edmonton direct with WestJet without going through Calgary or Saskatoon. Yes there are direct flights, but most options send you through another location. That speaks to the level of service or commitment to the Winnipeg market.

[Myst]

A lot of Alaska’s business is north-south along the coast, and Seattle local traffic. I think it would be a very low chance of them coming to YWG - it’s not ideal for connections except to Asia, and there isn’t much reason to route there instead of YVR. And who would they feed - Delta???

Sun Country at this point seems to focus on being a leisure carrier for Minnesotans. An MSP based variation on Transat and Frontier. I suspect most of the Canadian additions are for MSP originating. It would be a change in their strategy to cater to markets like YWG.