I have a few random replies on various posts over the last several pages, but not going to quote each one. Sorry but it has been a chaotic month as my partner was in the hospital unexpectedly for over a month in critical condition; thankfully he's out now and recovering but it took a toll on me in many ways. Needless to say I was too occupied to check out the forum, which really sucked because I love this site, and love staying up to date on all different topics, but especially airports
-YUL is doing very well attracting different airlines/routes while AC continues to grow. As I have said times before, I've always considered that scenario the most ideal as an AV geek. You get a strengthened hub from the dominant local airline (ie. AC), but then it isn't such a cannibal that it eats up other airlines and just grows into more of a fortress. It's similar to YVR, same pattern of a strengthened domestic carrier building up transborder and international (and sometimes domestic, but not necessarily). YUL is proof that you don't HAVE TO have a massive domestic network to have a big international/transborder network. YUL is more unique in this sense, as both YYZ and YVR foster and require that domestic feed a lot more. There seems to be a sweet spot where growth by a dominant domestic carrier spurs growth from international airlines as well, rather than discourage or detract from it. But having a too strong local carrier can become a fortress hub, which are off putting to new entrants. So airports like ATL (or even where YYC is heading) are better off in terms of size, connectivity, and overall service offered. But it can cost them the airline variety and potentially routes. So really this is an AV geek POV, no one in the public would care about this conversation lol. As I said, a dominant strong hub but with a healthy mix of foreign tails/destinations as well is the best. YVR is also a major WS base (call it hub, focus city, whatever you want). Terminology aside, it is a clear 2nd to YYC whatever way you cut it. So it has AC huge, WS very healthy, and then all the randoms. I will take the YUL or YVR mix over a 90%+ fortress hub anyway, personally. No shade other airports, just my geeky preference
-Edelweiss made a very early S25 update:
Edelweiss Will Fly Its New Airbus A350-900s To Las Vegas and Vancouver
I can't help but be a brat any not like this, I was really hoping Edelweiss would be replaced by Swiss. Again, just because I'm an airport/airlines snob and SWISS>EDELWEISS. The fact they are deploying their newest, largest capacity plane to YVR is a sign of strong demand (they also said it will still be daily, so keeping the frequency from this summer, but slightly more pax and a much nicer plane). But then I'm sulking because this confirms the continuation of Edelweiss on the route, they wouldn't be assigning their new plane to YVR if they were planning to convert it to Swiss. Oh well, not the end of the world, still a unique carrier and a beefy plane. But RIP to what I think was our last A340 service
-Flair is like chaos personified, it's unsettling to watch them unravel. The collapse of Lynx can not save everything, their other cost burdens are a far bigger weight than the potential gain from Lynx pax. The summer route update on aeroroutes.net are dizzying, it's just changes all over the place and no clear direction still. Just swapping around frequency on a bunch of mediocre route pairings, as if that will actually save the day. Don't get me wrong, I am not revelling or relishing in their troubles, I worked for an airline that ended up shutting suddenly, I know how it feels. But objectively it seems pretty clear it's a matter of when, not if
-I must give a kudos to Porter Airlines for how they have executed this national expansion. It is an
incredibly difficult thing to do, so many airlines try and fail, wash rise repeat. And they were very regional in the east, very well liked for service but still dwarfed by AC in size. Going from that hyper-regional focus to trans continental and a new fleet, it can be what takes an airline down. It was completely foreign to them, in all ways (new aircraft, destinations, market demographics, even establishing themselves at Pearson instead of just YTZ). A total 180 from their existence before the Embraers. Like a silent killer, they unveiled a big expansion, but kept it focused. And that appears to be working, they have maintained or added capacity on my routes compared to when they originally launch, plus keep adding destinations, but not in a chaotic non sensical way (ahem, Flair). I really hope their strategy is actually working from a financial perspective, and they are actually making money and not secretly bleeding money due to their expansion
-Google Flights came out with their top destinations this summer, based on based on data for trips booked between June and August:
These are the top five trending travel destinations in Canada this summer
Though it may not feel like it yet, summer is just around the corner, and as Canadians begin to book travel plans, they’re flocking to five cities in particular.
Google Flights has released its list of the top trending Canadian travel destinations based on data for trips booked between June and August.
Vancouver took first place as the top trending destination this summer. At number two was Calgary, followed by Toronto, Halifax, and Montreal.
According to Google Search Trends, Niagara Falls is a top-trending weekend getaway destination.
For lovers, Vancouver Island is reportedly the top romantic getaway destination in Canada.
Globally, Canadians are eyeing Paris, France, with Google Flights naming the city the top trending destination for Canadians.
Other top global destinations include London, Lisbon, Tokyo, and Rome.
Search interest also shows that more Canadians are traveling alone, with terms like “solo travel” hitting an all time high in February 2024,” Google Trends wrote.
“Top destinations for solo adventure seekers include Vienna, Machu Picchu, Brussels, Vietnam and Costa Rica.”
Have you made any summer plans yet? If not, where would you want to go? Let us know in the comments.
I do have to say I am surprised by this list, I thought Toronto would be ahead of Vancouver and Calgary. Yes I know it's a bit unfair because the GTA/Southern Ontario has the biggest share of the population, so they can't fly to Toronto, they are already there. So they fly out. But still, YYZ is incredibly busy domestically, it dwarfs everyone else in terms of # of destinations and traffic. So I am surprised all of that doesn't translate into Toronto being #1 in terms of most popular destinations. Vancouver is one thing, but for Calgary to beat it? Seems like a shock. Means the connecting pax are more important than I thought. Toronto is still a colossal visitor draw, don't get me wrong, its figures are staggering and it is incredibly connected. So really expected them to be #1 for Google Flight bookings
-I
love how foreign airports publish their busiest destinations, go to Wikipedia and for most US and international airports, they list their top destinations and usually break them out domestically and internationally. Then there's Canada's airports, where they only have traffic stats. Come on Canada, not a good look to miss what is obviously an international standard that even the US can do. Anyways, I was in a Wikpedia hole and look at BNE airport (Brisbane). YVR is their top destination outside of Asia Pacific (which sounds impressive but since they only have 3 airports outside of Asia Pacific, all it really means is YVR is their top North American destination). But I was surprised YVR was so far ahead of SFO and LAX. For 2023, here are the route figures:
YVR - 176,437
LAX - 131,333
SFO didn't even make the Top 15, so I would have to individually calculate it and I don't have the energy. Suffice to say, they were well below YVR and LAX and others. I did do a quick experiment choosing key months to compare:
August
YVR - 16,539
LAX - 11,215
SFO - 4,971
December
YVR - 19,998
LAX - 13,698
SFO - 9,542
Over to Sydney, LAX is absurdly in the lead, no surprise there. In fact, LAX is SYD's 3rd busiest international route overall, which is actually a huge feat, they even snuck in front of DXB in 2023. But I was surprised YVR came ahead of SFO for SYD too:
LAX - 764,083
YVR - 286,748
SFO - 237,067
The YVR/SFO numbers are very close, the differences are small when you look at the gap with LAX. I just always thought SFO was commandingly ahead of YVR for Australia, but they seem to be quite even. Yes, SFO has has MEL service as well, so that would shave some off BNE and SYD. But even with that factored in, I really thought SFO-Australia traffic was higher than YVR's across the board, but not so. LAX has been getting more competition lately, namely from DFW which both AA and QF are servicing. But then YVR and SFO have likely also eaten away at the LAX-Oceania dominance.
I would just love to see a formal list for where Canadian cities rank on the top destinations for various airports around the world. I know YYZ is the top international airport for a zillion smaller US regional airports, often because it is one of only a few non US flights, or sometimes even their only one. But it's still an impressive chunk of US cities that put Toronto at the top. For Europe they have to change the methodology a bit, since there's such an enormous amount of flying within Europe that is technically international, they break out Europe international and intercontinental international. YUL is #2 for Paris, and I believe was #1 before. Dubai is now #1. But even mixing intercontinental with Europe, YUL would still be a respectable 4th place (behind Amsterdam, Dubai, and London-Heathrow). If the other random airports in Europe or North Africa split regional with intercontintental, I'm sure YUL would top many destinations lists (ie. the secondary French cities, and the North African cities).
I don't think YVR is near the top destination for any international city. YVR has a good mix of cities all over the world, but I don't think it has a commanding lead in any of the markets. But I think we are at or near the top for many US airports in the west.
I think that's all for now, I'm sure there's a zillion things I've thought to post over the last 5 weeks but of course this is all I can remember. Happy Saturday!