YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[teriyaki]

Originally Posted by Klazu

They have 500+ planes in service which is a lot, but not quite 600. I had not realized they were that big of an airline.

The chinese aviation market is massive, and only going to get even bigger.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

The YVR "reduction" is just back to what they were flying last winter anyway so it's just a seasonal adjustment.

But didn't they announce the 77W was on the route year round now?

This seems different than the usual replacement of summer metal with winter. In this case winter was planned to be 77W, so though it's not a downgrade compared to last year it seems to be a downgrade from what was expected this year.


Edit: Found it:

Guangzhou – Vancouver Boeing 777-300ER continues operation in winter 2016/17, replacing 787-8. The 777 will begin operation from 27MAR16
CZ329 CAN1400 – 0940YVR 77W D
CZ330 YVR1130 – 1720+1CAN 77W D

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airl...ational-operation-changes-as-of-10feb16/

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by Klazu

They have 500+ planes in service which is a lot, but not quite 600. I had not realized they were that big of an airline.

I hadn't, either. The article from which I took the 600+ fleet quote is linked to below. I'm not familiar with them as a source, and the article is 18 months old, so take it with a grain of salt.

http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/ch...k-1h2014-and-faces-new-challenges-184932

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Alpine

I haven't heard much news on TK bilateral negotiations as of late. Is AC throwing a fit and asking the Trudeau government to prevent TK from getting a YVR-IST slot? ..........
......

They did it last time the Canada - Turkey bilateral came up for revision, so no doubt they'll do it again.
AC is no longer a Crown Corp, it's private. But the feds still give it - and YYZ - preferential treatment. The psychological umbilical cord has not broken.
Also, although new, fresh, young, and dynamic, it is likely that Justin will continue the tradition of Eastern Canada Protectionism.

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

But didn't they announce the 77W was on the route year round now?

This seems different than the usual replacement of summer metal with winter. In this case winter was planned to be 77W, so though it's not a downgrade compared to last year it seems to be a downgrade from what was expected this year.


Edit: Found it:

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airl...ational-operation-changes-as-of-10feb16/

Did CZ announce anything or just update their scheduling?

Each airline uploads its schedules in diff ways. Sometimes they just extend current schedules for ease of planning only to adjust at a later date. AC, KE and UA, as examples, do this do this all the time. Sometimes just default to the last year's same period, or extend the current schedule until seasonal planning / yield management adjust as necessary.

As we all know YVR is highly seasonal anyway so any airline who puts on smaller aircraft or reduce frequencies over winter is never a surprise.

To put a positive twist on this, overall capacity on YVR-CAN will be higher this Autumn/winter as the 77W is scheduled to operate right up to 1 Dec and then it kicks in again next year the exact same day it started this year 27 March.

[Skygazer]

Which flights are using A-gate in the domestic terminal these days?

I've flown back and forth between Vancouver and Calgary/Saskatoon many times over the last 8 years and it was almost always in A-gate until one or two years ago, now all my flights seem to come out of C-gate.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Skygazer

Which flights are using A-gate in the domestic terminal these days?

I've flown back and forth between Vancouver and Calgary/Saskatoon many times over the last 8 years and it was almost always in A-gate until one or two years ago, now all my flights seem to come out of C-gate.

Do you fly mostly AC or WJ? Even from over here, what I understand is the pier C is the centre of AC operations, both domestic, sometimes overseas.
I was of the understanding that pier A (if that's what you mean) was adapted to serve WJ and WJ Encore. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[zahav]

C-Pier is entirely Air Canada domestic, some are swing gates between domestic and international (50-52) and 48&49 also can swing, but never do, Last year before the A-B Connector opened, they renumbered the gates again. A-gates are now exclusively WJ Encore ground loading positions (A8-12). The B-gates are all other gates on that side of the airport B12-28. CMA uses the gates B23-26 at the end of the B-pier (the only old unrenovated part of the entire airport, and some Westjet still use these old gates when there's no room on the new side of the B-pier, but only when space is an issue. I'm not sure if YVR plans on renoing/demoing the old part of the B gates, but it definitely is still a weird remnant of hold the airport used to be

[Gordon]

The first gates in the next phase of Pier A are expected to be open soon.

[casper]

Originally Posted by zahav

C-Pier is entirely Air Canada domestic, some are swing gates between domestic and international (50-52) and 48&49 also can swing, but never do, Last year before the A-B Connector opened, they renumbered the gates again. A-gates are now exclusively WJ Encore ground loading positions (A8-12). The B-gates are all other gates on that side of the airport B12-28. CMA uses the gates B23-26 at the end of the B-pier (the only old unrenovated part of the entire airport, and some Westjet still use these old gates when there's no room on the new side of the B-pier, but only when space is an issue. I'm not sure if YVR plans on renoing/demoing the old part of the B gates, but it definitely is still a weird remnant of hold the airport used to be

Some of those B gates I think still have side ramps heading down to the ground floor I believe customer and immigration use to be down there in the old days.

I think Yukon air and some of the charter airlines also operate out of B when they offer domestic service.

I find some of the C gates odd. A few weeks ago I connected off a Dash-8 onto the A330 heading to Montreal. I remember it was directly across the hall C44 or 45. That waiting area is far to small an A330.

[ShawnShank]

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/267329/edelweiss-s17-preliminary-a340-operations/

Edelweiss operating an ex-Swiss A343 into YVR twice between May 11th and 20th of 2017

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by ShawnShank

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/267329/edelweiss-s17-preliminary-a340-operations/

Edelweiss operating an ex-Swiss A343 into YVR twice between May 11th and 20th of 2017

Came here to post that. Looks like it is starting the A343 here before it transitions off to 2 per week on Calgary May 21.

Remains to be seen what the full summer rotation will look like. I just keep hoping they drop edelweiss and make the route mainline Swiss. Such better looking planes.

Currently we see 2x A330-300 and 1x A330-200 for a total of 903 seats per week. Of those 160 are economy plus and 76 are business.

If Swiss were to take over the route 3x per week with the mainline A330 it would be 708 seats per week with 135 business and 24 first.

The first might be the kicker here as it's pretty well a vacation route but with the ever increasing wealth in Vancouver direct connections to Zurich in first may be feasible.

[LeftCoaster]

YVR just released their April stats, coming back down to earth a bit:

Overall up 5.4% an increase of 82,041 over April 2015

Domestic up 4.3%
Transborder up 1.9%
Asia Pacific up 13.8%
Europe up 2.7%
Misc Int'l up 14.6%

Ttl Int'l up 11.2%

A little disappointing, but I don't think there were any new services starting in April so not a ton of room for growth. Transborder continues to struggle, hopefully the summer tourist season can perk it up a bit.

[Hourglass]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

YVR just released their April stats, coming back down to earth a bit:

Overall up 5.4% an increase of 82,041 over April 2015

Domestic up 4.3%
Transborder up 1.9%
Asia Pacific up 13.8%
Europe up 2.7%
Misc Int'l up 14.6%

Ttl Int'l up 11.2%

A little disappointing, but I don't think there were any new services starting in April so not a ton of room for growth. Transborder continues to struggle, hopefully the summer tourist season can perk it up a bit.

Asia numbers should get a another boost in June with the launch of AC's BNE services. The launch of the new ORD and SJC flights will help transborder a bit.

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

YVR just released their April stats, coming back down to earth a bit:

Overall up 5.4% an increase of 82,041 over April 2015

Domestic up 4.3%
Transborder up 1.9%
Asia Pacific up 13.8%
Europe up 2.7%
Misc Int'l up 14.6%

Ttl Int'l up 11.2%

A little disappointing, but I don't think there were any new services starting in April so not a ton of room for growth. Transborder continues to struggle, hopefully the summer tourist season can perk it up a bit.

Funny isn't it when we think a 5.4% increase is not that great!

However, looking at the other major airports that have released April figures... YUL only had 1.5% growth, YYC down 2.2%, YEG just plummeting...

Based on that, I'd say YVR is doing very well and managing to get positive transborder growth when the outbound market must really be hurting with the low CAD.

Also, you are right, very little new services in April added, but starting in May and through July plenty of new services coming online so will see how that pans out.

[Hot Rod]

http://www.traveldailymedia.com/newsletters/2016/TDA8Jun16.pdf

Yup, we very well could see YVR-BKK via 789 very soon. They're interested in closer markets than the mega markets of LAX and NYC; specifically mentioning Vancouver and Seattle as target(s).

While I suspect they might eventually add flights to both cities to fully server the Thailand-North American market, Vancouver needs to jump hard on this right away to ensure it is first and establishes itself as THE gateway; particularly since THAI is Star Alliance and YVR is a major Star Gateway Hub!

[Hourglass]

Originally Posted by Hot Rod

http://www.traveldailymedia.com/newsletters/2016/TDA8Jun16.pdf

Yup, we very well could see YVR-BKK via 789 very soon. They're interested in closer markets than the mega markets of LAX and NYC; specifically mentioning Vancouver and Seattle as target(s).

While I suspect they might eventually add flights to both cities to fully server the Thailand-North American market, Vancouver needs to jump hard on this right away to ensure it is first and establishes itself as THE gateway; particularly since THAI is Star Alliance and YVR is a major Star Gateway Hub!

That would be very cool. I still remember when Canadian Airlines flew to BKK as a tag-on from HKG...

[mezzanine]

Great news! I agree with YVR being a natural choice over SEA - not only is YVR a star hub with AC and UA feed, Thai nationals can transfer in canada without a visa, while thais cannot transfer in the USA without one. Canada's TWOV also is granted for Indonesians and Indonesian nationals may be drawn to a potential BKK-YVR route.

SEA is also congested with the alaska/delta war of attrition. A new terminal is being built but will only start construction in ~ 2017.

[craneSpotter]

Originally Posted by Hot Rod

While I suspect they might eventually add flights to both cities to fully server the Thailand-North American market, Vancouver needs to jump hard on this right away to ensure it is first and establishes itself as THE gateway; particularly since THAI is Star Alliance and YVR is a major Star Gateway Hub!

Wow, that would be great. Turkish and Avianca too please

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Hot Rod

http://www.traveldailymedia.com/newsletters/2016/TDA8Jun16.pdf

Yup, we very well could see YVR-BKK via 789 very soon. They're interested in closer markets than the mega markets of LAX and NYC; specifically mentioning Vancouver and Seattle as target(s).

While I suspect they might eventually add flights to both cities to fully server the Thailand-North American market, Vancouver needs to jump hard on this right away to ensure it is first and establishes itself as THE gateway; particularly since THAI is Star Alliance and YVR is a major Star Gateway Hub!

Saw that today too. Thai will struggle on this route with yields, but if they do want to launch to North America YVR makes a lot of sense.

• Its landing fees are reasonable
• Transit without visa for many Asian countries.
• Star Alliance hub feeds the route well
• YVR is closer to BKK than any major airport in North America

If LAX is out, the only other option that makes any sense IMO is SFO, and YVR is a shorter transit point to any of the star alliance hubs in the west than SFO.




Finally Thai has a ton of airlines operating and on order, with a few high profile routes just cancelled. They are going to need to deploy these aircraft somewhere and if North America is an untapped market in their eyes YVR stands a good chance of being that point of entry. Their dreamliners should fit this route well as they are economy heavy with no first and limited business class.