Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW)

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by phil235

I think that there is some potential for YKF, just due to the fact that Pearson is a big pain in the ass. Once you consider travel time at peak times (a couple of hours) and the fact that you need a couple more hours of cushion, the timing may not be that different. I think you could sell the ease of leaving from YKF and the quick transfer at YOW. Particularly if there is a decent offering in the way of connections.

For YXU, I doubt it, as they are more likely to drive to Ottawa.

So, just to clarify, YXU is London and YKF is Kitchener (an hour closer to both Toronto and Ottawa than London). We did plan to make use of the pre-covid YXU-YOW flight when my daughter attended uOttawa, but her first year was wiped out and that flight was eliminated. We had planned to have her fly home for Thanksgiving, but when she started attending in 2021, she just either hitched a ride with friends or took VIA rather than dealing with the connection at YYZ (and flights got really expensive too lol). When I went to visit, I just drove because I would want a car anyway.

[phil235]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

So, just to clarify, YXU is London and YKF is Kitchener (an hour closer to both Toronto and Ottawa than London). We did plan to make use of the pre-covid YXU-YOW flight when my daughter attended uOttawa, but her first year was wiped out and that flight was eliminated. We had planned to have her fly home for Thanksgiving, but when she started attending in 2021, she just either hitched a ride with friends or took VIA rather than dealing with the connection at YYZ (and flights got really expensive too lol). When I went to visit, I just drove because I would want a car anyway.

Ah right, my bad. I’m very familiar with YKF (and the horrible drive to Toronto at rush hour), but had London and Kingston mixed up. London would be even worse to YYZ, so I don’t blame you. Some of the people I know from London prefer to go to Detroit to fly - roughly the same distance, and it is a domestic flight if going to the US.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by phil235

Ah right, my bad. I’m very familiar with YKF (and the horrible drive to Toronto at rush hour), but had London and Kingston mixed up. London would be even worse to YYZ, so I don’t blame you. Some of the people I know from London prefer to go to Detroit to fly - roughly the same distance, and it is a domestic flight if going to the US.

Yeah, we have gone to Detroit, and also used the NW Airlink flight back in the day, several times. We also have gone to Buffalo, which while popular with Toronto area people, doesn't seem to get much talk around London. I think people have downtown Detroit on the brain and think how much further Buffalo is and don't factor in how far Detroit airport actually is, so they immediately look at Detroit as the Toronto alternative. We are actually flying from Buffalo to NYC later this week. I was almost set to pull the trigger on Porter from the island but I really didn't like the long term parking option there with a basically wide open parking lot. I ended up getting first class on American for a little over half of Porter by the time you had luggage and seat selection fees. Anyway, drifting way off topic, sorry lol..

[Dominion301]

Today's departure count: 86

Today's cancellation count (so far): 1

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Yeah, we have gone to Detroit, and also used the NW Airlink flight back in the day, several times. We also have gone to Buffalo, which while popular with Toronto area people, doesn't seem to get much talk around London. I think people have downtown Detroit on the brain and think how much further Buffalo is and don't factor in how far Detroit airport actually is, so they immediately look at Detroit as the Toronto alternative. We are actually flying from Buffalo to NYC later this week. I was almost set to pull the trigger on Porter from the island but I really didn't like the long term parking option there with a basically wide open parking lot. I ended up getting first class on American for a little over half of Porter by the time you had luggage and seat selection fees. Anyway, drifting way off topic, sorry lol..

YXU-YOW with PD seems like a no-brainer to me twice daily. YXU is so underserved and this route had been served continuously since sometime in the 1970s. O&D pre-pandemic was probably in the 50k annually range. With connections, PD could easily make it work. AC certainly won’t consider bringing back this route at least until the ES-30 hybrid electric 30 seater gets introduced which won’t be until 2029 at the earliest. PD still have DH4 slack so it wouldn’t be difficult to add at least once daily.

[Dominion301]

Today's departure count: 86

Today's cancellation count (so far): 1

[Dominion301]

Today's departure count: 82

Today's cancellation count (so far): 1

[RomanR27]

Ground stop at YOW right now due to an air traffic control system outage, my sister is stuck at YYZ on a plane waiting for clearance.

[Dominion301]

Today's departure count: 86

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

[RomanR27]

Porter making some more domestic cuts in October.

YHZ has one of the three flights downgauged to a DH4
YYT is down to 6x weekly (Wednesday cut)
YWG is down to 6x weekly (Tuesday cut)
YVR down to 10x weekly (2nd flight days 167)

YYG is an interesting one. Doesn't operate Monday/Saturday in October, but still has two flights most days it operates, so still at 9x weekly overall in October.

Not YOW related, but they cut YUL-LAX/SFO to end in September rather than October. Considering they only started it at the end of June, I wonder how it performed this summer. If it didn't do well, perhaps that bodes well for them trying it out of YOW next year.

[phil235]

Interesting. I just booked Porter to New York in September. Lots of seats available on both flights.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by phil235

Interesting. I just booked Porter to New York in September. Lots of seats available on both flights.

When in September? If it's late September that's no surprise. If it's next week, that's not good.

[DTcrawler]

I also have a trip booked to NYC with PD for next weekend (after Labour Day) and checking the app now, still see plenty of seats available. All except 15 are open on the outbound leg and 17 on the inbound.

An American friend of mine took PD from EWR to YOW in mid-July for the first time (usually flies UA) and commented on how sparse the load was. He mentioned FA's had to re-assign seats to balance the weight correctly.

[acottawa]

We recently concluded a trip to California, the value proposition of US leisure travel is certainly questionable at the moment with the current state of US prices and the low dollar.

[phil235]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

When in September? If it's late September that's no surprise. If it's next week, that's not good.

Second week of September. Same thing - probably 3/4 available.

[Rhb]

Statistics Canada has released screened passenger traffic at Canada’s 8 largest airports for July 2024 . For anyone interested this will give you a rough idea of July traffic at YOW.

Airport authority is slow this month (July)with their passenger stats.https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1...301%2C20240701

[Dominion301]

Today's departure count: 86

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

I also have a trip booked to NYC with PD for next weekend (after Labour Day) and checking the app now, still see plenty of seats available. All except 15 are open on the outbound leg and 17 on the inbound.

An American friend of mine took PD from EWR to YOW in mid-July for the first time (usually flies UA) and commented on how sparse the load was. He mentioned FA's had to re-assign seats to balance the weight correctly.

The two weeks after Labour Day are definitely a quieter period for the airlines. While the online seat map isn't a full reflection of the number of seats sold as a lot of people don't pay to reserve a seat in advance, it certainly is an indicator.

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by Rhb

Statistics Canada has released screened passenger traffic at Canada’s 8 largest airports for July 2024 . For anyone interested this will give you a rough idea of July traffic at YOW.

Airport authority is slow this month (July)with their passenger stats.https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1...301%2C20240701

There were 10,012 outbound seats on AF in July, so the 8,931 number would give an eastbound LF just under 90%.

[Rhb]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

There were 10,012 outbound seats on AF in July, so the 8,931 number would give an eastbound LF just under 90%.

Looking at the screened passenger numbers from Stats Canada their numbers are less then half the (YOW) airport authority total for any given month. Are connecting passengers counted?
I expect a little bump to AF load factor of Just under 90%.