Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW) 1.0

[Dominion301]

In February, Jetz 320s are going to operate on 14, 19 & 21FEB26 on YOW-YUL as AC 476/479: https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/260105-acfeb26320

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

In February, Jetz 320s are going to operate on 14, 19 & 21FEB26 on YOW-YUL as AC 476/479: https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/260105-acfeb26320

Keeping busy during the NHL Olympic break I suppose. Too bad none on YOW-YYZ since that's usually much cheaper for a day trip, would be fun to try these out some time.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Keeping busy during the NHL Olympic break I suppose. Too bad none on YOW-YYZ since that's usually much cheaper for a day trip, would be fun to try these out some time.

Indeed. The YOW-YUL fares are always so ridiculous. Last summer there were a few on YOW-YYZ.

[J.OT13]

Not sure if this belongs here or somewhere else.

50 millions $ de plus pour la nouvelle base de contrôle de drones à Ottawa



Mathieu Berger, Radio-Canada
Publié le 7 janvier à 6 h 00 HNE

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2214927/defense-nationale-drone-uplands-ottawa

[RomanR27]

October 2025 US DOT numbers are out. Not great, but actually slightly better than September.

Porter
MCO: 5228/7788 = 69.5%
FLL: 5406/8184= 66.1%

EWR: 3936/8112 = 48.5%
BOS: 2836/4836 = 58.6%

United
EWR: 11607/14952 = 77.6%
ORD: 11449/12754 = 89.8%
IAD: 8269/9692 = 85.3%

Jazz
DCA: 2633/2952 = 66.6%

[golfguy9]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Not sure if this belongs here or somewhere else.

50 millions $ de plus pour la nouvelle base de contrôle de drones à Ottawa



Mathieu Berger, Radio-Canada
Publié le 7 janvier à 6 h 00 HNE

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2214927/defense-nationale-drone-uplands-ottawa

I had driven passed this a number of times recently and was gonna ask if any one on here knew what it was but I couldn't figure out how to post a photo with the location lol. That's cool, I've always felt the RCAF should have a bigger presence locally.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

October 2025 US DOT numbers are out. Not great, but actually slightly better than September.

Porter
MCO: 5228/7788 = 69.5%
FLL: 5406/8184= 66.1%

EWR: 3936/8112 = 48.5%
BOS: 2836/4836 = 58.6%

United
EWR: 11607/14952 = 77.6%
ORD: 11449/12754 = 89.8%
IAD: 8269/9692 = 85.3%

Jazz
DCA: 2633/2952 = 66.6%

Those numbers certainly align with the airport's average daily transborder pax count stats:
- September: 1,425/day
- October: 1,687/day

DOT stats for November should be similar as the average was 1,733/day on I believe slightly more capacity.

If there are no cancellations today, the post-March 2020 record will be broken.

Today's departure count: 90

Sun flights count (both transborder & international): 16

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

Will check back later today to see if it holds.

Both AF 327 and AC 888 are both on gate 15 today, and AC 889 inbound from LHR is cancelled. 5T 102 inbound is also cancelled. Guess that means a 737 went tech in YFB as Iqaluit's weather is pretty balmy for this time of year at -13 with flurries and no wind.

Looks like 889 was cancelled due to snow at LHR: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/storm-goretti-latest-updates-wind-snow-met-office-b1265693.html and AC's flight status said cxx due to wxx. AC 856 from YYZ to LHR, which turns to 889 was cxx last night, so I guess AC will ferry in a 788 from YYZ. Supposed to be FIN 805 this evening.

[MountainView]

I wonder where the frame for AC888 will come from then. Maybe look for a YYZ flight to be upgauged from an airbus to a widebody, and have the YOW-YYZ turn cancelled. Perhaps if a YOW-YYZ is cancelled and not a lot of room on other flights for another widebody quick turn. We shall see.
AC888 looks decently full to cancel.

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Those numbers certainly align with the airport's average daily transborder pax count stats:
- September: 1,425/day
- October: 1,687/day

DOT stats for November should be similar as the average was 1,733/day on I believe slightly more capacity.

If there are no cancellations today, the post-March 2020 record will be broken.

Today's departure count: 90

Sun flights count (both transborder & international): 16

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

Will check back later today to see if it holds.

Both AF 327 and AC 888 are both on gate 15 today, and AC 889 inbound from LHR is cancelled.

I had predicted today would be the day last week, however I thought it would be much more comfortable than this. I guess the PD reductions offset things more than I thought.

Prior to the cancellation, AC889 was full in both Y and PY, and 14/20 J. AC888, which will have its frame ferried in from YYZ this evening, is full in Y, 19/21 in PY and 14/20 in J.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by golfguy9

I had driven passed this a number of times recently and was gonna ask if any one on here knew what it was but I couldn't figure out how to post a photo with the location lol. That's cool, I've always felt the RCAF should have a bigger presence locally.

One of the airbus squadrons was considered to be based at YOW. The airport authority was somewhat uncooperative. They refused to guarantee priority for military aircraft. For example, a tanker getting a NORAD call out would have to be given deicing priority. And ultimately, given that a billion dollars worth of infrastructure was necessary for the fleet, it was decided that it would be better to put that investment into an airfield controlled by DND: Trenton.

[YOWflier]

I’m not totally surprised. The need for military priority is indisputable but it could obviously cause serious problems for civil operators. Imagine the misconnection havoc potentially caused by delaying a 300-450 seat wide body. Or, the potential cascading operational issues caused by further delaying an E-jet operating 10 sectors that day. Civil operators have a miserable time with OTP to begin with, without additional complications like this.

Surely something could’ve been done though, like excepting certain time windows (probably unpalatable to DND) or the construction of dedicated facilities for them. I thought I saw a potential plan for a significant, potential future facility(ies) for DND on the west side of runway 14/32.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by MountainView

I wonder where the frame for AC888 will come from then. Maybe look for a YYZ flight to be upgauged from an airbus to a widebody, and have the YOW-YYZ turn cancelled. Perhaps if a YOW-YYZ is cancelled and not a lot of room on other flights for another widebody quick turn. We shall see.
AC888 looks decently full to cancel.

Well 90 will have to wait for another day as AC 467 is cancelled. The inbound AC 462 is cancelled and the prior flight is late but it’s still on a 321, so no combining of flights.

[golfguy9]

Originally Posted by YOWflier

I’m not totally surprised. The need for military priority is indisputable but it could obviously cause serious problems for civil operators. Imagine the misconnection havoc potentially caused by delaying a 300-450 seat wide body. Or, the potential cascading operational issues caused by further delaying an E-jet operating 10 sectors that day. Civil operators have a miserable time with OTP to begin with, without additional complications like this.

Surely something could’ve been done though, like excepting certain time windows (probably unpalatable to DND) or the construction of dedicated facilities for them. I thought I saw a potential plan for a significant, potential future facility(ies) for DND on the west side of runway 14/32.

While I can sort of understand this POV from the AA, realistically, how disruptive would ~1-2 MRTT movement(s) per day be to an airport that sees around 80 civilian. We're not talking about about hosting the fleet at Pearson... It definitely makes the most sense to keep them at Trenton, it's only the spotter in me that's a little disappointed.

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Well 90 will have to wait for another day as AC 467 is cancelled. The inbound AC 462 is cancelled and the prior flight is late but it’s still on a 321, so no combining of flights.

Ah that's too bad. The MIA flight begins in a couple week so if next week falls short that will help.

In other news, four of the next five CDG flights are on the 77W.

[YOWflier]

Originally Posted by golfguy9

While I can sort of understand this POV from the AA, realistically, how disruptive would ~1-2 MRTT movement(s) per day be to an airport that sees around 80 civilian. We're not talking about about hosting the fleet at Pearson... It definitely makes the most sense to keep them at Trenton, it's only the spotter in me that's a little disappointed.

I don't think it's a matter of frequency of disruption, but the timing of disruption and the potential consequences given the facilities available.

In the example of deicing, while I'm far from an expert I think YOW has 6 bays but only certain ones can accommodate code E aircraft like A330, 777. You can see this in satellite view. It doesn't take much to imagine the disruption at that facility if the priority MRTT sweeps in at 5:30PM while the AF 77W would normally have its turn and other bays are already occupied. An A330 or 777 could take 30+ minutes to deice during a storm.

But something like this is solvable with cash and expansion of facilities. Obviously, they felt that cash was better spent in Trenton.

[Dominion301]

Today's departure count: 76

Sun flights count (both transborder & international): 17

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

[RomanR27]

Looks like AC889 is a 333 tomorrow - perhaps handling some pax from the cancelled AC889 on Friday (Y is full). It rotates to YYZ as AC463 at 1805. AC458 will be a 788 arriving at 1718 which will in turn operate AC888. (Typically AC458/463 are the same aircraft performing the turn).

AC889 is 15/32 in J (+12 J seats compared to 788) and 19/24 in PY (+3 PY seats compared to 788), and AC888 is 18/20 J and 20/21 PY.

[Dominion301]

Today's departure count: 80

Sun flights count (both transborder & international): 12

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0

[Dominion301]

AC and PAL Airlines extend agreement to 2032 and expand it to include another five DH4s.

https://airlinegeeks.com/2026/01/12/air-canada-pal-move-toward-expanded-agreement/

[Dominion301]

Today's departure count: 81

Sun flights count (both transborder & international): 10

Today's cancellation count (so far): 0