Saskatoon and Regina Air Service - Page 66

Draftsman · #**1301** Posted **Jul 6, 2016, 12:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wacko

Looking at Allegiant's route map, if they were to come to Regina, it does seem that the most likely destinations would be Las Vegas and Mesa. That would put them in direct competition with WestJet. Although it's possible they could fly to Los Angeles or Orlando instead.

It looks like Allegiant won't be coming to Canada anytime soon. According to a news item today on airwaysmag.com (link is below), Allegiant is expanding service to 'primary U.S. hubs'. According to this article, they are also extending service to Ogdenville NY (pop 11,000) on the Canadian border, with the intent of attracting snowbirds from Ottawa and Montreal to a couple of winter destinations in Florida. It sounds like they have no interest to fly into Canada right now.

https://airwaysmag.com/airlines/alle...rimary-us-hubs

Stormer · #**1302** Posted **Jul 6, 2016, 1:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draftsman

It looks like Allegiant won't be coming to Canada anytime soon. According to a news item today on airwaysmag.com (link is below), Allegiant is expanding service to 'primary U.S. hubs'. According to this article, they are also extending service to Ogdenville NY (pop 11,000) on the Canadian border, with the intent of attracting snowbirds from Ottawa and Montreal to a couple of winter destinations in Florida. It sounds like they have no interest to fly into Canada right now.

https://airwaysmag.com/airlines/alle...rimary-us-hubs

Canada's airports are too expensive for Allegiant's cost model

casper · #**1303** Posted **Jul 6, 2016, 1:16 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormer

Canada's airports are too expensive for Allegiant's cost model

Allegiant also has challenges working with US authorities. I don't think their up to deal with two regulators. It gets headlines for having its head pilot attempt to land a closed airport, landing at the wrong airport the odd time and quite a number of maintenance problems.

Some times the reputation of an airline is not a fair reflection of how it functions and other times it is spot on. I don't know what the case is with Allegiant, but if their are alternatives why bother.

jmt18325 · #**1304** Posted **Jul 6, 2016, 4:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormer

Canada's airports are too expensive for Allegiant's cost model

There's also a large tax burden imposed by US authorities when crossing the border.

Draftsman · #**1305** Posted **Jul 6, 2016, 5:03 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmt18325

There's also a large tax burden imposed by US authorities when crossing the border.

Tax burden. Low-value Canadian dollar. High cost of landing at our airports.
No wonder American carriers are pulling some flights out of our cities.

By the way, I am a subscriber to Airways mag, and the current print issue has a feature story on Delta Airlines. It names all 334 domestic & international destinations that they serve, and I noticed that Saskatoon is not among them (nor is Regina, of course). Could this mean that they have plans to end service to YXE in the near future?

CoryB · #**1306** Posted **Jul 6, 2016, 5:10 PM**

Allegiant is targeting Canadian customers in a significant way already however they do it through border airports like Minot rather than flying directly into Canada. Essentially they would rather give up some potential lost sales than needing to deal with the overhead of meeting Canadian airline regulations.

SkydivePilot · #**1307** Posted **Jul 6, 2016, 5:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoryB

Allegiant is targeting Canadian customers in a significant way already however they do it through border airports like Minot rather than flying directly into Canada. Essentially they would rather give up some potential lost sales than needing to deal with the overhead of meeting Canadian airline regulations.

Exactly! Why should they fly another few minutes to just cross the border in order to access the Canadian market? To land at a Canadian airport would strip them of any potential profitability. That's why they fly into "foward" airports such as: Bellingham; Spokane(?); Great Falls; Minot; Grand Forks, etc.

I will bet that YXE service will end soon after the hunting/fishing season is over.

esquire · #**1308** Posted **Jul 6, 2016, 6:04 PM**

The only time I've seen Allegiant flights to Canada is when they've run their periodic charters from western Canadian cities to West Wendover, NV, although I don't think they run those anymore.

SkydivePilot · #**1309** Posted **Jul 6, 2016, 7:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

The only time I've seen Allegiant flights to Canada is when they've run their periodic charters from western Canadian cities to West Wendover, NV, although I don't think they run those anymore.

There's more money in charters; they ought to keep it up. Lol!

esquire · #**1310** Posted **Jul 6, 2016, 7:21 PM**

^ Not sure why they dropped it, although maybe the low C$ had something to do with it. The flights were dirt cheap, IIRC my parents took a casino charter to Wendover a few years ago for something like either $99 or $149 a person, which included a direct flight from YWG and 2 nights at their hotel.

Stormer · #**1311** Posted **Jul 6, 2016, 9:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draftsman

Tax burden. Low-value Canadian dollar. High cost of landing at our airports.
No wonder American carriers are pulling some flights out of our cities.

By the way, I am a subscriber to Airways mag, and the current print issue has a feature story on Delta Airlines. It names all 334 domestic & international destinations that they serve, and I noticed that Saskatoon is not among them (nor is Regina, of course). Could this mean that they have plans to end service to YXE in the near future?

Isn't the YXE-MSP route technically operated by SkyWest Airlines. Maybe that is why it was not on the list.

Draftsman · #**1312** Posted **Jul 7, 2016, 1:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormer

Isn't the YXE-MSP route technically operated by SkyWest Airlines. Maybe that is why it was not on the list.

That is true, however, a random sampling of their domestic destinations includes smaller centres such as Bozeman MT (KBZN), Pasco/Tri-Cities WA (KPSC), and Fargo ND (KFAR) which are all served by SkyWest (and are included among Delta's 334 destinations).
Hopefully Delta doesn't pull out of Saskatoon as well.

Robag · #**1313** Posted **Jul 7, 2016, 4:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormer

Isn't the YXE-MSP route technically operated by SkyWest Airlines. Maybe that is why it was not on the list.

It's still Delta that is the service provider. At this point, Endeavor Air is flying in to YQR from MSP. Prior to that, it was SkyWest, prior to that it was Compass, and prior to that it was a combination of Northwest and Mesaba Airlines that were flying in. Mesaba and Compass were contracted out by Northwest Airlines before being molded into Delta. Compass still flies for Delta, but I believe Mesaba is defunct now.

SkydivePilot · #**1314** Posted **Jul 8, 2016, 1:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robag

It's still Delta that is the service provider. At this point, Endeavor Air is flying in to YQR from MSP. Prior to that, it was SkyWest, prior to that it was Compass, and prior to that it was a combination of Northwest and Mesaba Airlines that were flying in. Mesaba and Compass were contracted out by Northwest Airlines before being molded into Delta. Compass still flies for Delta, but I believe Mesaba is defunct now.

Yeah, Mesaba is now ancient history. Mesaba operated as a Northwest Airlines connector. They typically operated the BAE-146 to YQR. (Unless a DC-9 or B727 was required.)

kalin_10 · #**1315** Posted **Jul 18, 2016, 7:30 PM**

I've decided to try out New Leaf. My wife and I will be traveling to Kelowna from Regina in September. Quite a bit of savings if you ask me! We both will just take a "personal item". Round trip airfare for least expensive flights:
1) New Leaf - $356.00
2) Westjet - $716.00
3) Air Canada - $830.00 with 7+ hour flight time (OUCH! I think Air Canada should be paying me for my service... not the other way around)

We were going to go to Ottawa/Toronto for a few days but the flights alone were more expensive than us flying back to Europe or even Costa Rica with Westjet, Air Canada, or another airline. I think this comparison goes to show that ULCC is needed in Canada - let's hope the flying population supports it.

Robag · #**1316** Posted **Jul 25, 2016, 5:05 PM**

I was on WestJet website today, and the big news for YQR is a once weekly non-stop service to Orlando beginning October 27th. Good news for Regina and area residents, as I believe it is the 3rd largest destination from Regina to the States after Vegas and Phoenix. Speaking of Phoenix, the frequency will be going up to 4 times per week from 3. I think Vegas is going down to 2 times per week from 3, so an adjustment there, but I may be wrong on this.

Stormer · #**1317** Posted **Jul 25, 2016, 7:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robag

I was on WestJet website today, and the big news for YQR is a once weekly non-stop service to Orlando beginning October 27th. Good news for Regina and area residents, as I believe it is the 3 largest destination from Regina to the States after Vegas and Phoenix. Speaking of Phoenix, the frequency will be going up to 4 times per week from 3. I think Vegas is going down to 2 times per week from 3, so an adjustment there, but I may be wrong on this.

Finally some good news. I assume it is easy/cheap to get from MCO to the Caribbean and South America.

Robag · #**1318** Posted **Jul 25, 2016, 8:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormer

Finally some good news. I assume it is easy/cheap to get from MCO to the Caribbean and South America.

That plus Port Canaveral is close to MCO, so a great place to fly into and out of for the Cruisers.

PhotoJim · #**1319** Posted **Jul 25, 2016, 9:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robag

That plus Port Canaveral is close to MCO, so a great place to fly into and out of for the Cruisers.

Decent access to Tampa, too (75 minutes down I-4).

UrbanClimate · #**1320** Posted **Jul 26, 2016, 7:32 AM**

Here's the report from Global News:

Direct flights from Orlando to Regina starting in October

"Regina will soon have the province’s only direct flight to the sunshine state.

Starting Oct. 26, a once-weekly seasonal direct non-stop flight to Orlando, Fla. will be available at the Regina International Airport through WestJet.
..."

http://globalnews.ca/news/2846189/di...ng-in-october/