Atlantic Canada airport thread

[MonctonRad]

Former Air Canada executive says province should consider closing an airport
The former Air Canada COO says the province can look at this situation as a challenge or an opportunity
Alishya Weiland · CBC News · Posted: Jul 09, 2020 1:50 PM AT | Last Updated: July 9
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...ffic-1.5643349

Regardless of what this former Air Canada COO says, this is not a provincial decision to make. The airport authorities are federally regulated not for profit independent corporations charged with administering and operating federally designated airport facilities. The province has nothing to do with this (unless they feel pressured to issue a failing airport a bailout of some kind).

It will ultimately be the marketplace that will decide which airports survive or perish. Times are tough. Even YQM which had millions of dollars in the bank before the pandemic is burning through it's reserves and will be in a deficit position sometime in the early part of 2021 unless things turn around.

Does NB require three large commercial passenger airports? That is arguable. I would posit that NB needs at least two, one for the eastern part of the province and the other for the western part of the province. Our neighbouring province (NS) only has two such airports (Halifax and Sydney). This however is just the opinion of one person. If people in general feel strongly about maintaining their local airports, then they can show their support by using their local facilities for personal travel.

It will be at least 3-5 years before we see passenger numbers rebound to pre COVID levels (if at all). Business travel could in fact be permanently suppressed in the era of Zoom. People will also be spooked about leisure travel for some time. All three NB airports are going to experience tough times over the next few years, and some degree of rationalization may be necessary. There will be winners and losers in the industry. Time will all who the winners will be.

[J81]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Former Air Canada executive says province should consider closing an airport
The former Air Canada COO says the province can look at this situation as a challenge or an opportunity
Alishya Weiland · CBC News · Posted: Jul 09, 2020 1:50 PM AT | Last Updated: July 9
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...ffic-1.5643349

Regardless of what this former Air Canada COO says, this is not a provincial decision to make. The airport authorities are federally regulated not for profit independent corporations charged with administering and operating federally designated airport facilities. The province has nothing to do with this (unless they feel pressured to issue a failing airport a bailout of some kind).

It will ultimately be the marketplace that will decide which airports survive or perish. Times are tough. Even YQM which had millions of dollars in the bank before the pandemic is burning through it's reserves and will be in a deficit position sometime in the early part of 2021 unless things turn around.

Does NB require three large commercial passenger airports? That is arguable. I would posit that NB needs at least two, one for the eastern part of the province and the other for the western part of the province. Our neighbouring province (NS) only has two such airports (Halifax and Sydney). This however is just the opinion of one person. If people in general feel strongly about maintaining their local airports, then they can show their support by using their local facilities for personal travel.

It will be at least 3-5 years before we see passenger numbers rebound to pre COVID levels (if at all). Business travel could in fact be permanently suppressed in the era of Zoom. People will also be spooked about leisure travel for some time. All three NB airports are going to experience tough times over the next few years, and some degree of rationalization may be necessary. There will be winners and losers in the industry. Time will all who the winners will be.

I dont think id pay too much attention to a former AC execs opinion on NB. They couldnt care less about offering anything but the minimal service levels. We have what we have in this province and that is 3 decent sized cities of equal importance. The only thing going to one airport would do is make it cheaper and easier for AC and less convenient for everyone else.

[magee_b]

Originally Posted by J81

I dont think id pay too much attention to a former AC execs opinion on NB. They couldnt care less about offering anything but the minimal service levels. We have what we have in this province and that is 3 decent sized cities of equal importance. The only thing going to one airport would do is make it cheaper and easier for AC and less convenient for everyone else.

I agree. Every time there's a call for closing an airport in NB people seem to think that it means AC / Westjet will suddenly be offering flights from NB direct to Europe. It will definitely be cheaper for AC/WJA to have one less outstation to worry about, but ultimately, it won't lead to the increased connections that many seem to think it will when airlines are consolidating flights through their established hubs. Pre-COVID, you could've convinced me that it might lead to a new charter connection or two, but nothing substantial.

[Taeolas]

(For what it's worth, I posted a link to that article about 3 posts and 1 page back before. But I didn't quote it directly. )

And yeah, as far as AC and Westjet are concerned, they would rather have all ~3M Maritimers located in one location; Halifax or Moncton would do (I think Moncton has slightly better weather for planes) and everywhere else would be deserted wilderness.

The reality is, NB has 3 somewhat major airports that are doing well pre-COVID, and given time, will continue to do well post-COVID. We have 3 CMA's in a province with less than 1M people, and all 3 cities have distinct identities that work well together with just enough competition to keep them on their toes.

Sure, if we had Omniscience and Immortality available to us back when we were planning airports in New Brunswick, we probably would have focused air traffic on Sussex; but we didn't and we certainly won't change that now. We have to deal with the hand we've been dealt, and the 3 airports we have aren't going anywhere.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by J81

So you were clipping along at 135kmh in the middle of the night? Smart 🤦🏻♂️

Clear moonlit night with modern LED headlights so it really wasn't an issue.

[NewIreland]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

(For what it's worth, I posted a link to that article about 3 posts and 1 page back before. But I didn't quote it directly. )

And yeah, as far as AC and Westjet are concerned, they would rather have all ~3M Maritimers located in one location; Halifax or Moncton would do (I think Moncton has slightly better weather for planes) and everywhere else would be deserted wilderness.

The reality is, NB has 3 somewhat major airports that are doing well pre-COVID, and given time, will continue to do well post-COVID. We have 3 CMA's in a province with less than 1M people, and all 3 cities have distinct identities that work well together with just enough competition to keep them on their toes.

Sure, if we had Omniscience and Immortality available to us back when we were planning airports in New Brunswick, we probably would have focused air traffic on Sussex; but we didn't and we certainly won't change that now. We have to deal with the hand we've been dealt, and the 3 airports we have aren't going anywhere.

3M?

[Taeolas]

Originally Posted by NewIreland

3M?

Ok ~2M. I think I was counting NL in my mental totalling and/or rounding up.

[J81]

Originally Posted by OliverD

Clear moonlit night with modern LED headlights so it really wasn't an issue.

Night time is not the time to be clipping along like that. I hit a moose at 100kmh in a transport truck and i had moose lights on my bumper and mirrors on top of my highbeams. Cant even begin to tell you how many times ive seen moose next to the road in the middle of the night and had some car pass me like i was sitting still obviously completely oblivious to the 1000lb animal 50feet from the road. When its dark slow the hell down not speed up. Jesus i thought that was elementary.

[McKay]

Originally Posted by OliverD

Clear moonlit night with modern LED headlights so it really wasn't an issue.

I don't want to take the thread too far off-topic, but I don't believe there's a highway in Canada with a design speed that high. That means, among other things, that you could realistically come around a curve and see an obstacle in the road without having enough time to react to it.

[theshark]

All though there are place with fences, gives a false sense of security. They help but I have seen many collisions in gated areas because of damaged fencing or wildlife gets stuck between the two near the start or end of fences. And well I will not get going on non fenced are, no matter what you have, a running animal will leave you little reaction time.

Think the general message is we want you to be careful!

Plus remember, Speeding laws in NS are stricter, they seize your car after a certain km/h over the limit!

[theshark]

And to bring this back on topic, Nolinor, a Quebec based aviation company has received approval from TC to operate flights down south. They charter regularly in the Maritimes provinces so wonder if they will offer flights from here.

[ghYHZ]

Originally Posted by theshark

And to bring this back on topic, Nolinor, a Quebec based aviation company has received approval from TC to operate flights down south. They charter regularly in the Maritimes.........

Caught this Nolinor '737-200 at Trenton, Nova Scotia last October.

The Bishops University Gaiters from Lennoxville, Quebec were playing the St. Francis Xavier X-Men in a football game in Antigonish....so Nolinor got them here from Sherbrooke in an hour vs a 12 hr bus ride.

[Taeolas]

Good news for Moncton Airport.

PAL Airlines announces 5 day a week connection between Saint St Johns and Moncton starting Sept 21st.

The connection will be extended to Ottawa as well as the bubble expands.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

Good news for Moncton Airport.

PAL Airlines announces 5 day a week connection between Saint Johns and Moncton starting Sept 21st.

The connection will be extended to Ottawa as well as the bubble expands.

St. John's

I've been agitating for a direct connection between St. John's & Moncton for years. I guess I got my wish. I always assumed that any connection to St. John's would have YQM as a connector with the terminal destination being Ottawa or Toronto.

We have also recently speculated on the forum here that the recent retreat by Air Canada in terms of regional service might serve as an opportunity for a new regional airline, or for PAL. Again, I guess we were correct.

[Marty_Mcfly]

^ Honestly, glad to see a direct connection between St. John's and Moncton, as well as glad to see PAL Airlines expanding a bit further west. Hopefully it goes well for them.

[MonctonRad]

Nice poster regarding the new PAL direct route from St. John's to Moncton:



Honestly, this has been the only good airport news since the start of the pandemic six months ago.

[lirette]

I wonder how busy this flight will be with current conditions. In some ways with the bubble you might see more people looking to explore newfoundland this fall if they are comfortable enough with airplane travel.

I hope it ends up being popular and is still around when I'm comfortable flying again possibly next summer. Newfoundland always felt farther away having to either catch a connection or drive to Halifax to fly. Or take a long ferry ride.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by lirette

I wonder how busy this flight will be with current conditions. In some ways with the bubble you might see more people looking to explore newfoundland this fall if they are comfortable enough with airplane travel.

I hope it ends up being popular and is still around when I'm comfortable flying again possibly next summer. Newfoundland always felt farther away having to either catch a connection or drive to Halifax to fly. Or take a long ferry ride.

The flights I took to and from Newfoundland last month were pretty much full.

[felip_ars]

According to François Pierre Dufault (Radio-Canada Acadie journalist)

Starting November 2nd, WestJet is cutting Moncton, Fredericton, Sydney and Charlottetown from their service.

Flights remaining after November 2nd
Halifax-Toronto (2x/day)
Halifax-Calgary (9x/week)
Halifax-St-John's (11x/week)

https://twitter.com/fpdufault/status...63029257293831

[BlackYear]

Ouch!

https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/westjet-...nada-1.5144448

CALGARY -- WestJet says it is indefinitely suspending operations to Moncton, N.B, Fredericton, Sydney, N.S., and Charlottetown, while significantly reducing service to Halifax and St. John's, N.L.

The airline is also suspending operations between Toronto and Quebec City.

WestJet says the suspension eliminates more than 100 flights weekly starting Nov. 2.

The airline says it has worked to keep essential air service going since the start of the pandemic, but demand for travel is being severely limited by restrictive policies.

The airline also says it is laying off 100 corporate and operational support employees.

The cuts do not include airport staff from the affected Atlantic airports due to an earlier restructuring.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2020.