Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW)

[YOWflier]

True. We can be sure Porter has been asking for YOW to cover the cost of basically everything and vice-versa. In that sense COVID might be a blessing. Those discussions, if any, should now have a more realistic tone.

[ars]

This is unverified information, so take it with a grain of salt, but one of my contacts has a direct connection to Porter and their executives(including the CEO) and, according to them, key Ottawa-based Porter employees have been contacted to take up new roles in Ottawa in anticipation for a bigger Porter presence here.

Paraphrasing here, but the executive that they talked to told them that Porter has "big plans for Ottawa".

Again, this information hasn't been vetted or verified, so take it with a grain of salt. Just thought it was an interesting tidbit.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by ars

This is unverified information, so take it with a grain of salt, but one of my contacts has a direct connection to Porter and their executives(including the CEO) and, according to them, key Ottawa-based Porter employees have been contacted to take up new roles in Ottawa in anticipation for a bigger Porter presence here.

Paraphrasing here, but the executive that they talked to told them that Porter has "big plans for Ottawa".

Again, this information hasn't been vetted or verified, so take it with a grain of salt. Just thought it was an interesting tidbit.

Interesting indeed. Perhaps being mentioned the 1st of 4 airports truly does mean something. It only makes too much sense. Assuming traffic recovers, YOW could easily be a 7-9 million pax per year airport with a hub airline.

Assuming this happens, now all we'd need is for transatlantic service to return...at the very least to London.

Wednesday's departure count: 20

[Dominion301]

YOW's June 2021 pax stats:

Sector / Jun-20 / Jun-21 / % Change
Dom: 20,256 / 44,837 / +121.4%
TB: 219 / 0 / -100.0%
Int'l: 0 / 0 / #DIV/0!
TTL: 20,475 / 44,837 / +119.0%

Sector / YTD 2020 / YTD 2021 / % Change
Dom: 773,127 / 162,263 / -79.0%
TB: 163,093 / 0 / -100.0%
Int'l: 168,382 / 0 / -100.0%
TTL: 1,104,602 / 162,263 / -85.3%

12 Months Rolling / % Change vs Year End 2019
Dom: 421,173 / -89.5%
TB: 0 / -100.0%
Int'l: 0 / -100.0%
TTL: 421,173 / -91.8%

The meaningful indicator these days:
Month-Over-Month Change
Sector / May-21 / Jun-21 / % Change
Dom: 21,599 / 44,837 / +107.6%
TB: 0 / 0 / #DIV/0!
Int'l: 0 / 0 / #DIV/0!
TTL: 21,599 / 44,837 / +107.6%
Avg/Day: 697 / 1,495 / +114.5%

Flair launched YOW in mid-June. July will be F8's first full month. I expect July will be at least double June's number.

[YOWflier]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Interesting indeed. Perhaps being mentioned the 1st of 4 airports truly does mean something. It only makes too much sense. Assuming traffic recovers, YOW could easily be a 7-9 million pax per year airport with a hub airline.

Assuming this happens, now all we'd need is for transatlantic service to return...at the very least to London.

Wednesday's departure count: 20

I’ll take a Porter hub, them eventually joining OneWorld, and BA to London.

A guy can dream…

[RomanR27]

For four days, AC343/AC344 to/from YVR will be served by a 789 instead of a 788. Inbound on July 22 on AC344, then leaves for the last time on July 26 on AC343. Back to a 788 after that until the middle of October when it switches to an A220.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by ac888yow

I’ll take a Porter hub, them eventually joining OneWorld, and BA to London.

A guy can dream…

As is noted multiple places in this forum, Ottawans are not allowed to have nice things. That includes downtown arenas, nice new hospitals, and, of course, BA to London.

[Dominion301]

Today's departure count: 21

[mxg308]

Flair has released their US schedule and it looks like this:
YOW-LAS 2x (Tues, Sat) *Red-eye back to YOW
YOW-SFB 3x (Mon, Fri, Sat)
YOW-FLL 3x (Tues, Thur, Sun)

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by mxg308

Flair has released their US schedule and it looks like this:
YOW-LAS 2x (Tues, Sat) *Red-eye back to YOW
YOW-SFB 3x (Mon, Fri, Sat)
YOW-FLL 3x (Tues, Thur, Sun)

Fingers crossed the US' 5th wave of COVID-19 that is just getting underway is over by then.

Not that this affects YOW, but Flair also quietly removed BUR. Turns out they can't fly to BUR as the airport can't handle international flights, even (unlike LGA & DCA) from pre-cleared airports. I wonder if they'll pick LAX at some point instead?

Is the start date October 31st?

Today's departure count: 22 - the most since sometime in March 2020.

[Truenorth00]

I hope Porter crushes Flair out of YOW.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

I hope Porter crushes Flair out of YOW.

Why? Choice is a good thing isn't it? It is one thing to hope Porter will do well, but another to wish ill of another airline. Do you have something against Flair?

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by roger1818

Why? Choice is a good thing isn't it? It is one thing to hope Porter will do well, but another to wish ill of another airline. Do you have something against Flair?

Realistically, it's a somewhat finite market. Flair and Porter will certainly be overlapping on Sun destinations like Vegas, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. With that in mind, I'm going to root for the airline with a better product and a hub at YOW.

Let Flair go make money out of Hamilton, Winnipeg, etc. Places that don't have a hometown airline.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Realistically, it's a somewhat finite market. Flair and Porter will certainly be overlapping on Sun destinations like Vegas, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. With that in mind, I'm going to root for the airline with a better product and a hub at YOW.

Let Flair go make money out of Hamilton, Winnipeg, etc. Places that don't have a hometown airline.

They're not really competing for the same customer, no?

If one is flying Flair, they're doing the ultra-low-cost thing. Porter's aiming for the Air Canada/Westjet crowd, unless they're changing their business model.

That being said, I remain unconvinced that either "new" Porter or Flair has the legs to survive long-term should a recession hit. For a last-minute trip, I might take the gamble. For a trip a few months away, no thanks because I want my airline to exist when I get to the airport.

Airline mania hits a peak every once in awhile. I think Canada's in the throes of one.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Realistically, it's a somewhat finite market. Flair and Porter will certainly be overlapping on Sun destinations like Vegas, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. With that in mind, I'm going to root for the airline with a better product and a hub at YOW.

Let Flair go make money out of Hamilton, Winnipeg, etc. Places that don't have a hometown airline.

I do find it ironic that when I suggested that I could see Porter offering a YOW-SFB (or maybe MLB) flight a month ago (post #5155), you quickly shot the idea down, but now that flights between YOW and one of Orlando's airports is looking likely, you seem to think it is a great idea.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by thewave46

They're not really competing for the same customer, no?

If one is flying Flair, they're doing the ultra-low-cost thing. Porter's aiming for the Air Canada/Westjet crowd, unless they're changing their business model.

I tend to agree. They are targeting different markets. While there might be some overlap, there will likely also be differences in some of their destinations.

That being said, I remain unconvinced that either "new" Porter or Flair has the legs to survive long-term should a recession hit. For a last-minute trip, I might take the gamble. For a trip a few months away, no thanks because I want my airline to exist when I get to the airport.

Airline mania hits a peak every once in awhile. I think Canada's in the throes of one.

True, but COVID might be in their favour this time though. They are focusing on bringing back their most profitable routes and it will take a while for the big boys to recover. If a small player can come in and establish a loyal following while the big boys are still recovering, they could develop a loyal following and could be harder to undercut after they get a foothold.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by roger1818

I do find it ironic that when I suggested that I could see Porter offering a YOW-SFB (or maybe MLB) flight a month ago (post #5155), you quickly shot the idea down, but now that flights between YOW and one of Orlando's airports is looking likely, you seem to think it is a great idea.

Mostly because I am assuming they will tie in with JetBlue. Also, I think Porter isn't going to be doing this 1-2x per week nonsense. Any route they serve will be as close to daily as they can pull off. And I would so much rather see 5x E2-195s per week to MCO from YOW, then 3x Max 8s to SFB.

I want Porter and YOW to turn out like JetBlue and Boston. I'm rooting for them to succeed, rather than getting scraps from an LCC.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by thewave46

They're not really competing for the same customer, no?

If one is flying Flair, they're doing the ultra-low-cost thing. Porter's aiming for the Air Canada/Westjet crowd, unless they're changing their business model.

There ain't a lot of business travellers regularly flying to Florida from Ottawa. So on this route, they most definitely are competing for passengers.

Originally Posted by thewave46

That being said, I remain unconvinced that either "new" Porter or Flair has the legs to survive long-term should a recession hit. For a last-minute trip, I might take the gamble. For a trip a few months away, no thanks because I want my airline to exist when I get to the airport.

Airline mania hits a peak every once in awhile. I think Canada's in the throes of one.

Porter is up against AC, WestJet and Flair for all the domestic routes, and Flair, Sunwing and Transat for the vacation routes.

Either Porter's YOW hub strategy succeeds or they get eaten alive and YOW will never see an airline hub here again. There's really no in-between here.

We'll see if all the folks clamouring for YOW to get more services are working to put their money (and airline status) where their mouths are when Porter starts up.

[mxg308]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Fingers crossed the US' 5th wave of COVID-19 that is just getting underway is over by then.

Not that this affects YOW, but Flair also quietly removed BUR. Turns out they can't fly to BUR as the airport can't handle international flights, even (unlike LGA & DCA) from pre-cleared airports. I wonder if they'll pick LAX at some point instead?

Is the start date October 31st?

Today's departure count: 22 - the most since sometime in March 2020.

Start date for YOW-FLL is October 31, SFB starts Nov 1 and LAS starts Nov 2.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Mostly because I am assuming they will tie in with JetBlue.

Not sure how tying in with JetBlue will help with service to Orlando. Although Orlando is on of their secondary hubs, I see most of Porter's passengers having Orlando as a destination.

Also, I think Porter isn't going to be doing this 1-2x per week nonsense. Any route they serve will be as close to fault as they can pull off.

Not sure where you got the idea that I was proposing that Porter only offer 1-2x flights per week.

And I would so much rather see 5x E2-195s per week to MCO from YOW, then 3x Max 8s to SFB.

AFAIK, the rumor at the time was for Porter to obtain E2-195s, not Max 8s. There was no mention yet about Flair flying to SFB.

I want Porter and YOW to turn out like JetBlue and Boston. I'm writing for them to succeed, rather than getting scraps from an LCC.

And yet a month ago you said it was a bad idea for them to fly from YOW to one of Orlando's airports because "there is nothing stopping AC, WS, WG or TS from dumping on the same route and bleeding Porter."