Hamilton International Airport

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Isn't he basically repeating himself in the bolded part since Purolator at least, and I thought most of Amazon, moves on Cargojet aircraft. No chance Purolator is going anywhere, especially since they closed and merged their Hamilton courier terminals into Mount Hope 10 years ago. Purolator would gain nothing by moving to Pearson, the only other viable airport to even be considered. Same with UPS and DHL. Amazon obviously isn't going away either. Contracts can change as to who provides the air lift, but the air lift will remain.

I don't know. Those parts weren't in quotes, so it could be the reporter didn't get it all straight.

I think it unlikely Amazon will leave, given how the airport is very complementary to their business (e.g., 24 hour operations). But for a behemoth like that, their presence in Hamilton is minor. For the city, having a major shipper close up shop would be big.

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re: subsidies, I know it's a "part of doing business" and has been for a long time, but I'm not a fan. Especially after seeing Stellantis balk about their deal, because VW later made a better arrangement. And there are many examples farther in the past: the auto and financial sectors for example... bailouts intended to "save" jobs, but after the crisis was over did the corporate entities that survived still give a shit?

[shoelessjoe]

WS update.

YHM-YHZ and YHM-YYT have both been loaded and are bookable on westjet.com. For peak summer YHZ is daily, YYT is 5x weekly.

MCO has been extended through summer (presumably to operate year-round).

All 3 are currently loaded as Y only, meaning they will presumably be operated by pink tails (ex-Swoop).

[SteelTown]

WestJet linking St. John's to Hamilton, taking over old Swoop route
Flights start in May and end in October

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfo...lton-1.7133956

WestJet is launching a St. John's to Hamilton, Ont., flight this spring as well as resuming its service to Tampa, Fla.

The Hamilton route was initially flown by budget airline Swoop, which merged with WestJet in October, with Swoop being shut down.

The St. John's-Hamilton route will take off May 17 and will fly up to five times weekly until it concludes on Oct. 14.

"We recognize the importance of the return of WestJet's service between St. John's and Hamilton and are sincerely grateful for the overwhelming support and advocacy from the community," vice-president of external affairs Andrew Gibbons said in a statement.

"We heard loud and clear how critical connectivity from Ontario is for the region and we look forward to strengthening the connection between these two vibrant provinces."

The statement added that the Tampa route — which flew last year — resumes March 17 and will fly weekly until June 2.

[HamAviMech]

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Originally Posted by SteelTown

[B]

The statement added that the Tampa route — which flew last year — resumes March 17 and will fly weekly until June 2.

This article is based out on St. John's Airport, so I think that Tampa route is for that Airport. Hamilton just released their 2024 summer schedule: 2024 Summer Program Highlights:

WestJet will expand its domestic flight offering between Hamilton and Eastern Canada with always popular service to Halifax and St. John’s, while continuing to provide non-stop connectivity to/from Calgary and Orlando.
Low-cost direct flights between Hamilton and Iceland continue with PLAY up to 7x weekly, providing seamless connections to over 30 destinations across Europe including Amsterdam, Dublin, Copenhagen, London, Paris and the airline’s latest route addition of Split. Travellers who want to visit Iceland before continuing their trip across the Atlantic can also take advantage of the option to prolong their layover into a multi-day stopover at no additional cost.
Air Canada has partnered with The Landline Company to offer 6x daily, year-round luxury motorcoach service from Hamilton International to Toronto Pearson, enabling travellers access to Air Canada’s global network of destinations while starting their journey with the convenient, hassle-free experience of Hamilton International.

[JakeLRS]

I was holding off posting the updated summer schedule since I was really hoping Westjet was going to bump up YYC after Lynx's departure, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I'm not including these Air Canada buses, because its a bus... not an aircraft...

Compared to our nearby airport, YKF will have more weekly departures with 54 total weekly departures (Flair: 44 | WS: 10) and 10 available destinations coast-to-coast (9 domestic destinations, 1 international).
(all this assuming flair stays above water).

Here are the peak summer 2024 numbers compared to last year:

S2023 Weekly Total Departures: 81
S2024 Weekly Total Departures: 29

S2023 Daily Average Departures: 11.57
S2024 Daily Average Departures: 4.14

S2023 Weekly Passenger Movements*: 28,892
S2024 Weekly Passenger Movements*: 13,136
*Inbound/Outbound Seats

S2023 Available Destinations: 12
S2024 Available Destinations: 5

YHM_Summer2024 by freerealms454, on Flickr

[LikeHamilton]

Excellent work as always JakeLRS! Do you have an arrivals chart for YHM?

[King&James]

Yes, thank you JakeLRS. It's disappointing for sure, would nice to see any entity pick up the slack.

[SteelTown]

The wheels are officially in motion on a new and convenient way to travel as we celebrate the launch of @AirCanada and @ridelandline's luxury motorcoach service between @flyyhm and @TorontoPearson, connecting passengers with over 140+ destinations worldwide. ������✈️������ #HamOnt





https://twitter.com/flyyhm

[catcher_of_cats]

I truly don't understand the logic behind this service. To travel to HIA by bus, or worse by car and then pay for parking, just to get on another bus to travel to another airport is ******. It must be far, far cheaper and less travel time to take GO and assorted connections to Pearson instead.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by catcher_of_cats

I truly don't understand the logic behind this service. To travel to HIA by bus, or worse by car and then pay for parking, just to get on another bus to travel to another airport is ******. It must be far, far cheaper and less travel time to take GO and assorted connections to Pearson instead.

They are advertising this and the new Waterloo service as no additional cost on top of the flight from YYZ, so if that's true, I can see some people going for it. I think they could find a more convenient location than the airport to start it from, but that's the way they do it elsewhere. I did see a post from a popular travel blogger on Facebook a month or so ago where he was going to Allentown PA, and when he got off the plane in Philadelphia and thought he was getting on another plane, was surprised to be directed curbside to get on a American Airlines bus, also operated by Landline. So, Air Canada isn't exactly breaking new ground here. Hopefully it's not popular, so that they don't get any ideas of cutting flights from London to Toronto and replace it with busses.

[JakeLRS]

Originally Posted by catcher_of_cats

I truly don't understand the logic behind this service. To travel to HIA by bus, or worse by car and then pay for parking, just to get on another bus to travel to another airport is ******. It must be far, far cheaper and less travel time to take GO and assorted connections to Pearson instead.

When they initially announced this service, there was about a $30 price increase to ride the bus. That extra cost was dropped so airfares are priced the same from Hamilton as it is from Toronto.

I actually have one of my europe flights in June booked from Hamilton-Toronto. Ill report back after the experience. Unfortunately, I couldn't do the same on the way back as there was only one LHR-YYZ flight that was timed well for a YYZ-YHM bus. I didn't feel like having a 3.5hr layover in YYZ

[ScreamingViking]

Wait until Westjet gets in on the idea.

Sorry YHM, but your current aspirations for passenger growth hinge largely on bus service.

[LikeHamilton]

I just returned from Paris yesterday and took the new Air Canada bus to YHM. It was an extremely comfortable bus ride. Nothing to worry about as they oversaw everything. My daughter picked us up and we were home in 20 minutes. The trip to YYZ was $130 for two. There was no charge for this trip. I will do it again.

[JakeLRS]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Wait until Westjet gets in on the idea.

Sorry YHM, but your current aspirations for passenger growth hinge largely on bus service.

Atleast WS maintains some sort of air service from YHM, albeit its only YYC 5x weekly in the off-peak season.

We'll also continue to have some sort of sun service in the winter and if they continue to grow the YHZ Atlantic routes, its a very safe bet we'll maintain YHM-YHZ all summer long to help them feed the Europe flights. Unfortunately, WS never really restored the pre-swoop routes of YVR, YEG, YQM.

I'm waiting for Porter to launch YHM-YOW. It's inevitable for them to launch it... right?

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by JakeLRS

I'm waiting for Porter to launch YHM-YOW. It's inevitable for them to launch it... right?

Unless they get what they want in Toronto to operate jets from Billy Bishop. Or choose Waterloo -- if Flair goes belly up, there will be interest in attracting the likes of Porter.

When it comes to Hamilton airport I long ago gave up having "high hopes"... I'm old enough to remember when NordAir was flying jets from the city, and this was pre-expansion in the mid-1980s. Then later Greyhound Air came along and showed all too briefly that there was demand. And WestJet led to some ambitious plans for future expansion (overly ambitious, probably) but quickly jumped to Pearson when space opened up.

Hamilton-Ottawa and Hamilton-Montreal make too much sense and I seem to recall those routes doing ok when there was service (some of it on very small aircraft, mind you) but every airline that tried was never able to sustain their business or pulled out of the city.

Success as a cargo airport is very worthwhile. Until such a time Pearson can no longer handle growth in passenger demand, to me it's the best hope for YHM's future.

[Beedok]

Having taken a bus connection from Montreal to Ottawa, I can say it's not bad, but, if they're not doing connecting flights, it seems weird to go to the airport instead of somewhere more central. (The ones in Ottawa go to the Via station.)

[mishap]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

And WestJet led to some ambitious plans for future expansion (overly ambitious, probably) but quickly jumped to Pearson when space opened up.

I remember the poor timing of that. The province had announced that the new Hwy 6 was going to be built around the airport. And then WestJet left, citing lack of highway access... right after they were told they were getting a highway. More like they wanted to shift to Pearson while that was a viable excuse.
Then WestJet comes back in the form of Swoop, and when do they contract? Right after the province announces that the exact same highway is about to be twinned to a full freeway. At least they blamed the contract and not the highway network this time.

[king10]

when can we expect 2023 passenger stats to be released?

[SteelTown]

Air Canada dominates the Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal golden triangle markets. In the past, WestJet had Ottawa and Montreal, and Air Canada, as usual, brought Air Canada Jazz for YHM to Ottawa and Montreal. Sure enough, that killed competition, and as usual, Air Canada pulled out when WestJet moved to Pearson.

Ever since Swoop disappeared I've become a Porter fan. Their loyalty program is great, I already got a free flight and Billy Bishop is a lovely airport.

[ScreamingViking]

The duopoly always wins, in the end. We only had Swoop because WestJet wanted to kill competition.

It'll be interesting to see how Porter fares if it moves outside of its niche in a much bigger way, and how the Big Two will react. I appreciated its service and convenience the two times I flew that airline, but that was a long time ago now.