Atlantic Canada airport thread

[homebody]

Originally Posted by magee_b

Looks like the YKF - YSJ flights which were supposed to begin today have been scrubbed. First flight shows cancelled and future bookings aren't available. Can't imagine the bookings would have been particularly strong without some sort of one-stop service onto another destination. A YSJ-YKF-YEG same plane service (where you stay onboard and they simply make a stop to pick-up more passengers) possibly could have made more sense for the YSJ market.

According to a source at the airport.... Delayed. Maybe they are looking at a YSJ-YKF-YEG service or some other same plane service. I agree though not a very popular route for sure. I kinda thought that as soon as they announced it.

[stephan.richard]

Although flying in and out of any airports especially is a challenging venture. I am glad that Air Canada is almost back to pre pandemic levels with the possible of connecting into the system either in YYZ or YUL with multiple flights per day to either destination. However I find that WestJet encore has been falling behind with only one flight per day and that increases the risks of miss-connections in Toronto. Could that be due for us having Swoop in the province that is taking market share from encore and mainline.

[magee_b]

Originally Posted by homebody

According to a source at the airport.... Delayed. Maybe they are looking at a YSJ-YKF-YEG service or some other same plane service. I agree though not a very popular route for sure. I kinda thought that as soon as they announced it.

Interesting… thanks for the scoop.

[Bishop2047]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

There was an advertisement in the T&T today (full page ad, page A8) claiming direct flights via Porter to Montreal from both Fredericton and Moncton. I have never seen this before. Has there been a new route added recently?

If so, this would mean daily non stops to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal via Porter from Moncton. Does anyone know if this is actually the case, or is going to happen soon?

https://s0.2mdn.net/simgad/12426609824763683154

This is the ad. When I clicked it took me took me to a page describing existing flight routes with no mention of Montreal to Fredericton/Moncton.

Weird.

[MonctonRad]

They've fixed that Porter advert in the paper. Today, their graphic in the advertisement only shows direct flights from Freddy and Moncton to Ottawa and Toronto, not Montreal. Somebody in their advertising department obviously screwed up!

And in other (less lighthearted) news, it appears that WestJet is planning a major retrenchment back to their western Canadian routes. It would appear that many of their secondary eastern Canadian markets will be abandoned, only leaving service to airports in cities like Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. A friend of mine who formerly worked for WestJet confirms this probability.

It is uncertain when Moncton will lose it's WestJet service, but, at present, service is limited to only a single daily flight to Toronto Pearson, making for poor connections, so, such a loss may not mean too much.

The WestJet fleet will be redeployed to western Canadian markets, and this seems to be a strategic decision on their part. Instead, Swoop (a WestJet low cost subsidiary) will be used on more routes in the east. Already Swoop flies out of Moncton to both Hamilton and Edmonton. We may see future Swoop expansion in the future.

[J81]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

They've fixed that Porter advert in the paper. Today, their graphic in the advertisement only shows direct flights from Freddy and Moncton to Ottawa and Toronto, not Montreal. Somebody in their advertising department obviously screwed up!

And in other (less lighthearted) news, it appears that WestJet is planning a major retrenchment back to their western Canadian routes. It would appear that many of their secondary eastern Canadian markets will be abandoned, only leaving service to airports in cities like Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. A friend of mine who formerly worked for WestJet confirms this probability.

It is uncertain when Moncton will lose it's WestJet service, but, at present, service is limited to only a single daily flight to Toronto Pearson, making for poor connections, so, such a loss may not mean too much.

The WestJet fleet will be redeployed to western Canadian markets, and this seems to be a strategic decision on their part. Instead, Swoop (a WestJet low cost subsidiary) will be used on more routes in the east. Already Swoop flies out of Moncton to both Hamilton and Edmonton. We may see future Swoop expansion in the future.

It would seem that their attempt to be Air Canada 2.0 was a bad decision as many of us had predicted. The Q400 was a poor choice for them and it sounds like they will all be moved out west which i am not upset about. I dont think it means the end of WJ in Moncton though. WJ has been here a long long time. It was the first market east of the GTA they ventured into and made it work with daily and double daily 737 service. I could see them bringing back the early morning flight to YYZ on the 737. We will see soon enough though.

[MonctonRad]

I hope you're right.

The redeployment of the Q400 fleet to the west is the kiss of death for WestJet service to most small eastern Canadian markets. It will be interesting to see if the airline thinks it's worthwhile to have 737 service to Moncton. It all depends on passenger volumes. If there are enough New Brunswickers making connections to the west via Pearson, it might survive the upcoming purge.

[stephan.richard]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I hope you're right.

The redeployment of the Q400 fleet to the west is the kiss of death for WestJet service to most small eastern Canadian markets. It will be interesting to see if the airline thinks it's worthwhile to have 737 service to Moncton. It all depends on passenger volumes. If there are enough New Brunswickers making connections to the west via Pearson, it might survive the upcoming purge.

I hope so my only barrier lately when looking at WestJet as of late is lack of flexibility out of YQM. With only one daily flight limits your ease of connectivity and doesn’t give a buffer if the only daily flight is cancelled. But I think we are down to one daily flight could be the addition of Swoop into CYQM. That’s just my two cents on the issue. Hopefully they will add 737 service back in yqm over the dreaded Q400.

[homebody]

Happened to catch a blurb in the online TJ that Air Canada is cutting flights in Moncton and Bathurst. I don't subscribe so don't know the details.

[DyAm00394]

Originally Posted by homebody

Happened to catch a blurb in the online TJ that Air Canada is cutting flights in Moncton and Bathurst. I don't subscribe so don't know the details.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...cuts-1.6504304

"After Canada Day, Air Canada will not offer it's early morning flight from Moncton to Montreal or it's late night flight from Montreal to Moncton.

In fact, both the Moncton and Bathurst airports will have fewer Air Canada flights to and from Montreal next month.

There will be 63 flights, instead of 93, from Montreal to the Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport in July.

The airline will also reduce flights from Montreal to the Bathurst Regional Airport from 31 to 18.

They include the flight departing Moncton for Montreal at 6:05 a.m. and the flight arriving in Moncton from Montreal at 11:33 p.m.

"It's a personnel issue," said Burns. "What they're choosing to do is pull the flight out of the schedule, so passengers don't book the flight and it ends up needing to be cancelled the majority of days."

Burns said she was told the flight would return in August, but hopes it will return even sooner.

"It's a staple flight for Air Canada, so I don't expect this will be long-term," she said.

Air Canada will still offer a mid-late morning flight and late afternoon flight to Montreal in July.

Bathurst Airport CEO Jamie Degrace confirmed to Radio-Canada the flight reduction is because of staff shortages at the Toronto Pearson Airport which affects a wide range of flights."

[homebody]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...cuts-1.6504304

Thanks for this. Looking a little more into this, Air Canada has cancelled a lot of flights in July and Aug from YFC and YSJ as well. A quick look at AC website shows virtually no flights to YYZ From YSJ for the months of July and August And YFC has lost many of their directs to Montreal. Thing go back to normal in the fall looks like. Has the ULLC finally created havoc with Air Canada at YSJ or is it just the mess going on at its hubs.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by homebody

Has the ULLC finally created havoc with Air Canada at YSJ or is it just the mess going on at its hubs.

I am pretty sure it's all related to staffing shortages and the chaos at both Toronto-Pearson and Montreal-Trudeau. Things should be back to normal by September.

Things are still in flux however. Air Canada no longer flies from the NB airports to Halifax, and there is a serious risk that WestJet will abandon NB entirely (leaving Swoop as it's ULCC successor). It will be interesting to see what PAL does in the fall. They currently have a large presence at Moncton-Romeo LeBlanc (St. John's, Deer Lake, Wabush, Halifax, Ottawa), but I think this is still in the test phase. Will this level of service continue in the long run???

The air travel industry won't have a stable "new normal" for at least another year.

[homebody]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I am pretty sure it's all related to staffing shortages and the chaos at both Toronto-Pearson and Montreal-Trudeau. Things should be back to normal by September.

Things are still in flux however. Air Canada no longer flies from the NB airports to Halifax, and there is a serious risk that WestJet will abandon NB entirely (leaving Swoop as it's ULCC successor). It will be interesting to see what PAL does in the fall. They currently have a large presence at Moncton-Romeo LeBlanc (St. John's, Deer Lake, Wabush, Halifax, Ottawa), but I think this is still in the test phase. Will this level of service continue in the long run???

The air travel industry won't have a stable "new normal" for at least another year.

Agreed!

[Smevo]

My flight to Fredericton just got cancelled last night. I had two options, get a full refund or pay a ridiculous differential to re-book on another flight. Guess which one I picked.

At this rate, I may be driving cross-country for my summer vacation...nice drive, but not with young kids.

[MonctonRad]

It appears Moncton-Romeo LeBlanc (CYQM) is about to pick up another ULCC carrier.

Canada Jetlines just completed their last certification flight with Transport Canada the other day (from Kitchener Waterloo to Moncton) and is now ready to begin operations. The equipment they fly is the Airbus A320.

This is their website:

https://www.jetlines.com/Home

If you click on the destinations drop down list, they indicate four initial destinations - Winnipeg, Toronto, Niagara Falls and Moncton. Further reading indicates they plan five weekly flights from Moncton-Romeo Leblanc to Toronto-Pearson.

Moncton is developing a very diverse grouping of airlines serving the airport.

This includes:
- Air Canada
- WestJet
- Swoop
- Porter
- PAL
- SunWing
- Air Transat
- Canada Jetlines

This diversity is more than at most airports..........

[Fischbob]

I'm visiting Montreal later this month, and (quelle surprise) my flight home to YSJ was unceremoniously cancelled by Air Canada. The email notification I received was definitely managing expectations about the prospect of successfully rebooking, given that summer flights were already heavily booked (at least according to AC).

Undeterred, and with some urgency to secure a seat before the remaining ones filled up, I immediately called them. In spite of the 2 hour wait on hold, I was eventually able to rebook at no charge on a same-day flight to YQM. Crisis averted, for now (fingers crossed there are no further issues).

This marks the second round trip in a row that Air Canada has disrupted my plans. I was caught up in the chaos connecting domestically through Pearson in May:

Originally Posted by Fischbob

Had one hell of a time getting to Vancouver just over a week ago (Air Canada, YSJ->YYZ->YVR). Gather round as I regale you with my first experience flying since late 2019...

The early evening flight out of YSJ was delayed over 2 hours departing because of congestion at Pearson - one runway closed, we were told. Was forced to run at breakneck speed through the terminal (they always seem to place your connection at the opposite end!) in order to catch my next flight, only to be denied boarding when I miraculously got to the gate in time. Apparently making that connection was so unlikely, they had automatically bumped me to a flight the next morning!

Got about 4 hours of sleep at the hotel they put me up at before I needed to head back to the airport. I had been assured that my luggage would be checked through to Vancouver and would arrive with me in the morning.

My morning flight to YVR was smooth and uneventful (the YYZ domestic security line was longer than I've ever seen it, but moved fairly quickly, at least at 6:00am it did). However, my luggage most certainly did not arrive on my flight. After waiting for almost an hour, baggage services confirmed it was still in Toronto and would arrive on an undetermined future flight. I had to purchase a couple changes of clothes in Vancouver to tide me over, and my luggage eventually arrived via courier the following afternoon, roughly 48h after I had checked it at YSJ.

My return flights connecting through YUL were thankfully without incident.

TL;DR - YYZ is a bit of a nightmare to travel through right now, even domestically! I might be heading to Toronto in a few months, and if that trip happens, I'm already planning to use YTZ and steer well clear of Pearson.

I have now completely sworn off Air Canada and even gone as far as creating a VIPorter loyalty account for as much future travel as is practical. Since signing up, I've booked my next trip to Toronto on their new nonstop flights between Moncton and Billy Bishop.

While I'm more than willing to make the drive to Freddy or Moncton to stick it to Air Canada for the foreseeable future, I am also hoping that Porter eventually decides to resume service to YSJ. Perhaps there will be an opportunity to reconfigure things favourably with the forthcoming delivery of those new Embraer jets...

[MonctonRad]

One of the air industry sleuths on the main Canada SSP section has determined that the routing for the initial Canada Jetlines service to YQM will actually be Winnipeg-Toronto Pearson-Moncton.

This means that YQM is on the verge of having it's second direct flight to western Canada. Moncton/Winnipeg will be direct one stop via Toronto. The other service is Moncton/Edmonton (via Swoop), direct non stop.

This is very encouraging, but I am not overly sanguine about the ultimate future of either of these two western Canadian routes. Swoop and Canada Jetlines are both ULCC carriers. Canada Jetlines in particular is a new upstart, with a limited route schedule, and could be gone in six months. Swoop at least has the backing of WestJet and is better capitalized. The Swoop service to Edmonton however is only seasonal, and, if it proves to be poorly utilized, could be dropped in a heartbeat. I have some hope for this service as Edmonton is a major city, and could get tourist traffic to the northern Rockies, and could be popular with migrant workers to Fort MacMurray.

[MonctonRad]

Another new coffee shop for Romeo LeBlanc International in Moncton. The T&T is reporting that Aaron's Coffee House is relocating to the airport from it's current location on Main Street in Salisbury. They didn't mention in the article if the new coffee shop is in the pre or post security area.

[magee_b]

Westjet announced some service suspensions that impact Atlantic Canada.

Winter service to Charlottetown, Fredericton, Sydney and Quebec City to be suspended as of November 15, 2022

http://https://www.westjet.com/en-ca...ons-as-airline

[MonctonRad]

So, Moncton has escaped the purge (for now)???