Halifax Stanfield International Airport Developments

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

The Q400 does not make for a comfortable flight between YHZ-YYT. Flew it last summer and it was not enjoyable. Hopefully one day, jet service between Atlantic Canada's two largest cities will be a reality once again.

Back in the day of Air Nova and Air Atlantic flying the route, it was jet service on a BAe-146; with business class. During the Christmas season in the early/mid 2000's, Air Canada would use 767s on the route for some flights.

Air Atlantic ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTEWQMPq22Y

Air Nova ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5MqgErbaFw

The old A/C flights using B767's to St John's would then usually continue to Heathrow.My Father used to run a Tour Company to the UK and flew that route many times.

[q12]

Halifax-Orlando is year-round again with multiple Airlines.

Canada Jetlines will be flying 2x weekly starting in June.

Westjet is now 1x weekly year-round.

Updated route map:

[q12]

Halifax - Toronto (Pearson and Billy Bishop) will be up to 21x Daily this summer.

6 Airlines will duke it out on this route:

Air Canada (8x Daily)
Porter (5x Daily YYZ/YTZ)
Westjet (up to 3x Daily)
Flair (up to 3x Daily)
Lynx (1x Daily)
Canada Jetlines (2x Weekly)




Also notable starting in July Air Canada will fly an A330-300 between YHZ-YUL on AC 667/AC 664.



Starting in July Halifax Stanfield will see three A330's on Fridays (1x YUL, 2x FRA.)

[Keith P.]

I think I’ll pass on that 5:00AM flight, thanks.

I never realized that Porter charges a premium for their flights, while AC and Westjet match each other exactly. I have to wonder how awful the Flair experience must be for less than $100 base fare on that one flight.

[Saul Goode]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I never realized that Porter charges a premium for their flights

Take the quoted fares with a grain of salt. I flew Porter YHZ-YYZ twice in the last six months and it was cheaper (and a much nicer experience!) than AC or WestJet both times.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Saul Goode

Take the quoted fares with a grain of salt. I flew Porter YHZ-YYZ twice in the last six months and it was cheaper (and a much nicer experience!) than AC or WestJet both times.

Yeah... once you move past the most basic fares on any of the airlines, the prices change significantly. In the past, what's looked like less expensive on AC has turned out to be less expensive on Porter once I've made selections in terms of refundability/cancelability, etc.

[Zmonkey]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I think I’ll pass on that 5:00AM flight, thanks.

I never realized that Porter charges a premium for their flights, while AC and Westjet match each other exactly. I have to wonder how awful the Flair experience must be for less than $100 base fare on that one flight.

As someone who has done about 8RT flights on Flair and Lynx (mostly between Calgary - Vancouver, Calgary - Toronto).

The Flair/Lynx flights are fine. You pay for Carry on/Checked bags. Backpacks are free. No service on the flights, they try to sell you drinks/snacks. Its a really good option for leisure travel.

Its really what Canada needs, just hope they stick around or WestJet, Air Canada, Porter will raise fares.

[Saul Goode]

Originally Posted by Zmonkey

Its really what Canada needs, just hope they stick around or WestJet, Air Canada, Porter will raise fares.

I wouldn't bet the grocery money on Flair's long-term prospects.

Along with having four aircraft seized by creditors (leasing firms) about a year ago, they're now operating with a Federal Court seizure and sale order obtained by the CRA in November hanging over their heads. If they don't keep to their agreed tax payment schedule, CRA can execute the order immediately (i.e., with no need for further court approval). Flair management, understandably, has tried to put a favorable spin on their tax "arrangement" with CRA, but in truth that's a pretty precarious position to be in.

[Keith P.]

The first thing I would worry about when traveling on an ultra low-cost airline is aircraft maintenance.

[Zmonkey]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The first thing I would worry about when traveling on an ultra low-cost airline is aircraft maintenance.

That is just an odd fear to have. Every air craft has to go to the same standards of maintenance.
On top of that the average age of Flair and Lynx airplanes are younger (Ie they fly newer planes) than Air Canada or West Jet.

Look at Europe, there biggest airline by passenger is a ULCC (Ryan Air), it carries about 60% more people than number 2 (Lufthansa). Ryan Air flies almost the same number of people as Delta.

[Saul Goode]

So, Lynx is roadkill and now, as predicted, Flair has edged closer to the precipice, cancelling over 600 flights. Stay tuned for the inevitable crash.

[fatscat]

Originally Posted by Saul Goode

So, Lynx is roadkill and now, as predicted, Flair has edged closer to the precipice, cancelling over 600 flights. Stay tuned for the inevitable crash.

Is this really news? I read the articles floating around, they state 600 less flights in March, April, and May compared to last year. Yup, last year I could book flights into Waterloo in March, but this year they only began listing April flights recently -- no March. That was the case when I tried to book back in December.

Looks like this schedule was all set awhile ago but now being reported on? Not clear why.

[Saul Goode]

Originally Posted by fatscat

Is this really news?

Yes, it is. One of its payment-processing vendors is now withholding $25M in remittances from the airline (reason unreported to date). That can have a catastrophic domino effect, because Flair has a Federal Court seizure and sale order obtained by the CRA in November hanging over its head. If they don't keep to their agreed tax payment schedule, CRA can execute on the order immediately (i.e., with no need for further court approval). If the CRA gets nervous about Flair's cash flow, they can start seizing the airline's real property (i.e., real estate, not airplanes) with next to no notice. This is to secure $67M of unremitted GST on 20 737s purchased by Flair over the past few years. These sorts of things, understandably, make other creditors very jittery too, and things can snowball very quickly - it's a classic airline tale.

Looks like this schedule was all set awhile ago but now being reported on? Not clear why.

The schedule was revised to focus more on holiday destinations rather than domestic cities because there's more springtime demand (i.e., better cash flow) for those destinations. Corporate execs will be spinning this move madly as a common-sense airline industry move, which arguably it is ("go where the money is"), but there's real urgency to the need for greater revenue as Flair been frantically scrambling to stay afloat (er, aloft) for more than a year now. You may remember that this time last year, a lessor repo-ed four of its 737s.

[q12]

The jet fleet will eclipse the Dash-8s in 2024, and Porter has not ruled out adding turboprops. “As we build up the hubs in eastern Canada, the Dash-8 fleet gives us opportunities to create more feed and build connectivity across eastern Canada,” Jackson says. Porter has Dash-8 bases at its Billy Bishop Airport headquarters, Thunder Bay (YQT), Halifax (YHZ) and Ottawa.

Ottawa was Porter’s first destination when it launched in 2006, and now rivals Air Canada and Chorus (operating as Air Canada Express) as YOW’s busiest carrier. It operates up to 35 daily flights with a mix of E195 and Dash-8s, and is the only airline to offer year-round, coast-to-coast connectivity. YOW is also the only airport outside of Porter’s Toronto hub to fly transborder with Dash-8 service to Boston and Newark. “Passengers are coming into Ottawa and connecting on the E195,” Jackson says. “As we start to intersect the fleets in Montréal and Halifax, the same thing will happen.”

https://www.wingsmagazine.com/party-...001D3490978J5J

Interesting news on Porter Airlines plans for a Halifax Hub this week from the President of Porter Airlines. They are planning on using a combination of Dash-8 and E195s for passengers coming into Halifax and connecting onto the E195s.

Starting by the end of this long weekend Porter goes all E195 (jet) service out of Halifax except to Toronto's Island airport and Deer Lake (starts in June).

The question is what new routes will we see with Porter from YHZ.

Halifax (April 2024)

Halifax - Toronto Airports

• Halifax - Toronto Pearson
  4x Daily E195-2
  
• Halifax - Toronto Billy Bishop
  2x Daily Q400

Halifax - Montreal
2x Daily E195-2 (3x starting in May)

Halifax - Ottawa
3x Daily E195-2

Halifax - St. John's
2x Daily E195-2 (3x starting in May)

Halifax - Deer Lake
1x Daily Q400 (starts in June)

[Saul Goode]

Originally Posted by q12

https://www.wingsmagazine.com/party-...001D3490978J5J

Interesting news on Porter Airlines plans for a Halifax Hub this week from the President of Porter Airlines. They are planning on using a combination of Dash-8 and E195s for passengers coming into Halifax and connecting onto the E195s.

Starting by the end of this long weekend Porter goes all E195 (jet) service out of Halifax except to Toronto's Island airport and Deer Lake (starts in June).

The question is what new routes will we see with Porter from YHZ.

Halifax (April 2024)

Halifax - Toronto Airports

• Halifax - Toronto Pearson
  4x Daily E195-2
  
• Halifax - Toronto Billy Bishop
  2x Daily Q400

Halifax - Montreal
2x Daily E195-2 (3x starting in May)

Halifax - Ottawa
3x Daily E195-2

Halifax - St. John's
2x Daily E195-2 (3x starting in May)

Halifax - Deer Lake
1x Daily Q400 (starts in June)

This is nothing but good news. Would love to see direct flights to points west and to some US destinations - Chicago comes immediately to mind.

All my experiences on Porter so far have been positive, and though I wish they'd gone with the CSeries (it just grinds my gears to call it an A220) as originally planned, I find the E195-E2 very comfortable. And though Porter doesn't bill itself as a discount airline, my recent flights have all worked out to be cheaper than the AC or WestJet alternatives.

I just love Porter. Let's hope it ages well.

[Halifax12]

BermudAir launching 1x weekly direct flights to Halifax

https://bernews.com/2024/03/bermudai...lights-canada/

"Starting May 17, the airline will begin operations between Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport [BDA] and Toronto Pearson International Airport [YYZ], with flights to Halifax Stanfield International Airport [YHZ] commencing on May 25."

[MonctonRad]

I am very pleased to see this. My sister and her family lived in Bermuda for about six years when I was young, and we flew down twice to visit her on Air Canada through Halifax. AC doesn't do this route from Halifax any more. I've mulled about going down one more time to see how things have changed. Perhaps now I will.

[q12]

Operated with an Embraer E175







Great news, what is amazing about non-stop Halifax to Bermuda is the flight is only 2 hours on average! Air Canada in the past would often do it in less than 2 hours with the right weather conditions and no taxi delays in Halifax or Bermuda.

Great prices to start too:

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I am very pleased to see this. My sister and her family lived in Bermuda for about six years when I was young, and we flew down twice to visit her on Air Canada through Halifax. AC doesn't do this route from Halifax any more. I've mulled about going down one more time to see how things have changed. Perhaps now I will.

We will see how it does. There were a lot less vacation options back then. The distance to go to somewhere warmer or frankly more interesting is now inconsequential. I guess they might get almost as much reverse traffic nowadays.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

We will see how it does. There were a lot less vacation options back then. The distance to go to somewhere warmer or frankly more interesting is now inconsequential. I guess they might get almost as much reverse traffic nowadays.

Oh, Bermuda is quite interesting. The knocks against it are that it is quite small (21 square miles), and, it is an expensive vacation destination. This didn't bother my mother and myself at the time because we were staying with my sister and brother in law. Accommodations were free.