Originally Posted by
arf04
I don't know if the boom is over exactly. I think there is more going on in the south than in Saskatoon and area right now. I don't know that anyone has ever done Saskatoon to Calgary in 4-5 hours as it is nearly 400 miles!
Both AC and Westjet have significantly increased the number of seats they bring into YQR over the last two years (new YEG, YVR, and YWG flights, for example). Some of that is seasonal but others remain year round, so we are up in numbers from 2007-08. United came into the YQR market with the DEN flights and was so happy with the numbers that they increased the number of flights. Same goes for YQR-MSP on Delta. Delta hasn't done YXE-YQR-MSP for quite sometime now. All flights seem to do well into YQR on the flight loads side. How yields are is unclear. A poster a page or two back notes that there aren't many business travellers on YQR flights. My experience is that on YYZ flights there are quite a few "suits", especially on Sunday/Monday and Friday flights, and that YYC and YEG flights have lots of people travelling on oil/gas related work (even with the slow down in AB). I am not usually a big SK booster, but unless the airlines are willing to lose money on their flights to YQR I don't see why they would increase the number of flights they have going in this market.
I think much of the disappointment over the YQR-YOW flight is that it was doing well on the load side (again, who knows about yields??) but was cancelled in favour of an additional YYZ flight. I know quite a few people who connected through to TATL's, YHZ, and stayed on for the YUL leg, preferring to avoid YYZ. It may well be that AC realized it could sustain an extra YYZ flight if it funnelled all that traffic through YYZ rather than YOW, which is probably why they said in their press release that they wanted to strengthen YYZ as a super hub.
My apologises I used 4 to 5 hours as I lived in Rosetown and its 500 KM to City centre from Hwy 7 & Hwy 4. Earlier this year one of my peers flew Delta to FLL and he flew YXE to YQR them MSP. They have always done that, unless they have recently changed.
Originally Posted by
pitz
With the extra YYZ flight, if loads are particularly bad, they can cancel one, or convert to an E75. Easier to cancel 1 flight out of 4 in a day, than to cancel 1 flight out of 1, or 1 flight out of 2.
There might be other considerations. The CRAs for the flights are parked at YQR/YXE overnight, for close to 9 hours. YQR/YXE only have very basic line maintenance, so its not like they can be pulled into a hangar for any of the more complicated checklists to be performed.
And by removing the direct to Ottawa flight, AC may very well be strengthening other weak and minimally viable flights, such has YQR/YXE-YWG, and YWG-YOW.
It always bothered me that the CRA spent that many hours in YXE. With so many flights out of YYC so early in the morning I wished AC had a late night flight to YYC so we could catch early morning flights, but then you would have two YYC to YXE flights late at night! 9 hours that plane sits there with the last west bound flight to YYC at 8PM, those of us outside of Saskatoon that have to travel, its a tight time.
So how many AP*E & AP*SE are there in Saskatchewan? When I check in I ask how many originate in YXE and they say a few but not as much as elsewhere. With the new airport expansion in YXE I wonder ir a MLL will be built? Never understood why YQR has one and YXE does not!