Originally Posted by
Soccerra
Westjet is ceasing service to both Medicine Hat (YXH) and Lethbridge (YQL) June 24th. Tons of taxpayer dollars spent at YQL to keep WestJet in town, when the code share ended with CMA that was the beginning of the end.
Do you mean when WS had the CPA with Pacific Coastal where they had a handful of Saab 340s operated as WestJet Link? If so, yes, I'd agree. It's a service that's marginally useful for connections, but when there's only one flight a day, it can mean a very long wait in one or both directions. And very little appeal to someone going for the day. A cousin of my mother's used to occasionally take AC to come from YXH to YYC for the day. He was very disappointed when AC pulled out - leaving at 05:30 and coming back at midnight or whatever is much less appealing than just driving.
Originally Posted by
CanadianAirbus
This is really too bad - but not surprising. Looks like most of the former Westjet Link flights are gone - Dawson Creek and Lloydminster came and went even faster.
I didn't realize they had operated to YDQ in the end. It was first announced before COVID and for some reason I thought it had never come to pass. I'm disappointed I never got it on my map. I did get YLL though.
Now both are left with no service at all. If only they had kept the Link planes with a few daily frequencies, I'm sure these would have been sustainable. Just sad to see two cities that have had consistent service for decades lose all service.
Can't say both AC and WS didn't try, but the demand clearly wasn't there.
Maybe AC will swoop in with DH4s to YVR? With a big enough subsidy, maybe that's the answer? Look at how they bumped up their YVR-YXE/YQR capacity when they exited the YYC-YXE/YQR market...
With enough of a subsidy, an airline will do anything. But why would local governments throw a bunch of money at this? It's ~2.25 hours to drive from YQL to YYC and ~3 hours from YXH. YVR would be a huge backtrack for going almost anywhere else in Canada and the US. If it couldn't work from YYC with relatively low trip cost on the Saabs, and it didn't work with higher trip cost but lower CASM on the DH4, it will be even worse going all the way to YVR.