24left

@marke190
See Air Canada's Fleet Page. Rouge has 6 A321s

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...ard/fleet.html

YVR72

marke190

Whoops, how could I forget! I guess I had repressed the memory of YYZ-YYJ in Y on a Rouge 321

tcook052

Regardless of the livery or seating configuration it does seem supremely serendipitous that these former WOW aircraft should arrive at such an auspicious moment.

CZAMFlyer

Yes, they are. Those are Transat aircraft and I'm talking about a new Air Canada aircraft which they'll be converting to look like the rest of their A321s. The question revolves around the timing for doing so. Given that it will take several days or weeks to complete the process, and that the conversion has to happen sometime, it might make sense to get it done now, before the peak travel season, particularly as they have some relief in the form of those Transat leases.

The Maxes aren't returning any time soon; may as well get as many properly-outfitted replacements in place as soon as possible.

pitz

As long as they have seats in a reasonably high enough density configuration, that's good enough.

YYC/YVR-YYZ are leisure heavy anyways. Especially in the summer. And frequency is high enough that anyone who really can't live without in-flight WiFi or J service can book onto one of the many other flights that offers it. I doubt they'll do anything to the planes short of bringing them up to regulatory requirements in Canada. They are in desperate need of the aircraft.

YEG USER

24left

I was thinking about this idea of an AC decal. Then I tried to imagine which would be more amusing - seeing these 321s with the words "Rouge WOW" on the aircraft, or alternatively "WOW Rouge". So many different ways to interpret these.

(for anyone with photoshop skills, feel free to be creative).

***

On a more serious note, I doubt the AC brand will take a hit. It's not the worst thing for AC to fly aircraft that say either Air Transat or WOW on them. NZ had really been hit hard with the RR Trent engine mess and they've been flying leased BR and SQ aircraft. BA, faced with the same Trent issue, have been using some QR aircraft. Sunwing is currently using Omni and Eastern. They've all managed and AC customers will be happier to know they will get to where the need to go.

Adam Smith

Why do you insist on repeating this rubbish over and over? That doesn't make it any more true. Those are the business capitals of Canada and those flights are stuffed with people on paid J fares and expensive Y fares (Flex/Comfort/Latitude). Even if there are 50 FOTSGs on Tango fares on a 146-seat 320, it's not a "leisure-heavy" route.

Given that swapping out the seats takes so little time, and would require compensation to those downgraded from J to Y (or changes to those people's travel plans, creating complexity and cost for AC), I doubt that they won't at least put the J seats in, provided they have those on hand.

But WiFi is probably not a priority and I would think the paint job would be a very low priority, unless there's some sort of contractual prohibition in their agreement with WOW. Even if there was, that could probably be re-opened for a few extra bucks.

Your perspicacity is admirable.

Symmetre

Don't forget still further elements crucial to the AC brand, such as non-functional IFE, broken seats, surly crews and an OTP that's approaching single digits.

CZAMFlyer

The sun is dawning on a bright day indeed when I find myself in total agreement with Adam. I'll admit we're all gazing into a murky crystal ball when issuing our ideas on what AC will do (at any given moment with any given topic), but to me, it would make sense to spend the time to convert the aircraft to their desired end-state while we have this relative lull in travel between March break and the advent of summer. I assume AC derives good revenue from their J cabins on all routes on which they deploy the 321, and I doubt they'd be able to command full business fares with blocked off middle seats.

I'm anticipating being proven 'wrong', and seeing these purple planes winging across the country within days. Or maybe they'll disappear to a hangar and emerge like a sparkly raccoon* with the full AC outfit prior to being pressed into service.

It's interesting to know that they don't seem 'desperate' in terms of capacity just yet. Daily passenger load factors (measured at one airport accounting for all routes flown to/from that airport) were consistently in the 72-78% range prior to the Max grounding and instantly jumped up to the mid-80s afterwards. I'm sure some routes are regularly full and require interim lift, while others remain spacious, but my point is that they're not overflowing yet.



* at which point I'll revert to disagreeing with Adam because I think they'd look great in that livery.

Symmetre

Freudian slip?

Or just a major hate-on for deflating seats? LOL!

24left

4:52 PM - 21 Mar 2019





Ooooooh, twins.




Isn't it nice that other birds in the flock welcome the new "kid"




A great way to brighten up the drab YYZ

RangerNS

How desperate is desperate? Before the MAX news hit, I recorded on day in YYZ where they were noting 5 32x unserviceable. The fleet was load-and-go for half a day. Those 5 aircraft might have needed only an overnight shift of percussive maintenance.

24 aircraft being unavailable for months is a very different situation.

If good planning or luck has AC with a warehouse of cabin components, they might swap things out in a week. But if not and the seats are 6 weeks, out, then sure, they are going to be pressed into service ASAP. The only question I'd have is if, and what, Icelandic->English/French translations are necessary for service, or if they could get a TC waver for a few months.

5mm