Air Canada's confidence in Fort McMurray's economy soars
#1
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Air Canada's confidence in Fort McMurray's economy soars
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...nomy-1.4983116
Despite the lack of pipeline access, low oil prices and a declining population, Air Canada says it's confident in Fort McMurray's economy.
WestJet recently cut its sole daily direct flight from the oilsands capital to Toronto — a crucial air bridge for passengers heading to Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. However, Air Canada said it's committed to maintaining this route over the long term.
The airline's director of government relations for the western region, Serge Corbeil, made the pledge at a sold-out business luncheon on Thursday.
Despite the lack of pipeline access, low oil prices and a declining population, Air Canada says it's confident in Fort McMurray's economy.
WestJet recently cut its sole daily direct flight from the oilsands capital to Toronto — a crucial air bridge for passengers heading to Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. However, Air Canada said it's committed to maintaining this route over the long term.
The airline's director of government relations for the western region, Serge Corbeil, made the pledge at a sold-out business luncheon on Thursday.
#2
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Seems very marginal given the sole E90 flight that’s a red eye to boot. The YMM airport is now very overbuilt I am sure, I think the one E90 might be the only jet they see all day!
#3
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Nothing about this says "confident" to me...even the secondary headline sounds shaky...."Airline pledges to maintain McMurray-to-Toronto route — but only if people use it." Clearly, people aren't using the direct YYZ links. AC went from 2-3 daily A32X to a single daily E90. Westjet is out entirely. I just don't see this route surviving. Instead, I see AC using a CRA on the late evening flight from YYC and returning early in the early morning for pax connecting in YYC.
#4
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Wow, the following sentence was published? Who fired the proofreader?
When the question was raised about the flight costs, Corbeil said there waas nothing the airline could do anything to make flights from Fort McMurray cheaper when asked by an luncheon attendee.
The old CYMM terminal was bursting at the seams, and the construction of the current building seemed almost inadequate at the time. It is now largely empty, with at most two gates used simultaneously. The land allocated for a parallel runways sits cleared and undeveloped. I hold serious reservations about the TM pipeline expansion, but do truly hope that the Fort Mac area can find some prosperity, and its people can return - if not to the frothy boom times - to the stability they once had. The combination of the global decline in oil prices & pipeline delays forcing companies to lay off thousands of workers, coupled with the those same companies flying their staff directly to oil camp airfields all conspired to take huge chunks of YMM's passenger traffic.
I agree with nave888's opening line above, and wonder if part of Air Canada's commitment to the city stems from having nowhere better to deploy the aircraft used?
When the question was raised about the flight costs, Corbeil said there waas nothing the airline could do anything to make flights from Fort McMurray cheaper when asked by an luncheon attendee.
The old CYMM terminal was bursting at the seams, and the construction of the current building seemed almost inadequate at the time. It is now largely empty, with at most two gates used simultaneously. The land allocated for a parallel runways sits cleared and undeveloped. I hold serious reservations about the TM pipeline expansion, but do truly hope that the Fort Mac area can find some prosperity, and its people can return - if not to the frothy boom times - to the stability they once had. The combination of the global decline in oil prices & pipeline delays forcing companies to lay off thousands of workers, coupled with the those same companies flying their staff directly to oil camp airfields all conspired to take huge chunks of YMM's passenger traffic.
I agree with nave888's opening line above, and wonder if part of Air Canada's commitment to the city stems from having nowhere better to deploy the aircraft used?
#5
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“However, Air Canada said it's committed to maintaining this route over the long term until we decide to uncommit.”
#6
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Wow - I had not realized that YMM traffic had dropped quite this much - down from a peak of ~1.3 million in 2014 to just over 0.7 million per year now.
https://www.flyymm.com/passenger-statistics/
What I have noticed is in its heyday it always cost a lot more to fly from YYZ to YMM than either YYC or YEG even though it was a slightly shorter distance - for the last couple of years it has often been the same price.
https://www.flyymm.com/passenger-statistics/
What I have noticed is in its heyday it always cost a lot more to fly from YYZ to YMM than either YYC or YEG even though it was a slightly shorter distance - for the last couple of years it has often been the same price.
#7
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AC will cancel the direct flight the day it fails to be profitable. They have no romance or faith or confidence or hope.
#8
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I hope YMM can keep this route but I have to be honest - if it's a redeye and I were local to YMM I'd probably connect via YEG or YYC to get a decent daytime flight. It will be interesting to see if this route survives when the E190s exit the fleet.
#9
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I still feel surprise that so many of the company's most frequent flyers attribute such negative feelings towards it. I imagine it's like staying in a bad marriage - get out, it's better on the other side. The kids'll be just fine.
#10
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When the patch was really rolling, lots of camp workers (those without kids or a cocaine habit) would use YYZ as a springboard and spend their 10 days off in Europe or further afield.
If the flight does well, perhaps it's a C-series, er, A220 candidate. If not, it will eventually disappear.
Last edited by CZAMFlyer; Jan 21, 2019 at 8:52 am
#11
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Fort Mac has a lot of shift work. Basically days or nights. A red eye return to YYZ is most likely the best departure time for works to get home a quick as possible. Most of the traffic at YMM is not “local”, but camp workers living in other parts of Canada.
#12
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The nonstop service (AC 381/382) is operated by a mainline Embraer 190. For some reason I feel AC may be keeping the service going without realizing much profit, or at least a reduced profit from prior years. This is pure speculation, as I have no info on how/where/if the airline is making money from a given route. Ordinarily, when routes don't perform as planned/hoped, AC will certainly sharpen the axe as required, but this particular route, given the sensitivity of the destination and chance of goodwill from a struggling province, may be thrown a lifeline for the interim. There is, of course, a limit to the benevolence of the company.
I still feel surprise that so many of the company's most frequent flyers attribute such negative feelings towards it. I imagine it's like staying in a bad marriage - get out, it's better on the other side. The kids'll be just fine.
I still feel surprise that so many of the company's most frequent flyers attribute such negative feelings towards it. I imagine it's like staying in a bad marriage - get out, it's better on the other side. The kids'll be just fine.
Oh, I don't think that the cost/income/profit calculation for a particular route is anywhere near an exact science. The enormous amount of overhead in aircraft cost, gate rentals, deciding on if permanent or contract staff, and then calculating out income for that point-to-point for the PAX headed to the non-direct destination... Its far more than this customer can even try to napkin out.
Yes, good will factors in there.
My point isn't that Air Canada is evil in that calculation, but that they do it. And when the route becomes unprofitable, they will stop flying it.
#13
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Many camp workers don’t fly commercial from YMM, they are on Westjet charters from camps to YEG where they then connect to commercial flights. There are multiple flights a day to and from YEG to Firebag for instance.
#14
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There are many charter flights out of Ft Mac area and just not to YEG. Energet airlines I believe is the main charter company. My son and most of his friends all fly out of Ft Mac AC on flight passes.
#15
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For those of us that live here in YMM, the red-eye is horrible. I fly every 2 weeks at a minimum and avoid the red-eye as much as possible which usually means connecting via YEG or YYC. I know a lot of people who do this. Many people also drive to Edmonton to catch flights out of there.
Most workers for the oil companies fly on charters and most of those flights are directly out of the camp locations from private aerodromes. There are quite a few workers who fly out of YMM but I suspect most of those are contractors and not directly employed by the oil companies (not sure - just a guess).
We do miss the larger volume of flights we used to enjoy but with numbers down there is nothing we can do. It's a catch 22 because flights are at bad times and prices have increased so for many it makes much more sense to drive or take a bus to Edmonton to fly out of there.
It used to be great when YMM had non-stop flights to YYZ/YEG/YYC/YVR. I remember meeting someone at the airport once who was flying YYZ-YVR on points and his layover was in YMM - go figure. We also used to have non-stop flights from YMM to DEN and 1 or 2 sun destinations. Times have changed. I consider it mostly due to population size with many having left after the fires and the economic downturn.
Most workers for the oil companies fly on charters and most of those flights are directly out of the camp locations from private aerodromes. There are quite a few workers who fly out of YMM but I suspect most of those are contractors and not directly employed by the oil companies (not sure - just a guess).
We do miss the larger volume of flights we used to enjoy but with numbers down there is nothing we can do. It's a catch 22 because flights are at bad times and prices have increased so for many it makes much more sense to drive or take a bus to Edmonton to fly out of there.
It used to be great when YMM had non-stop flights to YYZ/YEG/YYC/YVR. I remember meeting someone at the airport once who was flying YYZ-YVR on points and his layover was in YMM - go figure. We also used to have non-stop flights from YMM to DEN and 1 or 2 sun destinations. Times have changed. I consider it mostly due to population size with many having left after the fires and the economic downturn.