canadiancow

Give me some flight numbers and I'll see what I can pull up.

YUL-YSJ the past week was 70+% every day, often much fuller than that.

But high load factors don't mean high profit.

EdmFlyBoi

Don't disagree and nothing that I said would counter the argument that the move is likely in part political. They are dialling back service all across the country and around the world. One would assume that it's mostly related to load factors - my recent flights YYC/YEG-YVR have been relatively full because there are significantly fewer daily turns. Putting pressure on this government to change quarantine requirements and begin sector specific funding is clearly part of AC's strategy. Ensuring that various parts of the country voice their displeasure about a reduction in service is a component of this.

YUL

FWIW, I normally work (well worked, as I currently telework from Montreal) in Ottawa and I had quite a few PEI folks in the office.
Could YUL - YYG work better for them?

Resurrection

AC is under no obligation to continue service when they are losing money. Why the Feds have been dithering around with an airline bailout package when every other major western nation managed to get 'er done pretty quickly is puzzling.

YZF_Elite

Maybe not necessarily indicative of what things would be post-Jan 11th. I have two of my own staff and several friends who have flown down in the past week in order to complete the necessary 14 day domestic travel quarantine so they can spend xmas with their families and I suspect they are not the only ones. Likley hard to look at recent loads since anything before the Atlantic bubble popped would be potentially off and anything the last week or two is being influenced by early xmas travelers. I'm also not sure how indicative current loads are compared to the anticipated middle of winter loads.

I'm not sure how much money AC makes off those flights in winter even when they are full. Keeping a station going for a single flight a day and dealing with winter ops is likely just not worth their effort. WS/PD have cut Atlantic routes in past years and AC cuts frequencies because there's just not a lot of traffic in a non 2020 year.

global happy traveller

My boss used to remind me that butts in seats do not mean the business is successful. key indicators are revenue yield and profit margins.

also load factors must be viewed in both directions. A plane flying in a high loading direction and low loading counter direction would have diluted the load factor.

my colleague and I used to joke that assets (planes, trains, ships, buses) don’t just magically disappear once they arrive their one-way destination

Fiordland

I think the problem is AC does not like the terms the feds want to attach to the bailout.

I think the Feds should play hardball. In an RFP ask for an airline to operator two daily flights between Charlestown and any major central Canada hub (Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto). Feds backstop the number of seats sold but require the operator to offer them on an interline basis to any other domestic Canadian airline at the subsidy rate. Let WestJet, Porter or AC bid on it. Due the same for other airports that have been dropped. No reason the feds are providing money just for being.

hoipolloi

In normal times, airlines must give a 120 day advance notice to the CTA for service suspensions or major reductions to domestic routes. So, in normal times, airlines are not free to suspend routes as they see fit without notice for domestic routes.

However, I note that airlines have been exempted by the CTA from the advance notice requirement due to COVID-19.

Regarding the lack of sector-specific support compared to other countries, that's an argument that keeps being brought up by airlines and aviation workers only, so far from unbiased

yyznomad

I simply asked what the recent load factors were.
I have no specific flight numbers or exact dates in mind.

Wallace Cashperson

I have been on the YYZ - YQY and YQY - YYZ several times during the pandemic and I would estimate that load factor at 10-20%
The timings for that flight have also been awful, the one daily flight out of YQY leaving at 530am

I am not remotely surprised it's being cut, in fact I am surprised it lasted as long as it did

canadiancow

For 8219 YQY-YYZ:
Dec 10: 0/12, 19/64
Dec 9: 3/12, 13/64
Dec 8: 4/12, 26/64
Dec 6: 2/12, 27/64
Dec 5: 4/12, 13/64
Dec 3: 2/12, 21/64
Dec 2: 0/12, 14/64

painintheuk

There are now officially 0 scheduled flights with the last flight out today: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-...dney-1.5866577. That puts a damper on Cape Breton as a place for us to retire to!

PointWeasel

Drove past YYF last week and noticed a DH4 parked in front of the terminal which was one of the last flights before the suspension.

Today when I drove by I noticed that the Air Canada sign on the YYF airport signage by the entrance is now gone and replaced by 8P (and further down WS).

Does anyone know if YYF is suspended or cancelled indefinitely?

tcook052

Service to YYF is 'suspended indefinitely' from what I've read.

PointWeasel

Thank you.