The definition of strange is not "not the norm". You partially answered your question in your reply. There are many times over the years where a wide body has flown the route so I would not consider it "strange" in any way.

YZF schedule has been enhanced for summer 2023. Now 2x daily flights to YVR (CR9), 2x YYC (DH4), and 1x YEG (CR9).

AC USA summer 2023 changes in the link.


https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/221127-acns23us

Halifax – Newark eff 01MAY23 Service converts to year-round, 1 daily Dash 8-Q400
AC8659 YHZ1150 – 1300EWR DH4 D
AC8660 EWR1340 – 1625YHZ DH4 D

Be careful with your semantics. Remember, in AC-speak, enhanced mostly means enhanced out of existence. :-(

(And don't get me going about "elevate" or "elevated." Mind you that's not just AC, saw it too on that Korean car ad on the AC entertainment system.)

SASK to AB gone
 

AC just eliminated all flying between Saskatchewan and Alberta. Like this is ridiculous. Not sure when these changes start but summer is definitely like this. No one will take a connection via VANCOUVER to go YEG-YXE LOL. I have a points booking that is now re-scheduled like this....I can drive to Saskatoon faster!! YEG-YYC seems to be stuck at 4 flights per day.....also not acceptable.

Surely this has to be wrong. I just tried to book YXE-YYC in February and the only AC option is via YVR. Ridiculous. Is this something to do with the Jazz Dash-8 fleet?
Anyone got any more info on this?

An early Christmas present for WestJet?

With the recent elimination of the DH8-300s and much of the CRJ fleet, and the resumption of many routes that were suspended during Covid, they really don't have enough small planes to operate all of their routes.

Good thing is, if Wexit does occur, AC might not notice it.

CNN web site advertising AC YVR-BKK route
 

I'm booked on this flight for next week. The longest flight I'll be on ( YYZ-DXB previously), but found this the most convenient in total travel time and stopovers.

Unfortunately, I could only book economy for my partner and I, as the cost to upgrade to business was the same as the total cost of hotels for 14 days in Thailand.

I’m flying AC 66 BKK-YVR tomorrow morning (Dec 4). Looks like it’s going to be fully packed!

Lots of routes cut ex-YYC to Western cities, including YYJ :( Last flight looks to be January 15th.

YKA and YCD also axed.

Looks very convenient for both legacy airlines!! Split up east and west. Hmmmmm

YQB frequencies cut
 

I have some flights booked for next summer and got a flight change notification a few weeks ago. It looks like the YQB schedule has been gutted for summer 2023, with no mid-day flights:

YQB-YUL down to thrice daily with a stupid schedule making connections to earlier EU flights extremely tight/impossible (departs at 6:20, 17:50 and 20:25).

YQB-YYZ offer five departures but again, nothing that can make connections to EU flights reasonable (departs 5:15, 7:00, 10:10, 19:25 and 20:15).

Hopefully AC isn’t done tweaking the schedule because I’m not looking forward to leaving YQB at 6:20, spending 11 hours in YUL/ before boarding a flight to FRA/LHR/CPH/CDG. Ridiculous.

So... is the rumor true that Jazz is closing the YYC base for both Flight Operations and Inflight? What about their maintenance operation in YYC? Do they have anything else in YYC for their hub?

AC is essentially eliminating YYC as a regional hub.

Is that why YYC-YYJ, YCD, YKA, YCG, YZF, YXE, YQR, SFO, and IAH are being cut, in addition to the frequency reductions to YLW, YQU, YMM, and YEG? It looks like the only thing that was not cut or eliminated was the new route from YYC-YXT and YYC-YWG, which remains at good frequencies.

Also gone (from before and during COVID-19) are regional routes YYC-YQQ, YXC, YXY, YQF, YQL, YXH, SEA, PDX, PSP, and ORD (albeit some of which were Jazz routes that transferred to Air Georgian).

What a massive frustration for AC YYC travellers.

Interestingly enough, what I do not see, is any increase in capacity for YYC-YVR to feed some of these markets that will now need more capacity on this route to feed the smaller centres.