YVR Cockroach

The answer will be more clear once it's determined how Singapore exercised its rights under the bilateral. The quibbles (as I understood them to be) were over very similar issues (or a very similar issue).

jlemon

34. Ah, it was quite a bit more.....

KT550

24 x 2 = 48 total

jlemon

34. Keep on heading north! It was still quite a bit more.....

KT550

30 x 2 = 60.

I bet they didn't all run though, if they didn't have pax.

jlemon

34. Perhaps not....but I'm going by the number of scheduled flights listed in the OAG. And that number was greater than 30 in each direction.

KT550

OK
Let's say 4 per hour over a 12 hour day, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
48 in each direction, 96 total.

WHBM

I think you are right and that they didn't have the resources to run like that anyway, nor the commercial demand, but it just allowed people to book at times they found convenient, and the operator would then consolidate them on the day. Almost all their traffic would be transfer to/from flights from Nice airport - into the city it's quicker by road. It's only 15 miles and direct freeway from right by the airport - incidentally one of the most spectacular there is, with successions of tunnels and soaring viaducts. https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7394...7i13312!8i6656

Also, the one day of the year you might envisage peak usage is that of the Monaco Grand Prix car race, but in fact the service is closed then, as all Monaco roads are closed all day and the heliport is inaccessible.

KT550

Train is only 25 minutes now city-to-city.

Most people down there have their chauffeur and a nice car waiting.

WHBM

I think the AC operation was the first service from Canada to Singapore, CP never having gone from Vancouver beyond Hong Kong, but once started Singapore Airlines began something like Singapore-Amsterdam-Toronto with a 747, not only splitting the market but scooping up Europe to Canada traffic as well.

India would also quite likely have had an issue if the bilateral operation worked out in any way unfavourable to them; Air India had started service, through London, under the same bilaterals in the mid-1980s, but after the AI 747 terrorist destruction on the Toronto/Montreal to London sector mid-Atlantic around 1988 gave Canadian service up. India had issues with bilaterals ever since, believe it or not, the 1930s with the Imperial Airways service from London to Australia, wanting the sector across India to be operated only by an Indian airline.

All these operations seemed to depend, when viewed from Britain, on picking up mostly 5th freedom traffic. The AC one must also have been a right nuisance to operate with crews and maintenance requirements so far around the world. Part of the rationale of using the 747 Combi to Singapore, apart from the reduced passenger accommodation, was there is a lot of westbound air freight demand from the Far East to Europe, which they would fill. Meanwhile the "bucket shop" cheap fare offerings of those times, with fares well under standard levels advertised in certain UK places like the small ads in the Sunday Times or Time Out, or ethnic community newspapers, often turned out to be on Air Canada from London to Bombay or Singapore. In the opposite direction, London to New York and Toronto, they also seemed to be principally on Air India, along with a few others like Kuwait Airways. All of which caused upset to the mainstream operators along the way.

Do I recall correctly that after AC gave up the Singapore service there was a further issue and diplomatic upset as they expected Singapore Airlines to scale back as well. There were also issues more generally from Canada with airlines wanting to service Toronto while the government, for political reasons, wanted them to serve Montreal Mirabel instead.

jlemon

34. Close enough! The number is 42 daily flights with the first flight departing Nice at 7:40 am and arriving Monte Carlo at 7:46 am and the last flight departing NCE at 8:40p and arriving MCM at 8:46 pm. And I concur with WHBM and you concerning Heli-Air-Monaco adhering to their published schedule. They probably adjusted their schedule on a day-to-day basis based on the actual number of passengers who showed up at their terminals.

BTW, one challenge they may have faced are the relatively small cargo compartments located on either side of the AS 350 helicopter with regard to transporting luggage. There is a modification for the AS 350 (known as "squirrel cheeks") which extends these luggage compartments outwards thus enlarging them....but even with this mod, the AS 350 still cannot carry much in the way of luggage.

And also BTW, prior to the AS 350, Heli-Air-Monaco reportedly operated an even smaller helicopter in scheduled passenger service between Nice and Monte Carlo: the Bell 206B "JetRanger".

YVR Cockroach

I think you have got it mostly right (and in more detail than I know).

I had forgotten about SQ's Fifth Freedom TATL route. SQ switched focus so

Bonus Question 2A

After the SIN-AMS-YYZ route was dropped, where did SQ shifts its Canada service to and where was the intermedite stop, and what was the equipment used at least in the '90s (bonus for new a/c type used in the 2000s).

This route also raised a quibble similar to your answer above. Specifics will answer BQ 3.

The AC YYZ-LHR-BOM-SIN service was the only Canada-Sngapore service by Canadian airline IIRC.

As a side, CP did actually extend service to xBKK from xHKG on most days starting by the mid/late '80s and eventually had less frequent (1x or 2x weekly) service xHKG-MNL in the '90s, but IIRC, no rights to Singapore. Flight schedule timing meant the a/c would have to stay overnight in xHKG (with commensurate parking fees) so the flight was extended to xBKK and MNL to get some Firfh Freedom or even Canada-Thailand/Philippine traffic.

YVR Cockroach

I ruled out this equipment (Ecureuil) due to size and luggage space restrictions, and a Puma would have been way too big (incidentally my first ride on a helicopter - British Army version). I guess there could have been ground service for bags.

jlemon

Here's a photo of several Heli Air Monaco helicopter types at the Monte Carlo heliport in 2003.....

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Heli...77mynBoTOI/MKg

Besides the AS 350 and the new at the time EC 130B-4 (billed as a "wide cabin" helicopter when compared with the AS 350), a larger, twin engine SA 365N-3 Dauphin 2 can be seen as well. Heli Air Monaco also operated the larger SA 365C-3 Dauphin 2 (which was equipped with skids and not wheels) as well as the AS 355N which is a twin engine version of the AS 350.

Heli Air Monaco also had the following slogan at one point: "La Compagnie Rouge et Blanc" (The Red and White Company)

Toshbaf

Singapore Changi - Seoul Gimpo - Vancouver, Airbus A340-300