MileHighFlyer From Canada, joined Feb 2008, 55 posts, RR: 0 Posted (4 years 10 months 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 3525 times:
This is for the Canadian members,
I was reading an interesting article in Macleans magazine that brought out some major flaws in the way airlines are being managed, especially U.S. airlines. What shocked me the most was that some flights were causing the airline to lose between $9 to $60 per passenger!! They could just leave the plane in the hangar and save money! My question is simple: What are the most and least profitable routes for Air Canada/Air Canada Jazz?
In my opinion YVR-YYJ seems to be very profitable, it's literally a hop over the pond (23 minutes) and tickets sell for upwards of $150 on average. I also think YYC-YMM is very profitable. Minimum price for most dates is $470 one way for a 1.5 hour flight!
Routes that seem least profitable: YYZ-YVR for sure... tickets sell as low as $149 one-way for a flight practically as long as crossing the atlantic!
It's impossible for us in our armchairs to determine AC's most and least profitable routes. There are many factors, such as the number of crew, frequency, if it's a layover, cargo, landing fees at said airport, the list goes on and on. Most importantly high loads does not necessarily equal high yield, and vice versa.
I flew EWR-YYC on AC last week and the flight was damn near empty, it was nice having a whole row to myself and the PTV was actually functioning (got two full movies in!). I don't think there is enough traffic for EWR-YYC and JFK-YYC on AC, as well as EWR-YYC on WS. Surely one of those three will die.
Quoting MileHighFlyer (Thread starter): I also think YYC-YMM is very profitable. Minimum price for most dates is $470 one way for a 1.5 hour flight!
Routes that seem least profitable: YYZ-YVR for sure... tickets sell as low as $149 one-way for a flight practically as long as crossing the atlantic!
It's not simply cost of a ticket versus stage length that determines profitability. Some of those YYZ-YVR legs could very well be making more money than a YYC-YMM leg.
If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21448 posts, RR: 24 Reply 4, posted (4 years 10 months 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 3074 times:
Quoting Caymanair (Reply 2): What about YYZ-YUL? That route has a lot of factors working against it.
And a lot of factors for it including a high proportion of frequent business travellers paying high fares.
Quoting Caymanair (Reply 2): Any flight that connects northern Canada to the rest of civilization makes a killing.
Those routes also have very high costs.
Quoting MileHighFlyer (Thread starter): Routes that seem least profitable: YYZ-YVR for sure... tickets sell as low as $149 one-way
But most Y class fares are higher than that and they carry a lot of business class passengers at fares over $1000 one way.
As already mentioned, there are many other factors that affect route profitability. Load factor is rarely a very good indication. Many full flights can be unprofitable. And AC earns a lot of revenue from cargo on many routes, which is why they use the 777-300ER on some Europe routes even during off-peak periods for passenger traffic. And an individual route may not be profitable but it may be contributing many connecting passengers to other routes that help make those routes profitable.
Quoting MileHighFlyer (Thread starter): What shocked me the most was that some flights were causing the airline to lose between $9 to $60 per passenger!! They could just leave the plane in the hangar and save money!
Not necessarily. Many aircraft are leased and ifi you leave it in the hangar you're earning zero revenue but still have to make the lease payments which can be over $500,000 a month for many widebodies. You usually lose less by flying it even if you're not covering all the operating costs. The only aircraft you can afford to park are those you own outright, and even on those you still have fixed costs like insurance.
YULYMX From Canada, joined May 2006, 977 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (4 years 10 months 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 3037 times:
YUL-YYZ-YUL market Flight is very profitable for Air Canada... plane are full and price are high sometimes as high as 800$ return for 2, 50 minutes flight
CRJ900 From Norway, joined Jun 2004, 2079 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (4 years 10 months 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 3020 times:
Quoting Acey (Reply 3): I flew EWR-YYC on AC last week and the flight was damn near empty, it was nice having a whole row to myself and the PTV was actually functioning (got two full movies in!). I don't think there is enough traffic for EWR-YYC and JFK-YYC on AC, as well as EWR-YYC on WS. Surely one of those three will die.
What was the aircraft type? Perhaps AC will assign an E175 or E190 or Jazz CRJ705 if loads are consistently low...?
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21448 posts, RR: 24 Reply 7, posted (4 years 10 months 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 3018 times:
Quoting CRJ900 (Reply 6): Quoting Acey (Reply 3):
I flew EWR-YYC on AC last week and the flight was damn near empty, it was nice having a whole row to myself and the PTV was actually functioning (got two full movies in!). I don't think there is enough traffic for EWR-YYC and JFK-YYC on AC, as well as EWR-YYC on WS. Surely one of those three will die.
What was the aircraft type? Perhaps AC will assign an E175 or E190 or Jazz CRJ705 if loads are consistently low...?
EWR-YYC is a 319. JFK-YYC is also a 319 but schedules show the JFK flight changing to an E-190 on September 2. EWR remains a 319. AC 319 is 14J/106Y and E-190 is 9J/84Y.
EuroPL From Canada, joined Mar 2008, 58 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (4 years 9 months 3 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 2904 times:
I would think the most profitable route would be YYZ-SYD via YVR hands down. Obviously there are some that only fly YYZ-YVR, or YVR-YYZ. But I just recently flew that route and back. The load factor was 100%, meaning 42 seats in J ($8000-$12000 each) according to aircanada.com, and 228 seats in Y (i paid $2600). Now that has to turn a heck of a profit I would think.
BA747YYZ From Canada, joined Mar 2006, 377 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (4 years 9 months 2 weeks 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 2800 times:
My dad used to fly a lot on business from YYZ to places like thunder bay, timmins, north bay, and sault ste. marie, and the planes were always pretty full and the prices were amazingly expensive especially in business class which was always full, you could fly to europe for less
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