Hello everybody,

Would it be possible for OpenSkies (EC) to begin service to LGA and DCA with a technical stop in YHZ? YHZ is within the perimeter rules of both LGA and DCA, and YHZ has customs pre-border clearance facilities as well. What are everybody's thoughts?

What's the point in doing that...Pax will need to be offloaded along with their baggage and re-screened and re-processed at YHZ. Not much better than any other stop along the East coast and connecting to either DCA or LGA.

Why would they make people stop in Halifax, deplane, get screened, replane, and go to LGA of all places, when they could just go directly to Newark? It would add about 2 hours to the trip.

Second, if they wanted to get back into the D.C. area again, wouldn't they just go back to IAD? It would make moer sense as they wouldn;t have to worry about the short runway and they wouldn't need a tech stop.

[Edited 2012-09-28 13:51:58]

They would also have to stop in YHZ eastbound for absolutely no reason to get around the perimeter rules. That would make no sense.

Politically, I can't see a foreign carrier being permitted to use such a loophole to defeat the LGA/DCA perimeter rules. U.S. carriers would have major problems with that.

Considering YHZ weather much of the year, you'd also be inviting delays by adding a stop there in both directions.

There’s an agreement between Halifax and Bangor that the pre-clearance facility at YHZ would be used for originating flights only......not for in-transit flights.

http://www.aims.ca/en/home/library/details.aspx/1042

I think under the latest agreement between the US and Canada, any US carrier could fly US-CAN-EU with full freedom rights and so can any Canadian carrier Can-US-and beyond.

I guess one could ask the question whether an EU based airline could circumvent the rules and use YHZ or YYZ or YUL, etc... and access DCA or LGA. But wouldn't that foreign airline need to secure a slot in the first place?

One also wonders whether a US based airline would be allowed to use their own slots and fly such route. I could see something like DCA-YHZ-DUB (where I believe DUB has already US pre-clearance)

Quoting yegbey01 (Reply 5): I guess one could ask the question whether an EU based airline could circumvent the rules and use YHZ or YYZ or YUL, etc... and access DCA or LGA. But wouldn't that foreign airline need to secure a slot in the first place?

Yes, they would need a slot. But no airline, regardless of where they're based, can circumvent the odd restrictions that apply specifically to DCA. It's an operational disaster to try to do a continuing flight into DCA.

Tom.