ShovelAirlines From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 58 posts, RR: 0 Posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 2901 times:
Hey all you Air Canada fans or bashers out there...
Air Canada started their summer schedule yesterday (at least in the US) As an AC employee here in BOS i'm somewhat bewildered and actually a bit more appalled. AC has really downgraded some routes for example:
BOS-YOW
Was- 3x daily CRJ
Now- 3x daily Dash-8
BOS-YYZ
Was- all 319 with an occasional 320.
Now- fewer frequencies and a mixture of 319, RJ and a few BAE-142s.
BOS-YHZ
still 3x daily Dash-8 (last summer it was a mix of Dash-8 and 142s)
BOS-YUL
Was- 6 daily RJs
Now- a mix of RJs and Dash-8s.
I guess the one positive move is that BOS-YVR starts on June 6th with a 319.
But moreover, why would AC do this? With the decent loads we've been having over the past few weeks, I can't understand why in the summer, we're getting less seats. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the Dash-8 but I can't tell you how many complaints I heard from our frequent travellers about having to fly on them now instead of the RJ. And don't even get me started on the BAE-142s....
Any insight into this seemingly bad move on Air Canada's part would be greatly appreciated.
YUL2010 From Canada, joined Jun 2003, 320 posts, RR: 22 Reply 1, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 2855 times:
There is a shortage of RJs in AC's fleet (I think). A lot of routes to the USA from YYZ have been converted to RJs (IAH for example), and therefore, AC had to adjust their network.
YUL-PHL has always been RJ (3 daily), but now, one fight is Dash 8...
But I also know that this is temporary... I don't know when it'll be back to all RJs from YUL.
ShovelAirlines From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 58 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 2800 times:
I would say so!
Yesterday, for example, our 14:10 flight to YYZ which used to be a 319 and is now an RJ was delayed and switched to a Dash-8-300. One of our passengers asked our ticket agent endorse his ticket to AA because the AA flight was on a jet! That may be a bit extreme but I wouldn't doubt if AA gets more AC passengers on that route.
Cayman From Canada, joined Aug 2003, 905 posts, RR: 9 Reply 4, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 3 days 5 hours ago) and read 2674 times:
It's a little off topic but on the RJs and turboprop questions which have been discussed alot on a.net in relation to AC--I think AC's strategy for RJs and turboprops is misguided. I think your example of a passenger wanting to change to be on jet service is quite the norm--I also think the vast majority of pax would take even a narrow body "full size" a/c over any RJ any day---just my opinion--
Anyway YYZ BOS is deserving of at least 320 series a/c and it's dubious to employ RJs much less a Dash---hopefully for AC its temporary owing to fleet availability---
Everything seems to be getting smaller for a/c---- YYZ to YVR used to be almost al widebody, now it seems that it is largely 320 series---maybe that takes them out of rotation for shorter routes like BOS--
Yyz717 From Canada, joined Sep 2001, 15989 posts, RR: 59 Reply 5, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 2580 times:
AC has always played a market share game by throwing too much capacity into many routes. They seem to be finally coming to their senses by reducing capacity in most markets.
AA Eagle jumped into YYZ-BOS a couple of years ago and no doubt have taken market share from AC.
Anyway YYZ BOS is deserving of at least 320 series a/c and it's dubious to employ RJs
AE employs the ERJ on YYZ-BOS so AC will still operate the more spacious aircraft with the 142/CRJ.
Panam, TWA, Ansett, Eastern.......AC next? Might be good for Canada.
Bmacleod From Canada, joined Aug 2001, 2081 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 2547 times:
I remember the "good old days" when YHZ-BOS was served by DC-9s. In 1995 they were replaced by CRJs and should've stayed that way. However, Delta introduced Dornier 328JET service on this route which probably is the reason for the downgrade.
I'm very surprised of YOW-BOS being only a Dash-8? Two major cities like that deserve at least a CRJ....
The engine is the heart of an airplane, but the pilot is its soul.
Spyderz From Canada, joined Apr 2001, 651 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 2477 times:
I think it could be a trickle down affect. Almost all of Air Canada's widebody aircraft are being used for increased international flights. This means that Airbus 319/320/321's are required for more transcon flights. As already mentioned YVR-YYZ for the summer is almost exclusively a narrowbody route that used to be dominated by widebodies. In order to accomodate this I guess many operations are being "downgraded".
AirPortugal310 From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 3056 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 2459 times:
I saw the BAE the other day and was wonder who it was for, as I was looking at it head on. It was when I drove alittle more that I saw the maple leaf on the tail. First time seeing one of those planes. Nifty little thing aint it?
FLYACYYZ From Canada, joined Jan 2004, 1914 posts, RR: 12 Reply 10, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 2285 times:
It's all about fleet deployment. 4 B767-300's have been "lifted" from domestic transcon service, and are being reconfigured for international service. They will operate SuperComfort/HospitalityService flights to KIX/CDG/ZRH/GLA/AMS, and in turn 319's and 320's formerly serving BOS/LGA/EWR are operating the transcon routes.
In addition, 20 A-319's were slated to be transferred to ZIP concurrent with the summer schedule. However with ZIP now being folded into the mainline in the fall, this will again, result in fleet rescheduling.
Agreed, BOS & EWR seem to have experienced huge equipment/frequency downgrades for the summer, hopefully to be restored by fall.
Iflyatldl From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 1936 posts, RR: 4 Reply 11, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 2245 times:
Talk about downgrades, look at the ATL AC schedule. It's only a matter of time before we get the Dash 8's.
Ah, Summer, Fenway Park, Boston Red Sox and Beer.....
SQ452 From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 1053 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 2231 times:
I have to say that I particularly liked the A319 i took on AC out of Boston in February to Toronto, VERY inviting friendly cabin, comfortable seats, and the load was pretty decent. Newer seats because I took an A320 or A319 back from YVR to YYZ red-eye and it was older seats.
I liked my Air Canada experience though (except the food YYZ-YVR on the old old 762 - nasty!)
LongHauler From Canada, joined Mar 2004, 4275 posts, RR: 36 Reply 14, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 2172 times:
I had to check the summer schedule for YYZ-YVR and YVR-YYZ, and yes there are a lot of 320 series aircraft on that route. But, there are also 8 wide body flights EACH WAY. There will be 18 flights each way daily between YYZ and YVR this summer. I have never seen such an elaborate schedule on a transcon service before.
Bmacleod From Canada, joined Aug 2001, 2081 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 1883 times:
Talk about downgrades, look at the ATL AC schedule. It's only a matter of time before we get the Dash 8's.
The Dash-8 is way to small for YYZ-ATL!!! The CRJ will stay on YYZ-ATL and will upgrade to CRJ-700 when they're delivered. AC was using CRJs along with 319s from 1997-2002 and they're much newer and more economical than the older 146s.
[Edited 2004-06-03 18:20:30]
The engine is the heart of an airplane, but the pilot is its soul.
ChrisNH From United States of America, joined Jun 1999, 3804 posts, RR: 2 Reply 20, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 1785 times:
AC used to have more capacity on this route even when USAirways was also serving it. Has the demand for travel between these two cities tailed off THAT much???
AF-A319 From France, joined Oct 1999, 603 posts, RR: 4 Reply 21, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 1775 times:
Now that we know that Milton "could not care less about AC domestic market share", how come they're downgrading their transborder routes? I candidly thought it was part of their strategy...
Yyz717 From Canada, joined Sep 2001, 15989 posts, RR: 59 Reply 22, posted (8 years 11 months 3 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 1716 times:
AC used to have more capacity on this route even when USAirways was also serving it. Has the demand for travel between these two cities tailed off THAT much???
Actually back then AC & US each had about 2-3 daily DC-9 on YYZ-BOS. Until recently AC operated 6-7 daily 319/320 plus the 4 daily AE ERJ.
Now that we know that Milton "could not care less about AC domestic market share", how come they're downgrading their transborder routes? I candidly thought it was part of their strategy...
The answer appears to be that AC has too much capacity everywhere in North America.
Panam, TWA, Ansett, Eastern.......AC next? Might be good for Canada.
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