https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/w ... 72381.html

"We are proud to be the carrier with the most transatlantic flights from YHZ to destinations like Dublin, Paris, London and Glasgow while being a strong driver of economic and employment growth in the region."

The good times continue to roll at YHZ.

I bet the folks at YYT are thrilled to lose both WS transatlantic routes to YHZ in the span of two years.

YYT’s biggest asset was their geography in terms of attracting transatlantic flights. As narrowbodies begin stretching their range, unfortunately the need for YYT dwindles.

BWIAirport wrote:

YYT’s biggest asset was their geography in terms of attracting transatlantic flights. As narrowbodies begin stretching their range, unfortunately the need for YYT dwindles.

And it doesn’t help that Newfoundland’s economy is in the hole and tourism has dropped super low. There probably isn’t enough O&D to support the connecting passengers.

BWIAirport wrote:

YYT’s biggest asset was their geography in terms of attracting transatlantic flights. As narrowbodies begin stretching their range, unfortunately the need for YYT dwindles.

True. With the switch out of YYT it went from a 73G to now being on a 7M8 at YHZ.

lostsound wrote:

BWIAirport wrote:

YYT’s biggest asset was their geography in terms of attracting transatlantic flights. As narrowbodies begin stretching their range, unfortunately the need for YYT dwindles.

And it doesn’t help that Newfoundland’s economy is in the hole and tourism has dropped super low. There probably isn’t enough O&D to support the connecting passengers.

The majority of traffic was connecting pax to other parts of the country. With YYC-DUB starting next summer all western traffic will go through YYC. A lot more connection options through YHZ to DUB now for YYZ, YOW, and YWG.

At least there is still year 'round YYT-LHR flights on an Air Canada Max8
(reduced frequency in winter)

The YYT-DUB service was predominantly connection traffic to elsewhere in Canada anyways. It'll be the same in Halifax.

The benefit of moving the DUB flight to Halifax:
1/ more choice of connections for onward flyers (last year they had a YHZ-YVR flight which is pretty amazing).
2/ The DUB flight takes advantage of connection traffic off BOS-YHZ too.

It'll be interesting to see what YHZ does to keep Westjet happy.
I'm sure once Westjet has more 787's they'll be tempted to move the CDG flight to Toronto.
I keep expecting a Westjet to AMS route at some point soon.

WS uses YHZ as a scissor hub for anything West of them. It works, and makes sense to consolidate the European flying.

As for the 787's, WS knows they have their work cut out for them - those new tails aren't cheap and the economy they plan to base them out of is still in a world of hurt with no predictable outcome as of yet. Wouldn't be surprised once line training is done, they move some of them out East.

Also, love that in Canada, if AC had done the same thing they would be crucified by the public, media, etc. But never WS

Tenbru73 wrote:

The YYT-DUB service was predominantly connection traffic to elsewhere in Canada anyways. It'll be the same in Halifax.

The benefit of moving the DUB flight to Halifax:
1/ more choice of connections for onward flyers (last year they had a YHZ-YVR flight which is pretty amazing).
2/ The DUB flight takes advantage of connection traffic off BOS-YHZ too.

It'll be interesting to see what YHZ does to keep Westjet happy.
I'm sure once Westjet has more 787's they'll be tempted to move the CDG flight to Toronto.
I keep expecting a Westjet to AMS route at some point soon.

If it offers connections to/from Boston .. it’s a genius move . There are never enough seats from DUB>BOS in summer , great move by westjet

lostsound wrote:

BWIAirport wrote:

YYT’s biggest asset was their geography in terms of attracting transatlantic flights. As narrowbodies begin stretching their range, unfortunately the need for YYT dwindles.

And it doesn’t help that Newfoundland’s economy is in the hole and tourism has dropped super low. There probably isn’t enough O&D to support the connecting passengers.

Newfoundland has a lot to learn from Iceland. It has the potential to be a tourist destination and transit point. Yes, it doesn't have the Blue Lagoon and doesn't have volcanoes. But it does have some beautiful fjords and a lot to offer.

raylee67 wrote:

lostsound wrote:

BWIAirport wrote:

YYT’s biggest asset was their geography in terms of attracting transatlantic flights. As narrowbodies begin stretching their range, unfortunately the need for YYT dwindles.

And it doesn’t help that Newfoundland’s economy is in the hole and tourism has dropped super low. There probably isn’t enough O&D to support the connecting passengers.

Newfoundland has a lot to learn from Iceland. It has the potential to be a tourist destination and transit point. Yes, it doesn't have the Blue Lagoon and doesn't have volcanoes. But it does have some beautiful fjords and a lot to offer.

Very difficult to access though.

It seems that YHZ airport is offering a lot of incentives for these new routes to ws. Yet they still cannot put up an ILS on rwy 05.

raylee67 wrote:

lostsound wrote:

BWIAirport wrote:

Newfoundland has a lot to learn from Iceland. It has the potential to be a tourist destination and transit point. Yes, it doesn't have the Blue Lagoon and doesn't have volcanoes. But it does have some beautiful fjords and a lot to offer.

True...I passed through YYT few months back and they have a nice, spacious terminal which has been recently expanded and I believe is slated for further expansion......New Foundland has beautiful natural scenery and lots of tourist potential.....excellent road network and easy to get around.....really wish they would exploit that to heir advantage....

Airlines don't announce route terminations. That's just the way it is. As for the move to YHZ, it makes sense.

1900Driver wrote:

Yet they still cannot put up an ILS on rwy 05.

It's not that they cannot. Throughout the year, winds are predominantly from the south, southwest in YHZ. They've most likely done a cost/benefit analysis and deemed in unnecessary. Besides, the LPV mimimums on the RNAV app on 05 get you down to 250ft AGL. That's as good as an ILS on 05.

https://www.windfinder.com/windstatisti ... er_halifax

Same reason why there is no ILS on rwy 25 in YOW, or rwy 24 in YQB. Cost/benefit.

Tenbru73 wrote:

I keep expecting a Westjet to AMS route at some point soon.

Not very surprising given that Amsterdam is pretty much full, it's very hard to get slots at Amsterdam. Besides, they can codeshare with KLM so why would they need to fly there with their own metal?

Gr8Circle wrote:

raylee67 wrote:

lostsound wrote:

True...I passed through YYT few months back and they have a nice, spacious terminal which has been recently expanded and I believe is slated for further expansion......New Foundland has beautiful natural scenery and lots of tourist potential.....excellent road network and easy to get around.....really wish they would exploit that to heir advantage....

Airport traffic in general has been on the climb at YYT as Newfoundland drills new oil fields and connecting Europe travel rises with these long-haul narrowbodies coming online. However Newfoundland has a population of only just over 520,000 people in the whole province (roughly half of the population lives in St. John’s) and the province is 15.5 billion dollars in debt. Nobody is moving there, everyone is leaving, and the tourism industry has dwindled. The roads are horribly under kept and delapitated and the city sits in fog most of the time. Taxes are sky high so it’s not cheap to visit. Airfare to just Halifax can cost 300/400 Canadian dollars each way with no sale. It costs $1200cad typically to fly YYT to YVR round trip when BOS to LAX is like 300usd. It’s just nobody’s dream get away right now.

lostsound wrote:

Airport traffic in general has been on the climb at YYT as Newfoundland drills new oil fields and connecting Europe travel rises with these long-haul narrowbodies coming online. However Newfoundland has a population of only just over 520,000 people in the whole province (roughly half of the population lives in St. John’s) and the province is 15.5 billion dollars in debt. Nobody is moving there, everyone is leaving, and the tourism industry has dwindled. The roads are horribly under kept and delapitated and the city sits in fog most of the time. Taxes are sky high so it’s not cheap to visit. Airfare to just Halifax can cost 300/400 Canadian dollars each way with no sale. It costs $1200cad typically to fly YYT to YVR round trip when BOS to LAX is like 300usd. It’s just nobody’s dream get away right now.

Sadly, as goes internal tourism, most of Canada shares at least some of these problems. Out of YYC, my hometown, it's really tough to justify a vacation to the Maritimes or Atlantic Canada, when for the same money, I could visit the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, etc. For less money than Newfoundland, I can enjoy a trip to countries like Spain, Portugal, Greece, Montenegro, etc. For even less money, I can travel south to Mexico, Guatemala, or almost any of the Caribbean islands.

It seems a shame that air travel within Canada costs so much. Basically, I seldom visit anywhere in Canada that I can't drive to. If I'm going to fly, I want some bang for my buck, and flying around Canada doesn't give me that. It hits a place like Newfoundland particularly hard. Even living in Eastern Canada, NL is a long, long journey by vehicle, coming from anywhere populated.

.[/quote]

If it offers connections to/from Boston .. it’s a genius move . There are never enough seats from DUB>BOS in summer , great move by westjet[/quote]


They might have to tweak the times a little but they should be able to make connections work. Biggest problem is the schedule is almost too good, with a 60-90 minute connection each way. Throw in any sort of kink such as ATC flow in BOS, a full customs hall in YHZ, or security backups in YHZ and you have a lot of missed connections on your hand. BOS will be a great spoke for the 4 YHZ Euro flights. Wonder if the DCI LGA flight will be better timed for those flights? Or could WS bring back FLL YHZ to add another huge connection area possibility? Or keep MCO YHZ running year round?

AirNovaBAe146 wrote:

.

If it offers connections to/from Boston .. it’s a genius move . There are never enough seats from DUB>BOS in summer , great move by westjet[/quote]


They might have to tweak the times a little but they should be able to make connections work. Biggest problem is the schedule is almost too good, with a 60-90 minute connection each way. Throw in any sort of kink such as ATC flow in BOS, a full customs hall in YHZ, or security backups in YHZ and you have a lot of missed connections on your hand. BOS will be a great spoke for the 4 YHZ Euro flights. Wonder if the DCI LGA flight will be better timed for those flights? Or could WS bring back FLL YHZ to add another huge connection area possibility? Or keep MCO YHZ running year round?[/quote]

I believe WS now run YHZ-MCO year-round on Saturdays.

lostsound wrote:

Gr8Circle wrote:

raylee67 wrote:

True...I passed through YYT few months back and they have a nice, spacious terminal which has been recently expanded and I believe is slated for further expansion......New Foundland has beautiful natural scenery and lots of tourist potential.....excellent road network and easy to get around.....really wish they would exploit that to heir advantage....

Airport traffic in general has been on the climb at YYT as Newfoundland drills new oil fields and connecting Europe travel rises with these long-haul narrowbodies coming online. However Newfoundland has a population of only just over 520,000 people in the whole province (roughly half of the population lives in St. John’s) and the province is 15.5 billion dollars in debt. Nobody is moving there, everyone is leaving, and the tourism industry has dwindled. The roads are horribly under kept and delapitated and the city sits in fog most of the time. Taxes are sky high so it’s not cheap to visit. Airfare to just Halifax can cost 300/400 Canadian dollars each way with no sale. It costs $1200cad typically to fly YYT to YVR round trip when BOS to LAX is like 300usd. It’s just nobody’s dream get away right now.

Iceland's tourism boom started with trans-Atlantic transit traffic, getting bargain travelers to stay there for 2 or 3 days, then the words of its beauty spread, money comes in, and then the boom starts. The 737MAX and A320NEO present a perfect advantage for Newfoundland to exploit this. The government of course would need to provide some head-start, make an effort to promote itself. Iceland has done a good job in this. I bet not many people outside of Canada has even heard about a place called Newfoundland.

1900Driver wrote:

raylee67 wrote:

lostsound wrote:

And it doesn’t help that Newfoundland’s economy is in the hole and tourism has dropped super low. There probably isn’t enough O&D to support the connecting passengers.

Newfoundland has a lot to learn from Iceland. It has the potential to be a tourist destination and transit point. Yes, it doesn't have the Blue Lagoon and doesn't have volcanoes. But it does have some beautiful fjords and a lot to offer.

Very difficult to access though.........

Newfoundland is really not hard to reach at all. Just about every major city in North America has non-stop service to Toronto. Connect there to non-stop service to St. John’s (multiple flights/day) and Deer Lake or non-stop seasonal service to Gander.

Coming from New York or Boston? Non-stop to Halifax…..then non-stop Newfoundland.

Same from Europe…..The DUB flight was great but now just connect at LHR to Air Canada’s MAX8 to St. John’s (Daily in Summer….less frequent in Winter)

Even little Deer Lake (pop 10,000) on Newfoundland’s west coast had TATL service on Monarch and Astraeus for a couple of years in mid 2000s…including winter serving a ski-resort owned by British interests.

And for the history buffs…..back in the ‘50s Gander was served by just about every major airline flying the Atlantic: Pan Am, TWA, BOAC (British Airways) Lufthansa, Swissair, Air France, Scandinavian were all there and even right up to the ‘90s: Aeroflot, Czechoslovakian, Cubana,

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/13/worl ... ctors.html

As mentioned, it's not that it is not hard to get to, it is the cost of airfare in Canada.

More often than not, it is cheaper for me to fly YVR-LHR/HKG/TPE rather than YVR-YYZ/YUL/YHZ - well over double the distance traveled. And, once I get to LHR/HKG/TPE, I have the luxury of ULCC's to connect me further, where if I get to YYZ or YUL, I have AC or WS to choose from.