Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW)

[VaskoYOW]

http://ottawa-airport.ca/sites/defau...may_12_eng.pdf

Sector / May-11 / May-12 / % Change
Dom: 302,978 / 305,455 / +0.8%
TB: 59,156 / 57,180 / -3.3%
Int'l: 23,303 / 23,145 / -0.7%
TTL: 385,437 / 385,780 / 0.1%

Sector / YTD 2011 / YTD 2012 / % Change
Dom: 1,313,265 / 1,396,951 / +6.4%
TB: 342,253 / 354,001 / +3.4%
Int'l: 255,058 / 272,201 / +6.7%
TTL: 1,910,576 / 2,023,153 / +5.9%

[kevinbottawa]

Airport traffic up 5%

Published on August 3, 2012
OBJ Staff

The Ottawa International Airport appears to be well on its way to setting another new record for passenger traffic.

More than 2.4 million travellers passed through the airport in the first half of 2012, a 4.95-per-cent increase over the same period last year, according to statistics published by the local airport authority.

Traffic was up across all categories, with the largest relative increase recorded in international travel.

The number of international travellers flying to and from Ottawa stagnated last year, as capacity reductions by Air Canada on its Ottawa-Heathrow flights offset the addition of new flights to Mexico and the Dominican Republic by discount carriers Sunwing and Air Transat.

However, higher domestic and U.S. travel pushed traffic up 3.4 per cent over 2010 to 4.62 million passenger trips.

The airport authority is currently searching for a new president and CEO after current chief executive Paul Benoit announced in March his intention to retire.

FIRST HALF 2012 AIRPORT TRAFFIC (First half 2011 in parentheses)

Domestic: 1,704,073 (1,622,490)

U.S.: 410,287 (395,140)

International: 295,613 (278,627)

Total: 2,409,973 (2,296,257)

http://www.obj.ca/Local/Tourism/2012...ffic-up-5%25/1

[MountainView]

For all of those who live under the flight path of runway 14/32 (like myself) and were enjoying or annoyed by the extra plane traffic; it will return to normal again with the runway repaving completed.
Yet another project that the airport completed under budget - we will miss Paul Benoit when he resigns in February. He's made our airport first class!

Article from OBJ:

Traffic on the Ottawa International Airport's Runway 07/25 will flow again Saturday after the runway was completed early and under budget, the airport announced.


The airport said general contractor R.W. Tomlinson Ltd., prime subcontractor Black & McDonald, and other companies on the project worked 16-hour days for six days a week for most of the construction duration.

"From installing a temporary asphalt plant on-site, to careful project management, our construction partners did a fantastic job and we now have a new runway that will serve our community for several decades," stated Ottawa International Airport Authority CEO Paul Benoit.

The budgeted $14 million project was paid for out of proceeds from the airport's improvement fee. Runway 07/25 was last resurfaced in 1994, when Transport Canada managed the airport.

The reconstructed runway exceeds standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization and the United States Federal Aviation Authority, the airport stated.

http://www.obj.ca/Local/2012-08-17/a...construction/1

[kevinbottawa]

Ottawa in running for $25M aerospace facility

Published on August 20, 2012
Elizabeth Howell

Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Bombardier, Textron, Pratt & Whitney among firms expressing interest

After spending six years developing sensor applications to alert flight controllers, aircraft designers, manufacturers and aircraft pilots to aircraft defects, the National Research Council is searching for private-sector partners to commercialize the technology.

The federally funded council is trying to attract several aerospace companies to pool their money and expertise for the development of sensors that monitor the structural integrity of aircrafts. Collaboration would spread out the cost and also make a base level of technology available to the consortium participants.

Ottawa is not traditionally an aerospace hub, but a proposal to build a $25-million facility in the city focused on the sensor systems could change that forever. The national capital is one of two Canadian cities being considered for the industrial centre, which will develop “fly-by-wireless systems,” intended to reduce the number of wires and electrical connections in an aircraft.

If the facility lands in Ottawa, NRC’s campus at the Ottawa International Airport would be the likely location, given its on-site expertise and years of experience. If in Montreal, the facility would be close to Montréal-Mirabel International Airport, which is also near major aerospace integrators Pratt & Whitney and Bombardier.

Prakash Patnaik, the director of NRC’s structures and materials performance laboratory, says the council is hoping to bring in aviation giants such as Bombardier, Bell Helicopter, Textron, and Pratt & Whitney that can subcontract work to local businesses specializing in sensor and communications technologies.

CANEUS, the aerospace group working on the facility, will hold a meeting in Ottawa at the NRC between Aug. 27 and 28 to discuss the parameters of the public-private partnership. Lockheed Martin has already committed a financial contribution, with other aerospace companies willing to consider it.

It’s hoped the facility will be completed by 2014.

Wherever it’s located, CANEUS expects it will be a hub for the major aerospace integrators to come and work on projects, which would lead to subcontracting opportunities for local companies.

“This is a big entry point that gives access to a supplier base and also to research and development,” says Milind Pimprikar, founder and chair of CANEUS.

Given the international nature of the consortium, it’s possible that companies from India and Saudi Arabia – countries that are major markets for the consortium – could be a part of the delegations to the facility, lending Ottawa or Montreal opportunities for trade with these nations.

CANEUS is a non-profit consortium comprised of aerospace firms, laboratories and professionals in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Formed in 2002, the main goals of CANEUS include developing less-wire and fly-by-wireless systems – includes wireless engine monitoring – to reduce aggregate wire weight by approximately 10 per cent to 30 per cent, improving fuel economy and reducing potential failure points.

According to CANEUS, many aircraft have more than 30,000 connectors and tens of thousands of wires requiring routine checks.

For example, the Airbus A380 contains 530 kilometres of wire. In the cabin there are more than 100,000 wires and more than 40,000 connectors creating limitless potential points of failure and areas to inspect and maintain.

http://www.obj.ca/Technology/2012-08...ace-facility/1

[VaskoYOW]

Does anyone know, if we are getting new routes this winter/next summer other than Fort Myers? Or adding additional frequency to existing routes?

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by VaskoYOW

Does anyone know, if we are getting new routes this winter/next summer other than Fort Myers? Or adding additional frequency to existing routes?

Air Canada should be releasing their winter timetable in the next few weeks so I'll keep my eye open and let you know. I do know that Frankfurt is dropping down to 6x weekly again this winter; I believe it is not operating on Tuesdays out of Ottawa.

[VaskoYOW]

It seems that Frankfurt is always loosing at least one frequency in the winter months. Wonder, if LHR would be dropping a frequency down to x6 weekly! I've been using FRA every summer now for the last 3 years and it seems always full load in the summer months.

[MountainView]

Delta is ending its 3x daily flights to New York - LaGuardia on November 1st. I guess with little connection opportunities out of NY on Delta the route just didn't work. AC still has its 3 flights a day on the route.

[J.OT13]

Airport authority names new CEO

The Ottawa International Airport Authority announced Tuesday it has found the replacement for its retiring president and CEO.

Mark Laroche will take over from Paul Benoit, who is stepping down after 16 years on the job.

Mr. Laroche is currently the president and CEO of the Canada Lands Co., a Crown corporation of the federal government that takes government properties and improves their value so they can be resold. He previously worked as the chief administrative officer with the City of Gatineau from 2001 to 2007, according to his LinkedIn account.

"I'm very excited to have the opportunity to be a part of such a great team that has made the Ottawa Airport the success that it is today and to be back in the National Capital Region," said Mr. Laroche in a statement released by the airport. "It's such an honour for me to be a part of the best airport in North America and I am excited to join such an exceptional team that is well-known for consistently delivering excellence in customer service."

Mr. Laroche will officially start his new job on March 1, 2013.

http://www.obj.ca/Local/Tourism/2012...ames-new-CEO/1

[McC]

Fun urbsite post about the airport's early history; the airside outdoor observation deck and the anecdote about a USAF F-104 Starfighter were highlights for me.

http://urbsite.blogspot.ca/2012/12/uplands-airport.html

[Harley613]

that post was amazing! good catch! i love the 60's terminal, so retro cool! i wish i had a time machine so i could go back and check it out.

[Kitchissippi]

Ah, those outdoor observation decks, from the time when people took their kids to the airport just to watch the novelty of planes landing and taking off. That terminal got so ratty by the 1980s, and the subsequent reno really ruined it's nostalgic charm which made its demolition painless.

What's really sad in commercial aviation's architectural heritage is that they're tearing down NYC's Pan Am Worldport for a parking lot.

[VaskoYOW]

http://ottawa-airport.ca/sites/defau...dec_12_eng.pdf

The year started promising but lost steam after April! Final numbers 4 685 956 for 2012. Only increase of 61 330 pax compare to 2011.

[Harley613]

Bummer. I am really looking forward to the day we get 5 million. That is a huge threshold for carriers. I think we'll get a KLM to AMS when we hit that and maybe even an AF to CDG.

[McC]

I don't think we'll see Air France flights, they stopped flying the A-380 from YUL , and went back to the old B747s, because demand couldn't support the airplane size, and the catchment area for that flight includes Ottawa (with the nearly-complimentary coach service) as well as a good chunk of New England, because the YUL-CDG route is priced very competitively from both AF and AC (which is unusual, generally the flow is in the other direction because it will be cheaper for Canadians to fly via the US).

Daily scheduled service needs a big pool of potential customers, and airlines are loath to split their demand base. Air France is also hamstrung by having no alliance partner offering domestic connections in Canada, which would greatly increase their effective catchment area, and they only have Delta for North American connections.

[phil235]

Originally Posted by McC

I don't think we'll see Air France flights, they stopped flying the A-380 from YUL , and went back to the old B747s, because demand couldn't support the airplane size, and the catchment area for that flight includes Ottawa (with the nearly-complimentary coach service) as well as a good chunk of New England, because the YUL-CDG route is priced very competitively from both AF and AC (which is unusual, generally the flow is in the other direction because it will be cheaper for Canadians to fly via the US).

Daily scheduled service needs a big pool of potential customers, and airlines are loath to split their demand base. Air France is also hamstrung by having no alliance partner offering domestic connections in Canada, which would greatly increase their effective catchment area, and they only have Delta for North American connections.

Did AF pull the 380 from the Paris-Montreal route due to demand? Admittedly this is based entirely on one conversation I had with an airport worker on that route, but I thought that the 380 was coming off the route for the winter, but may be back come Spring. It was suggested that there were some logistical problems that were partly responsible, and I certainly experienced those in the luggage department.

I don't think there is much doubt that a daily YOW-CDG route could work, at least on a seasonal basis, but it would be at the expense of the Montreal flights. For that reason, I think it's an uphill battle.

[McC]

Yeah, I've heard that they might go back to the A380 in the summer, when the demand is higher, but the off-season demand certainly couldn't support the plane size. The initial problems of the crush load hitting Customs were also acute, but I think they had actually been resolved by the time the story hit the papers. And at the time, the passenger numbers on the A380 weren't even that much higher than they had previously been with the B747, so the reporting that it was the larger airliner's "fault" that there were delays at Customs was a bit of a misinterpretation of what had happened. Trudeau's taken an interesting step to try and reduce those delays at Customs, by installing automated customs kiosks. They let Canadian citizens make their declaration to the kiosk, and all the Customs officer has to do is quickly check their ID and see if they've been flagged for secondary inspection, and then they're on their way! It's fast for that traveller, and means one less person in line for everyone else, reducing their waits, too.

As for the YOW-CDG route, the point isn't whether it would work or not, it's whether it would reduce the profitability of YYZ-CDG and YUL-CDG routes. It's like the hub-spoke vs. express bus argument in the transit thread: direct service is obviously more attractive for the customer, but the costs per person are higher than collecting traffic at a hub and packing larger and more efficient vehicles, so the profitability is lower. Charters are a different story, and might have more luck running a seasonal direct service, since their goal would be to reduce the profitability of the trunk routes from the big hubs! ;-)

[citizen j]

Originally Posted by McC

I don't think we'll see Air France flights, they stopped flying the A-380 from YUL , and went back to the old B747s, because demand couldn't support the airplane size, and the catchment area for that flight includes Ottawa (with the nearly-complimentary coach service) as well as a good chunk of New England, because the YUL-CDG route is priced very competitively from both AF and AC (which is unusual, generally the flow is in the other direction because it will be cheaper for Canadians to fly via the US).

Daily scheduled service needs a big pool of potential customers, and airlines are loath to split their demand base. Air France is also hamstrung by having no alliance partner offering domestic connections in Canada, which would greatly increase their effective catchment area, and they only have Delta for North American connections.

Isn't West Jet code-sharing now with the AF/KLM/Delta alliance?

[phil235]

Originally Posted by McC

Yeah, I've heard that they might go back to the A380 in the summer, when the demand is higher, but the off-season demand certainly couldn't support the plane size. The initial problems of the crush load hitting Customs were also acute, but I think they had actually been resolved by the time the story hit the papers. And at the time, the passenger numbers on the A380 weren't even that much higher than they had previously been with the B747, so the reporting that it was the larger airliner's "fault" that there were delays at Customs was a bit of a misinterpretation of what had happened. Trudeau's taken an interesting step to try and reduce those delays at Customs, by installing automated customs kiosks. They let Canadian citizens make their declaration to the kiosk, and all the Customs officer has to do is quickly check their ID and see if they've been flagged for secondary inspection, and then they're on their way! It's fast for that traveller, and means one less person in line for everyone else, reducing their waits, too.

As for the YOW-CDG route, the point isn't whether it would work or not, it's whether it would reduce the profitability of YYZ-CDG and YUL-CDG routes. It's like the hub-spoke vs. express bus argument in the transit thread: direct service is obviously more attractive for the customer, but the costs per person are higher than collecting traffic at a hub and packing larger and more efficient vehicles, so the profitability is lower. Charters are a different story, and might have more luck running a seasonal direct service, since their goal would be to reduce the profitability of the trunk routes from the big hubs! ;-)

I thought the new customs in Montreal worked great when I passed through.

No question that the hub system is the reason Ottawa doesn't have more direct flights to the U.S. and Europe.

[McC]

Originally Posted by citizen j

Isn't West Jet code-sharing now with the AF/KLM/Delta alliance?

That's true, I forgot about that completely! WestJet is not a member of the Sky Team Alliance, but they do have code share agreements with some of its members (e.g., BA, Delta, KLM), and interline agreements with others (e.g., AF, Alitalia, Aeromexico).

Originally Posted by phil235

I thought the new customs in Montreal worked great when I passed through.

Glad to hear it, did you use (or at least see?) the automated kiosk? I'm curious whether they're being promoted.