Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW)

[YOWflier]

I just don't see Air France cannibalizing its own services in YUL to launch YOW. AC on the other hand could try to stop the bleed to AF from YOW by doing it.

[canabiz]

Outside of what you guys proposed, I would welcome direct flights from Ottawa to Vegas/San Fran and possibly some South American countries.

[daud]

Originally Posted by canabiz

Outside of what you guys proposed, I would welcome direct flights from Ottawa to Vegas/San Fran and possibly some South American countries.

Just did YOW-SFO and back via YYZ. The transfer at YYZ was just brutal. Its that extra security line up that can make or break the experience. Far easier to transfer via ORD.

[canabiz]

Originally Posted by daud

Just did YOW-SFO and back via YYZ. The transfer at YYZ was just brutal. Its that extra security line up that can make or break the experience. Far easier to transfer via ORD.

I haven't been keeping a close eye on the tech industry of late so I don't know if people still call our city *Sillicon Valley North* but if that still holds true, I'm surprised there is no direct flight from here to the real Sillicon Valley/California/West Coast USA where many of the world's top tech companies and venture capitalists are based.

[NOWINYOW]

Originally Posted by canabiz

I haven't been keeping a close eye on the tech industry of late so I don't know if people still call our city *Sillicon Valley North* but if that still holds true, I'm surprised there is no direct flight from here to the real Sillicon Valley/California/West Coast USA where many of the world's top tech companies and venture capitalists are based.

AC tried Ottawa-San Jose about 12-14 years ago. It didn't last long. Granted, the outcome may have been different had it been San Francisco.

One thing about the tech industry are the advancements in telecommunications and remote interactivity via computers and internet. Whereas a dozen years ago my company would have been sending out technicians to most customer sites, now many of those sites can be serviced via internet connectivity.

A YOW-SFO would be great to have. I doubt though we'll see it. For AC, it would diminish somewhat their YUL/YYZ-SFO flights. For UA to offer that flight, it would diminish their YOW-ORD/ORD flights.

Outside of a few seasonal flights, I don't think Ottawa is on the radar by any airline for SFO flights.

[ars]

Originally Posted by NOWINYOW

AC tried Ottawa-San Jose about 12-14 years ago. It didn't last long. Granted, the outcome may have been different had it been San Francisco.

One thing about the tech industry are the advancements in telecommunications and remote interactivity via computers and internet. Whereas a dozen years ago my company would have been sending out technicians to most customer sites, now many of those sites can be serviced via internet connectivity.

A YOW-SFO would be great to have. I doubt though we'll see it. For AC, it would diminish somewhat their YUL/YYZ-SFO flights. For UA to offer that flight, it would diminish their YOW-ORD/ORD flights.

Outside of a few seasonal flights, I don't think Ottawa is on the radar by any airline for SFO flights.

I agree with you that there's not much incentive for YOW-SFO for any airline, but Air Canada should maybe try bringing back YOW-SJC, especially since that route isn't served by YYZ or YUL.

[MountainView]

I agree ac888yow that AF (and KLM) would not want to compete with themselves on a YOW-CDG route.

SFO would be great and I'm sure many people would use it but like others have said it would also effect YOW-ORD as I'm sure a lot of people going west connect through there. Perhaps when AC Rouge has more fleet they could look into a YOW-SFO/LAS route. AC tried LAS one summer or winter (can't recall) and never brought it back. Westjet offers 2 or 3x weekly flights during the winter to LAS from YOW.

I am still waiting for YOW-MIA on AA. Once they get more CRJ-900/1000 or E75/90s this flight might finally happen. This has to be the number one priority for YOW management in terms of trans-border service.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by MountainView

I agree ac888yow that AF (and KLM) would not want to compete with themselves on a YOW-CDG route.

SFO would be great and I'm sure many people would use it but like others have said it would also effect YOW-ORD as I'm sure a lot of people going west connect through there. Perhaps when AC Rouge has more fleet they could look into a YOW-SFO/LAS route. AC tried LAS one summer or winter (can't recall) and never brought it back. Westjet offers 2 or 3x weekly flights during the winter to LAS from YOW.

I am still waiting for YOW-MIA on AA. Once they get more CRJ-900/1000 or E75/90s this flight might finally happen. This has to be the number one priority for YOW management in terms of trans-border service.

That's the one I'd like to see - connections to all of the Caribbean and Central/South America.

[HighwayStar]

Originally Posted by ars

I agree with you that there's not much incentive for YOW-SFO for any airline, but Air Canada should maybe try bringing back YOW-SJC, especially since that route isn't served by YYZ or YUL.

Air Canada launched YOW-SJC in March 2001... just days before the Nortel bubble burst. That alone pretty much killed the flight (if I remember correctly, load factors were dismal since day 1).

Then 9/11 happened.

Tech in Ottawa has never recovered to the Nortel heyday levels... so chances of this flight being brought back are approximately zero.

[HighwayStar]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

That's the one I'd like to see - connections to all of the Caribbean and Central/South America.

We had that with USAir through Charlotte.... which is a much more user friendly hub than MIA... and had the bonus of connections all over Florida without flying to south Florida then back north again.

You're probably right that MIA is next... but I really miss CLT

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

We had that with USAir through Charlotte.... which is a much more user friendly hub than MIA... and had the bonus of connections all over Florida without flying to south Florida then back north again.

You're probably right that MIA is next... but I really miss CLT

I miss CLT too! That airport was designed for easy connections especially since we precleared in YOW. The US and AA merge may have something to do with its disappearance. I forgot to mention that we can also hope that DL returns the YOW-ATL flight that was around for so long before (currently it is Christmas seasonal and winter weekly).

[ottawa89]

Not sure if this has been posted already, but WestJet just got their first of four 767-300ERW delivered early this morning and they will be flying to London-Gatwick next spring. They may be targeting smaller Canadian markets:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/westj...raft-1.2535277

http://business.financialpost.com/ne...sion-takes-off

Wonder if YOW-LGW could be on the list with one of their new 767s?

[HighwayStar]

Originally Posted by ottawa89

Wonder if YOW-LGW could be on the list with one of their new 767s?

Reading the article, it looks like they are targeting the 4th - 8th largest cities to provide "non-stop access to London". Whether that is by population or airport traffic is a bit of an open question...

In any event, YYZ, YUL, YVR are the indisputable top 3.

Next 5 (depending on criteria) are: YYC, YOW, YEG, YWG & YQB (population) or YHZ (airport traffic).

Of those, only YQB and YWG lack non-stop service to London... with YEG being seasonal.

If the article is correct... by process of elimination the above must be the plan


Edit: Yes, I know YYC is busier than YUL these days... apologies to those in Calgary... otherwise the above pretty much stands.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

Reading the article, it looks like they are targeting the 4th - 8th largest cities to provide "non-stop access to London". Whether that is by population or airport traffic is a bit of an open question...

In any event, YYZ, YUL, YVR are the indisputable top 3.

Next 5 (depending on criteria) are: YYC, YOW, YEG, YWG & YQB (population) or YHZ (airport traffic).

Of those, only YQB and YWG lack non-stop service to London... with YEG being seasonal.

If the article is correct... by process of elimination the above must be the plan


Edit: Yes, I know YYC is busier than YUL these days... apologies to those in Calgary... otherwise the above pretty much stands.

Well since we are talking about an international route YUL is still much busier than YYC for overseas flights.

[ars]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

Air Canada launched YOW-SJC in March 2001... just days before the Nortel bubble burst. That alone pretty much killed the flight (if I remember correctly, load factors were dismal since day 1).

Then 9/11 happened.

Tech in Ottawa has never recovered to the Nortel heyday levels... so chances of this flight being brought back are approximately zero.

That's true, but it has rebounded quite nicely. We have more tech start ups than ever before and a lot of big multinationals have R&D centers here in Ottawa. It's a far cry from the dark days of immediately after the internet bubble.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

Air Canada launched YOW-SJC in March 2001... just days before the Nortel bubble burst. That alone pretty much killed the flight (if I remember correctly, load factors were dismal since day 1).

Then 9/11 happened.

Tech in Ottawa has never recovered to the Nortel heyday levels... so chances of this flight being brought back are approximately zero.

Remember at the peak of the Nortel shuttle days there were also 2 daily YOW-RDU CRJs...first started by CP with a daily F28.

The only reason AC picked SJC over SFO is they didn't want to hand off all the YOW-YVR-Asia traffic to UA at SFO. SJC was doomed to failure from day 1, with or without the tech bubble burst.

Originally Posted by ottawa89

Wonder if YOW-LGW could be on the list with one of their new 767s?

Apparently Sept. 15th is the day of the big announcement. I'd say YOW has an outside chance of this happening, given how there's less summertime capacity to London out of YOW presently than there's been since the mid-90s, but I'd put YYC, YEG, YWG & YYZ ahead of YOW. With BA bringing the 380 to YVR next summer, coupled with AC's 77W high density bird + TS, I don't think they'll pick YVR.

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

We had that with USAir through Charlotte.... which is a much more user friendly hub than MIA... and had the bonus of connections all over Florida without flying to south Florida then back north again.

You're probably right that MIA is next... but I really miss CLT

No doubt losing CLT is merger-related. AA's current presence at YOW is really pathetic. 5 years ago, AA + US had 8 daily flights out of YOW (3 ORD, 4 PHL and 1 CLT). Now there's only 2 daily to PHL.

Originally Posted by MountainView

Westjet offers 2 or 3x weekly flights during the winter to LAS from YOW.

I am still waiting for YOW-MIA on AA. Once they get more CRJ-900/1000 or E75/90s this flight might finally happen. This has to be the number one priority for YOW management in terms of trans-border service.

Agreed and ATL should be #2. YOW must be the only airport in North America east of the Mississippi, in the 4-5 million pax range that doesn't have a daily year-round nonstop to ATL...except for two weeks around the Christmas holidays. The seasonal Saturday service is not operating this coming winter.

Now that they finally have the right equipment (E75s) and are actually using them at MIA, it finally becomes a possibility for a daily year-round service. It would be a winner. The O&D on YOW-MIA/FLL is huge compared to YOW-CLT and it would eliminate so many double-connects currently needed to get to South & Central American destinations.

Would be great to see WS' 2x weekly YOW-LAS go year-round at some point...or even increase to 4x weekly winter seasonal service. YOW and I think YLW are the only two stations with LAS nonstops that aren't year-round. Even YQR, YXE & YYJ are year-round.

[Dominion301]

Here's the AC presentation showing Canada-China traffic as per AC's estimates: http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/me..._aug312015.pdf

No doubt these numbers are mainland China and exclude HKG (or else there's no way CX could fly to YVR with such a high frequency). YOW is forecast to surpass 30k O&D pax by 2018, YYC 45k. Once YYC hits 50k a 3x/week nonstop becomes viable on a 788. So for YOW at current O&D growth rates, that means you're looking at around 2028 in terms of viability. By then Beijing's new mega-airport should be open.

[VaskoYOW]

Originally Posted by Dominion301

Remember at the peak of the Nortel shuttle days there were also 2 daily YOW-RDU CRJs...first started by CP with a daily F28.

The only reason AC picked SJC over SFO is they didn't want to hand off all the YOW-YVR-Asia traffic to UA at SFO. SJC was doomed to failure from day 1, with or without the tech bubble burst.



Apparently Sept. 15th is the day of the big announcement. I'd say YOW has an outside chance of this happening, given how there's less summertime capacity to London out of YOW presently than there's been since the mid-90s, but I'd put YYC, YEG, YWG & YYZ ahead of YOW. With BA bringing the 380 to YVR next summer, coupled with AC's 77W high density bird + TS, I don't think they'll pick YVR.



No doubt losing CLT is merger-related. AA's current presence at YOW is really pathetic. 5 years ago, AA + US had 8 daily flights out of YOW (3 ORD, 4 PHL and 1 CLT). Now there's only 2 daily to PHL.



Agreed and ATL should be #2. YOW must be the only airport in North America east of the Mississippi, in the 4-5 million pax range that doesn't have a daily year-round nonstop to ATL...except for two weeks around the Christmas holidays. The seasonal Saturday service is not operating this coming winter.

Now that they finally have the right equipment (E75s) and are actually using them at MIA, it finally becomes a possibility for a daily year-round service. It would be a winner. The O&D on YOW-MIA/FLL is huge compared to YOW-CLT and it would eliminate so many double-connects currently needed to get to South & Central American destinations.

Would be great to see WS' 2x weekly YOW-LAS go year-round at some point...or even increase to 4x weekly winter seasonal service. YOW and I think YLW are the only two stations with LAS nonstops that aren't year-round. Even YQR, YXE & YYJ are year-round.

Is September 15th announcement specifically for YOW or is it in general for AC/WJ?

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by VaskoYOW

Is September 15th announcement specifically for YOW or is it in general for AC/WJ?

That is the apparent date that Westjet will announce where it will be flying to Gatwick from. My bets are on YYZ (just because) and/or YEG/YYC/YWG (in that order).

[bikegypsy]

Originally Posted by MountainView

That is the apparent date that Westjet will announce where it will be flying to Gatwick from. My bets are on YYZ (just because) and/or YEG/YYC/YWG (in that order).

There's no doubt in my mind that YEG and YWG are requiring some London love. And wonder about the demand from Quebec city... At least seasonal would probably be a good thing.