Atlantic Canada airport thread

[Marty_Mcfly]

Hearing that WestJet has pulled the plug on the St. John's - Dublin direct flight. Oh well, nice while it lasted I guess.

[YYCguys]

The DUB flight will now leave from YHZ so at least the destination is still being served from Atlantic Canada!

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by YYCguys

The DUB flight will now leave from YHZ so at least the destination is still being served from Atlantic Canada!

Not much solace to the Newfoundlanders who will now have to backtrack nearly 1000 km and make connections in a "foreign" airport.......

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by YYCguys

The DUB flight will now leave from YHZ so at least the destination is still being served from Atlantic Canada!

LOL! That's still the opposite direction ...

One of the most annoying things about this is that I've flown this route multiple times and every time it has been a packed flight. I don't know what more they want...

Also:

The St. John 's International Airport Authority said the launch in 2013 was the "most successful launch of a new route in WestJet's history."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfo...lled-1.4915936

I remember westjet raving about the route... so sad and now the only direct flight to Europe that we have is to Heathrow which is $1000 at least return ...$400 more than the westjet flights.

[ghYHZ]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Not much solace to the Newfoundlanders who will now have to backtrack nearly 1000 km and make connections in a "foreign" airport.......

Just checked WestJet and the YYT-DUB flight is still there as well as the new YHZ-DUB flight.

St John's - Dublin starts on Apr 29/19 and ends on Oct 9.

UPdate >>>>>That was fast.....just checked back and it was gone!!

[ghYHZ]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Not much solace to the Newfoundlanders who will now have to backtrack nearly 1000 km and make connections in a "foreign" airport.......

The YYT-LHR flight is still year 'round on an Air Canada MAX8.

(reduced frequency in winter)

[Marty_Mcfly]

One European flight, that's true, so it's better than none I guess. I understand that Halifax is the regional hub, so I get if WestJet wants to consolidate most of their flights out of there, but boy does it ever suck to fly west to go east.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

One European flight, that's true, so it's better than none I guess. I understand that Halifax is the regional hub, so I get if WestJet wants to consolidate most of their flights out of there, but boy does it ever suck to fly west to go east.

Maybe on the return flight from DUB, if you ask nicely, they'll issue you a parachute so you can leap out of the plane as it passes over St. John's......

[jeddy1989]

I think this is a huge part of what has sucked our flights to Halifax in recent years.

Halifax working 'very aggressively'

Cathy Duke, the chief executive officer of Destination St. John's, said it's definitely not good news that the flight is gone.

"Our campaign [theme] was 'closer than you think,' and people were just blown away by the fact that you could get to Canada in just four and a half hours," Duke said.

"We were getting there. I think we were making good progress, but from WestJet's point of view and looking at redeploying their planes and new routes, they felt that it would be better for them in Halifax."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfo...lled-1.4915936

[MonctonRad]

Halifax working 'very aggressively'

Just another example of that “massive sucking sound” emanating out of Halifax.

Cape Breton has been dealing with this for 100 years. It’s an ongoing struggle for us in NB too. Now it’s Newfoundland’s turn.

After all, what’s good for Halifax is good for all of Atlantic Canada.........

Right???

[jeddy1989]

Time for an 'aggressive' strategy of our own.. dunno how or what but we need something. Maybe look at the not typical big Canada carriers and try to attract them.

Or find someone to do the Iceland Air approach ... we are in a very similar position geographically but on the North America side.

I dunno

Breen Calls For Talks In Wake Of St. John’s-Dublin Flight Cancellation

The mayor of St. John’s wants all parties to get together to talk about the airline industry following WestJet’s cancellation of the direct St. John’s-Dublin route.

WestJet says it did not take the decision lightly, but that the route was not “performing to expectation” and as a result they decided to discontinue the service.

Mayor Danny Breen is disappointed and wants to have a discussion involving the Airport Authority, the provincial government and the capital city among others. He says agencies are doing some work along those lines but he wants to bring people together to prevent the loss of flights.

The airline says it remains committed to growing aviation in the province and has recently added non-stop service between St. John’s and Fort Lauderdale next spring.

WestJet is currently contacting all those who have booked flights on the St. John’s-Dublin route to let them know of the itinerary change.

http://vocm.com/news/breen-calls-for...-cancellation/

[J81]

It was nice when westjet did its own refreshing thing and gave you a reason to fly with them. Now they are just Air Canada 2.0! Remember the last time we had two major airlines doing the exact same thing in this country? Its very discouraging for the majority of Canadian cities who have no alternatives.

[jeddy1989]

Disappointment On Both Sides Of Atlantic After Dublin Flight Cancellation

Disappointment continues to mount on both sides of the pond in the wake of Westjet’s decision to eliminate its seasonal daily non-stop direct service between St. John’s and Dublin, Ireland. Kieran Cronin has written an open letter to WestJet and set up a Facebook page to hear from people.

Cronin, the Deputy Librarian at the Centre for Newfoundland and Labrador Studies, Waterford Institute of Technology, got some numbers from the Central Statistics Office in Ireland on the weekend, and found passenger volumes have been growing steadily since WestJet launched the service in 2014.

He says 22,045 passengers left Dublin for St. John’s in 2017, up from 14,433 direct passengers in 2014.

He says it’s an important air connection and he doesn’t believe that the airline had much correspondence or communication with people on the ground.

http://vocm.com/news/disappointment-...-cancellation/

[MonctonRad]

Note to WestJet:

Liar, liar, pants on fire!!!

[Sunnybrae]

It's interesting to see the comments on here about lack of point to point air service. I do get it, but for years and years we basically flew to Toronto and then on to other destinations. Halifax is basically a mini hub now which flies to other hubs in other parts of the world but still very little point to point. It's all a numbers game with profits, not customers wants, ruling the day. This is capitalism at work. If an airline feels it can make more profit on another route and have limited equipment which all airlines do, then they will chase the money. It sucks for Atlantic Canada with our small population but that's reality. Other airlines from other countries probably would come in and try new things but laws will not allow it to protect our airlines like most other countries do.

[jeddy1989]

St. John’s Fights For Dublin Flight, While Others Look Elsewhere

St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen isn’t ready to accept WestJet’s decision to terminate the direct flight between St. John’s and Dublin, Ireland, so he’s reaching out to company executives.

Mayor Breen says representatives at WestJet have responded to his request for a meeting but there is no date yet for the get-together. He sees the cancellation of the seasonal flight as a disappointment – and a surprising one at that.

Breen, pointing to the newly-built convention centre that he wants to see in full use, says the move will have an impact on sports tourism.

The mayor is optimistic that passenger volumes would have continued to increase. A Facebook page created by a librarian at the Centre for Newfoundland Studies in Waterford, Ireland says statistics he has seen show an increase to 22,000 passengers last year from 14,000 when the flight was launched in 2014.

Breen worries about not having a connection to Europe as the oil and gas industry matures in the province. He believes the need for a direct connection will only increase as Newfoundland continues to work toward the Atlantic Ocean Supercluster plan.

Look Across the Pond for Airlines, says Murphy
George Murphy, former politician and a cab driver who also crunches gas price numbers as the Consumer Group for Fair Gas Prices, has suggested that it’s time to court Aer Lingus, an Irish airline that has already expressed a desire to expand its service to North America.

Murphy weighed in on the issue on the Newfoundland Ireland Direct Connection Facebook page.

He says the company put out a request for proposals to open up more trans-Atlantic routes and that’s something that could, or should, be explored.

He wants to know if St. John’s or other NL airports received the RFP.

http://vocm.com/news/st-johns-fights...ook-elsewhere/

[jeddy1989]

More Calls For WestJet To Reconsider Dublin Flight

The Boards of Ireland Newfoundland Connections and the Newfoundland and Labrador Irish Connections are calling on WestJet to reconsider its decision to discontinue its seasonal direct flights between Dublin and St. John’s.

The groups issued a joint news release yesterday. Eamon Murphy of Waterford, Ireland and Kyran Dwyer of St. John’s are adding their voices to those of St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen, Hospitality NL, and the Benevolent Irish Society calling on WestJet to resume direct flights between St. John’s and Dublin next May.

Both say the flight has contributed greatly to their annual Ireland Newfoundland Gathering, a festival that takes place every year and has seen events in almost 70 Irish communities and close to 40 in this province.

http://vocm.com/news/more-calls-for-...dublin-flight/

[gehrhardt]

WestJet's new 787 Dreamliners are starting to come online in 2019. One is undergoing flight testing and was sitting at Pearson when I was there last Thursday.

I have a feeling the recent route changes are related to the new planes. With the extended range, it offers more options from the larger centres like Calgary (their primary hub), Toronto, and Vancouver. I'm not agreeing with the cancellation, just that there has to be a good business reason for it.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by gehrhardt

WestJet's new 787 Dreamliners are starting to come online in 2019. One is undergoing flight testing and was sitting at Pearson when I was there last Thursday.

I have a feeling the recent route changes are related to the new planes. With the extended range, it offers more options from the larger centres like Calgary (their primary hub), Toronto, and Vancouver. I'm not agreeing with the cancellation, just that there has to be a good business reason for it.

Oh completely, I think it was purely a decision made relating to their overall plan and how it relates with the logistics of their other routes. Not necessarily actually related to the demand for the YYT-DUB route.

[D3nZ]

The airport in Edmundston (CYES) is going thru some small, but much needed renovations after receiving a grant. They have completely updated their terminal, fenced the whole airport and cleared off a lot of trees around the runway. I don't believe there had been that much updates to CYES since Air Nova left the airport in the 90's. Although the airport is mostly currently used by private planes, a few charted planes and for patient transportation, there have been talks about extending the runway (which is currently at about 4,500 ft) and potentially having weekly departures and arrivals.

*Cool fact about the airport, it's probably one of the not too many airports around the world with two timezones as the runway starts in New Brunswick but ends in the province of Quebec.

**Other cool fact, the Edmundston Blizzard (Junior A hockey team here) chartered a plane last April, flew to Yarmouth where they won the MHL championship, and flew back home the same day where they were greeted by hundreds of fans at the airport. By getting a chartered plane they saved the 24 hour round trip bus drive as the Saint John - Digby Ferry was not in operation.