Atlantic Canada airport thread

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Are you absolutely sure about this, or just presuming.....

As I have said before, there is a Newfoundland ex-pat community here in Moncton and back when CanJet had a scheduled Moncton-St. John's flight, I am pretty sure it was successful.

Maybe Porter can be convinced to make a pit stop in Moncton along the way....

I like St. John's. If there was a direct airline connection between the two cities I would certainly be inclined to visit much more often.

I heard the CEO of porter (I believe that's who it was) on CBC last night talking about the expansion of porter and he mentioned a direct flight to St. John's

[q12]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Are you absolutely sure about this, or just presuming.....:

The reason it's a new route is because a jet will allow them to go direct from St. John's to Toronto. They could fly from Moncton to St. John's now if there was a market for it with the q400 (Air Canada Express or Westjet could too).

Also if you enlarge the map you can see the route (Straight line) is just passing by Moncton and Burlington Vermont.



However unfortunately it sounds like they are not going to have much luck anyways getting approval to extend the runway on Toronto Island or permission from Transport Canada to land jets there.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by jeddy1989

I heard the CEO of porter (I believe that's who it was) on CBC last night talking about the expansion of porter and he mentioned a direct flight to St. John's

Is this something we should take as a sign of good news, vote of confidence? Have they ever done this before?

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Is this something we should take as a sign of good news, vote of confidence? Have they ever done this before?

I take it as good news

They've only had a presence in St. John's since 2009 and now they want a direct flight to Toronto (the only city in Atlantic Canada with a year round direct flight to Downtown Toronto with Porter)

I think it goes to show how much business is happening here, with all the new oil and mining companies all good

[q12]

Originally Posted by jeddy1989

(the only city in Atlantic Canada with a year round direct flight to Downtown Toronto with Porter)

If they ever get the jets into service, I am sure they will have year round direct flights from Toronto to Halifax and Moncton. Seems like a no-brainer.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by jeddy1989

I take it as good news

They've only had a presence in St. John's since 2009 and now they want a direct flight to Toronto (the only city in Atlantic Canada with a year round direct flight to Downtown Toronto with Porter)

I think it goes to show how much business is happening here, with all the new oil and mining companies all good

Then good news it is.

I've never flown Porter. Are their planes different from the ones Air Canada and Westjet use for their direct St. John's-Toronto/Montreal flights?

*****

As an aside, I'm touching down in Halifax on my return flight from Boston on April 23. It's the first time I've landed in the Maritimes (when that wasn't my destination) since childhood. So our flight service hasn't been that bad over the past 10-15 years.

And, in this case, it makes so much more sense.

My flight to Boston is: St. John's-Toronto-Boston.

Coming back it's: Boston-Halifax-St. John's.

I'd prefer the latter both ways, if I could get it.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Then good news it is.

I've never flown Porter. Are their planes different from the ones Air Canada and Westjet use for their direct St. John's-Toronto/Montreal flights?

Their planes are the same as any Bombardier Q400's, but they are nicely appointed and I find the flight crews friendly and helpful. As a bonus, they actually feed you and there are complimentary drinks (even alcoholic ones).

It's how flying used to be!!!

Also, if you destination is downtown TO, flying into Billy Bishop is insanely more convenient than Pearson....

[MonctonRad]

So, I see that the NB government is selling their executive aircraft and wants to get out of the long term lease that they have for a hangar at the Fredericton airport.

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Then good news it is.

I've never flown Porter. Are their planes different from the ones Air Canada and Westjet use for their direct St. John's-Toronto/Montreal flights?

Just to expand on MonctonRad's comment, both WestJet and AC fly jets on their non-stop St. John's-Halifax and direct to Montreal routes. They use a combination of A319's (110 passengers), Embraer 190's (88 passengers) and CRJ 100's (50 passengers). WestJet flies the Boeing 737, which is around 130 passengers I believe. Right now, Porter only flies the Q400 which is an expanded and modernized version of the Bombardier Dash 8, turboprops. Porter's Q400's are outfitted for 70 passengers though they often fly below capacity or below full fuel levels in order to meet safety requirements of Billy Bishop Airport.

So yes, their planes are very different from any others that connect to St. John's and Halifax. But they are the same as pretty much any other Q400 in service.

[Sunnybrae]

I thought the reason Porters Q400's had 70 seats and not the max 78 was so they could land at YTZ. So your saying they have to reduce weight even more?

Porters expansion should be interesting considering that Encore will be comming down the pipe soon.

[Freddypop]

Was in Toronto during the Porter expansion announcement. This will be a tough sell re airport expansion at Billy Bishop. Politicians are already acknowledging such. Similar to the shale gas debate here in NB. More emotion than looking at the real facts. IMHO I believe that Porter has little choice but to expand. In the long run it could work if managed properly i.e. staged expansion but the long term would be troublesome for them if they maintain status quo and leave Air Canada and WestJet to erode their passenger share

[Sunnybrae]

Originally Posted by Freddypop

Was in Toronto during the Porter expansion announcement. This will be a tough sell re airport expansion at Billy Bishop. Politicians are already acknowledging such. Similar to the shale gas debate here in NB. More emotion than looking at the real facts. IMHO I believe that Porter has little choice but to expand. In the long run it could work if managed properly i.e. staged expansion but the long term would be troublesome for them if they maintain status quo and leave Air Canada and WestJet to erode their passenger share

Don't biz jets already land there? As long as the C100 is just as quite, why would it be a problem? Or is it more than just noise?

[Freddypop]

Originally Posted by Sunnybrae

Don't biz jets already land there? As long as the C100 is just as quite, why would it be a problem? Or is it more than just noise?

Not the noise that will dictate whether this proceeds or not but will have to extend the runway plus additional traffic.

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by Sunnybrae

I thought the reason Porters Q400's had 70 seats and not the max 78 was so they could land at YTZ. So your saying they have to reduce weight even more?

Porters expansion should be interesting considering that Encore will be comming down the pipe soon.

It's a combination of factors, reducing the configuration makes the cabin more comfortable for passengers and allows for the great flight attendant service that every loves to praise. And yes, the reduction of weight from additional passengers allows them land at YTZ, however if I remember correctly, they can only fly at 100% capacity to/from YTZ if they carry less fuel, and given regulations regarding how much fuel a plane must carry they are limited to capcity loads on short flights such as Ottawa and Montreal to YTZ.

This accounts for the low load factors that Porter reports and trumpets as success. Expanding the runways at YTZ would allow for their Q400's to be far more efficiently used than they are now in addition to allowing for expansion into jet service.

The benefits for Toronto are huge if they do allow an expansion at Billy Bishop. It doesn't take a genius to see that business opportunities would be created by enabling people to fly in and out of the downtown easily, without having to deal with the hassle of getting to/from Pearson. Hell, I'd be able to land and walk 8 blocks to my cousin's condo.

[P Unit]

I'm reservedly in favour of the Billy Bishop expansion, although I don't see it affecting the Porter routes I use most often (Montreal, Moncton and Halifax) at all. Plenty of city councillors have come out pretty strongly against it, and their support would be needed if the tripartiate agreement is going to be reopened to extend the runways, but for the most part those councillors will read the public mood and act accordingly. The noise issue appears to be a non-factor as these jets are apparently pretty quiet, but the traffic issue on roads around the airport will need to be addressed. But man, those Toronto to Vancouver, Calgary and LA flights will be popular if they make this happen.

[MonctonRad]

This is probably old news, but I drove past the south side of the airport today on Champlain St and I noticed that there is now a large UPS sign up on the side of the old MOT hangar. I presume that they have either bought or leased this building to be their trans-shipment centre at the GMIA.

It would make sense because there already is a large tarmac on this side of the airport with a number of businesses and services adjacent, such as the control tower, Moncton Flight College, UPS, Fed Ex, Purolator and the new MOT hangar....

[SignalHillHiker]

I accidentally lied and need to clarify...

Just getting everything in order to fly to Boston tomorrow.

BOTH of my flights (there and back) are via Halifax. I don't go to Toronto at all.

Woohoo! Faster flights!

EDIT: And, as it turned out, I ended up coming back via Montreal because of Boston-related delays. I didn't leave early enough to catch my connection in Halifax and the next-soonest one I could catch to St. John's was out of Montreal.

[SignalHillHiker]

From SJIA on FB:

Direct flights to London from St. John's are back for the season, starting tonight:

[MonctonRad]

Here is the link to the pdf for the 2012 annual report from the GMIA:

http://www.cyqm.ca/site/media/gmia/G...ort%202012.pdf

Some take aways:

(1) "The final year of our three-year airfield rehabilitation project was completed with the expansion of Apron V. Apron V is mainly used by Kelowna Flightcraft and Morningstar who are the carriers for Purolator and FedEx respectively. Morningstar has increased the size of their aircraft from a B727 to a B757, and the expanded Apron V will allow a safer and more efficient operation."
(2) "GMIA has embarked on the construction of the runway 06/24 extension project. The extension will take the runway from its current 1875 metres to 3048 metres and include a partial parallel taxiway. Modern Construction of Moncton was the successful firm chosen for the construction after a competitive bidding process. The project, partially funded by both the federal and provincial governments, was started in May after completion of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act screening process. Construction continued well into the Fall and work has consisted of grading, removing unsuitable fill material, installation of a culvert to accommodate Crooks Brook and completion of taxiway ‘F’ from apron VIII to the threshold of the current runway 06/24. The target date for completion of this project is Fall 2013."
(3) "The year 2012 ended in a healthy 6% increase (in passenger traffic), resulting in a new record for a total of 615,085 customers at the Greater Moncton International Airport (GMIA) in comparison to 579,329 in 2011. On the cargo front, the numbers remained steady. Volumes finished at 22,832 metric tonnes in comparison to 22,760 metric tonnes in 2011."
(4) "For 2013, Sunwing Vacations has added Varadero, Cuba, to their list of destinations and Transat Holidays has introduced the Mayan Riviera in Mexico as a new hot spot."
(5) "There was a considerable increase in chartered flights, as the number of flights per week doubled, from Flair Air and Canadian North for oil workers flying mainly to Alberta."
(6) "GMIA is pleased to announce the blossoming partnership between United Parcel Services (UPS) and SkyLink Express. We were also pleased to welcome UPS’ air hub operation to the GMIA in 2012. With UPS, Purolator and FedEx each (now) claiming the GMIA as their regional hub."

[mmmatt]

^ re: point (1) we had to "push back" our new 757 to get it back on to the taxi way, but with the expanded apron it is able to come and go on its own...a much more efficient and simple operation.