Calgary International Airport

[suburbia]

Interview this morning on CBC highlighted:
- AC issues are fundamental ones relating to operating costs as well as unfunded pension liability
- Union / employees are a problem as there is a sense of entitlement, possibly from the time it was a crown corporation (this might not be the case for pilots, but pilots are only one part of the puzzle)
- Because employees / unions will not make concessions required for break-even operations in the long term (let along profits) it is an impossible situation, and the airline will likely not survive
- The interviewer specifically highlighted Emirites as an example who could come in and do what Air Canada does, and do it cheaper

I thought it was an odd comment that the guy mentioned Emirites, but he is probably right, as they wouldn't have all the union baggage (I'd assume).

[Full Mountain]

Originally Posted by cyeg66

Gee, which side of the fence do you sit?

Below is not directed at you and I recognize that your post was likely rhetorical

[rant]

But this is what gets me every time that the government pushes through back to work legislation for AC or anyone else, on this trumped up idea that it'll be bad for the economy, bad for the economy is restricting our air space to essentially 2 carriers or any of the other protectionist measures that are in place in this country

[/rant]

[cyeg66]

Bigger picture, people, bigger picture. In the euphoric uber-right-wing World of Make Believe, absolute unrestricted access to global markets are the ideal. This, though, is not the World of Make Believe. And so the brain/cash/ethics drain continues.... No sign of it stopping....

This airline needs to go the way of the dodo (as execs have been doing all in their power to spin off/bleed/liquidate the corporation of any worth for some time now) and it appears it may finally be approaching that one last death spiral. It would be a painful transition for the flying public and former AC employees but perhaps Star Alliance partners could pick up (most of the) long haul capacity in the short term and other domestic carriers pick up most remaining short haul while a new (dare I say, national) carrier gets off the ground to fill the void. Wishful thinking perhaps.

[DIESEL]

Can someone explain to me the difference between Lufthansa Booking Classes T,S,U,K and what the differences are between Y?

Thanks

[Cage]

Y is full fare economy.

T, S, and K are heavily discounted economy tickets.

U in a fairly high economy fare with only a few ticket restrictions.

Fare classes are utilized for ticketing purposes and fare building basis accross the airlines network. Fares are often present as point to point, so YYC-YYT has the fare for L class, therefore each flight on the itinerary must have L class open.

Also for point earning purposes in the LH environment T,S, and K classes do NOT earn Miles and More points.

[Tropics]

Originally Posted by suburbia

- Union / employees are a problem as there is a sense of entitlement, possibly from the time it was a crown corporation (this might not be the case for pilots, but pilots are only one part of the puzzle)
- Because employees / unions will not make concessions required for break-even operations in the long term (let along profits) it is an impossible situation, and the airline will likely not survive.

That is kinda what unions these days do.

[Full Mountain]

Originally Posted by cyeg66

Bigger picture, people, bigger picture. In the euphoric uber-right-wing World of Make Believe, absolute unrestricted access to global markets are the ideal. This, though, is not the World of Make Believe. And so the brain/cash/ethics drain continues.... No sign of it stopping....

This airline needs to go the way of the dodo (as execs have been doing all in their power to spin off/bleed/liquidate the corporation of any worth for some time now) and it appears it may finally be approaching that one last death spiral. It would be a painful transition for the flying public and former AC employees but perhaps Star Alliance partners could pick up (most of the) long haul capacity in the short term and other domestic carriers pick up most remaining short haul while a new (dare I say, national) carrier gets off the ground to fill the void. Wishful thinking perhaps.

Bingo, nailed it, it'd be painful for a bit but, in the end we'd get better service and maybe lower prices

[Bokimon]

What happens if in the case of AC the privatization was revoked and the government came back to own it as a state airline again. Sure it would be undemocratic and socialistic type of approach but by the iron hand of the state, the airline might fare better as the state would now control the labor and pay related matters. That might also include getting rid of the unions too.
Definitely way out there in terms of scenarios but when things are desperate, maybe that is one way to solve its internal strife and rebuild its image.

[PPAR]

I am sure the above post is just flow in the spirit of discussion (which I always enjoy from you), but I can't help seeing the idea as an echo of political history.

The idea of state control of industry vs unionization is exactly what divided most of Europe prior to the second world war. The idea of "the iron hand of state" solving economic problems is really the polar opposite of a socialistic (aka Communist) approach. Nationalization to solve Union problems is pure National Socialism (aka Totalitaranism) as it existed prior to their leadership permanently discrediting the brand by starting all those nasty wars...

Those who do not study history are bound to repeat it.

[outoftheice]

On a slightly different note, I had an idea regarding the future development of the airport terminal. If anyone remembers, the original plan for the international expansion at YYC showed a large hammerhead pier being added to the current B/C finger to add gates. Now that the airport has decided to go a different direction with the international expansion, I was thinking that it would make sense for the airport authority to resurrect the plans to add a large hammerhead pier to the B/C finger, with one key difference....

Instead of adding bridges, this new hammerhead could be built at ground level and be used as the new regional section of the airport... in a style similar to what is done at YVR. The regional B/C hammerhead would be easily accessible from both the D and A wings allowing for its use by both Air Canada express and the new Westjet regional operation. While I realize that the Q400 can be put on a bridge, operations could be be split between this new regional hammerhead and the exisiting bridges that are on the B/C finger making the entire thing YYC's Regional wing.

As far as I can see, there's no place in the current expansion plan to centralize ground loading operations and in the interim I wouldn't be surprised if we see aircraft being parked next to bridges with stairs positioned to allow people to walk down to the aircraft. I think moving forward, there will once again be a need for a large ground loading area similar to the current A1 gates and I think the tip of the current B/C finger is the perfect spot to do it....

Thoughts??

[Tropics]

Originally Posted by PPAR

The idea of "the iron hand of state" solving economic problems is really the polar opposite of a socialistic (aka Communist) approach.

Ehh, not really BOTH of those are state controlled. The opposite to either of those is true free market capitalism where employers and employees are free to do whatever they want. A car or airline company decides to hire people "not" in the union, they do it. They decide the union is being too greedy and running wages too high such that the company is going to go under? They start hiring people outside of the union. They tell the union workers they can no longer afford to pay them what they are paying them, they can take a reduction in pay to more of a global standard and if they don't like that then they are welcome to quit. The union whines, they vote to go on strike? OK, you don't want to come to work anymore? You are all fired, tomorrow there will be new job postings and you are all being replaced. If you want to reapply for your old job do so but understand it will be a contract between the company and you, not the union.

Unions were VERY important once upon a time. That time is long since past and now they are going to be the doom of alot of industry in western society due to the global market and the fact that unionized industries simply cannot compete with overseas industries. Sorry but screwing in a widget on a car assembly line is not $70/hr work.

[cyeg66]

The longer the airport authority drags its feet in posting YTD passenger stats, the more I think they're not going to be good.

[Johnny Aussie]

UA is adding a daily Express CR7 YYC-ORD for the summer scheds.

The new flight is an 0600 departure.

So.... that's 5 daily YYC-ORD on UA this summer... 1 mainline and 4 Express.

UA will have an impressive 16 daily flights (14 on Saturdays) ex YYC this summer (including IAH of course). 4 mainline and 12 Express.

With this bump, total transborder frequencies now only down just 2 per week from last year.

Now.. YYC, where are those January and February stats?

[Bigtime]

Good to see some seasonal increases.

[Jimby]

I like Air Canada's Embraer jets.
They seem to take off effortlessly, only 2 X 2 seats across in economy, and there is lots of leg room.
They seem perfect for the YYC mid-range market.

Here I was heading to Newark on an AC Embraer, and on the wrong side to see the airport construction:


lift off by LUMIN8, on Flickr

[yyc_engineer]

+1
I had the pleasure of flying on one in the first economy row to YVR for the Olympics and definitely enjoyed the flight. That was just a short one... I'm curious on how it is for the longer (5hrs+) flight to the Eastcoast?

Originally Posted by Jimby

I like Air Canada's Embraer jets.
They seem to take off effortlessly, only 2 X 2 seats across in economy, and there is lots of leg room.
They seem perfect for the YYC mid-range market.

Here I was heading to Newark on an AC Embraer, and on the wrong side to see the airport construction:

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by yyc_engineer

+1
I had the pleasure of flying on one in the first economy row to YVR for the Olympics and definitely enjoyed the flight. That was just a short one... I'm curious on how it is for the longer (5hrs+) flight to the Eastcoast?

Fantastic. Best seats in economy in the sky.

[CalgaryLankan]

Calgary Russian TV clip on Myria...... bit more info...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1puw...watch_response

[Jimby]

Originally Posted by yyc_engineer

+1
I had the pleasure of flying on one in the first economy row to YVR for the Olympics and definitely enjoyed the flight. That was just a short one... I'm curious on how it is for the longer (5hrs+) flight to the Eastcoast?

Smooth sailing, very comfortable. I was in seat 1A going to Newark and then economy coming home. No complaints.

[yyc_engineer]

Was in the ne this afternoon and saw what looked like an Allegiant MD-83 landing on runway 34 around noon...thought my eyes were playing a trick (April fools??) but then I looked again and it infact was Allegiant.

Thought that was weird then saw an AC 767 landing right after, which also didn't make any sense at this time of day.

Flightaware says the Allegiant MD-83 was flight AAY8505 from KSEA and the AC 767 flight ACA7062 from CYVR.

Anyone have any info on what these planes were doing here on a random Sunday afternoon??

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/A...625Z/KSEA/CYYC

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/A...700Z/CYVR/CYYC