[Payd1964]

Thanks for sharing this information. YHZ, YOW and YWG do very well in comparison to YEG even though they have 3M to 4M less passengers per year. A lot has been said respecting YEG traffic not back at pre-covid levels. I know there are lots of YYC folks that follow this thread. Does anyone have stats respecting Edmonton/northern Alberta passengers that either fly directly to YYC or drive to YYC? I know many people from not only Edmonton but from Red Deer, Lacombe and Camrose that now drive directly to YYC to start vacations. The savings are usually significant. I imagine the trend continuing given that more routes are being added at YYC.

 

[IanO]

YHZ - proximity to Europe and US + regional and cruise ship impact.

YOW - nations capital impact and proximity for short flights to more than a few places.

YWG - central Canada location and no competing hub.

 

[MakeYEGGreatAgain]

WS just cancelled YEG-ORD, SFO and SEA.

Thank you for limiting our travel options and forcing us to go through YYC

 

[Windermere]

WS just cancelled YEG-ORD, SFO and SEA.

Thank you for limiting our travel options and forcing us to go through YYC

Not forced to go through YYC as we still have all of those routes covered by other airlines.

 

[Ned]

Interesting how Vancouver has more passengers and Calgary almost has as much passengers as Montreal, yet Montreal has a significant number of more routes.

 

[BASE]

WS just cancelled YEG-ORD, SFO and SEA.

Thank you for limiting our travel options and forcing us to go through YYC

Indeed the transborder is getting pummelled but better in some ways to keep diversity in airlines with Uniter offering ORD, San Francisco with Air Canada, and Seattle long offered by Alaska. As for driving to YYC it’s a big bump but don’t think any public data has been shared in a while.

 

[Markyeg]

I don’t fault WS for cutting transborder if people don’t want to travel there, but at least throw us some scraps and add a couple more domestic or Mexico routes to make up for it. Something more exciting than Kamloops.

 

[Oilers99]

WS just cancelled YEG-ORD, SFO and SEA.

Thank you for limiting our travel options and forcing us to go through YYC

All of these flights were stupid from the beginning. Why WJ would try to go at United hubs like ORD or SFO made zero sense. Yes people travel to Chicago and SF but those are major hub airports. Seattle with Alaska is the exact same. WJ shouldn’t have bothered with those and focused on other Delta hubs. Dumb protectionist move that amounted to nothing.

 

[David A]

Not forced to go through YYC as we still have all of those routes covered by other airlines.

... and other airlines have better connections in Toronto or Vancouver, so in the end this could be their loss.

 

[David A]

Interesting how Vancouver has more passengers and Calgary almost has as much passengers as Montreal, yet Montreal has a significant number of more routes.

Geography. I was also surprised when I went to Montreal to see so many flights offered, such as to parts of French speaking Africa. They are close to Europe and closer to Africa.

Likewise, Vancouver is closest to Asia and Toronto is close to the heavily populated north eastern US. This is why I feel, trying to force or create an artificial hub elsewhere in Alberta will not work in the end.

 

[yeggator]

Interesting how Vancouver has more passengers and Calgary almost has as much passengers as Montreal, yet Montreal has a significant number of more routes.

Montreal is closer to more destinations in Europe and North America so they can use smaller aircraft on those routes. Vancouver is very far from major destinations in Asia so they just funnel way more passengers on fewer routes flown by gigantic aircraft with enough range.

 

[Markyeg]

WS just cancelled YEG-ORD, SFO and SEA.

Thank you for limiting our travel options and forcing us to go through YYC

Looks like they’re also cutting YEG to ATL (again) and YUL.

 

[AntonK]

WS just cancelled YEG-ORD, SFO and SEA.

Thank you for limiting our travel options and forcing us to go through YYC

With traffic to the US down it was going to happen. We can still go with the US carriers, but options are limited, IIRC we don’t have non stop to ORD and SFO is only in the summer, or has that changed?
Also worth noting, YYC also lost their flight to RDU.

 

[AntonK]

I’m going to put in my flak jacket because this won’t be a popular opinion. I find the common answer is to blame WestJet for all of YEG’s ills, but I would also put as much blame or more on AC and other carriers. AC abandoning YEG left the door open for WS to consolidate. The American carriers also have chosen to make YYC their prairie hub with all of them having multiple daily flights year round between YYC and their US hubs. Last week AA added non stops to YYC even though AC and WS already have 12 flights a week there. They could have chosen YEG, but didn’t.

I don’t like that WS made YYC their hub, but other carriers could add flights to YEG, and aren’t. They deserve some blame too. Maybe even more.

 

[Windermere]

WestJet has increased the frequency on other routes, the press release should be out tomorrow.

Charlottetown from 1 to 2 weekly
Halifax from 13 to 14 weekly
Kamloops from 2 to 3 weekly
Kelowna from 28 to 41 weekly
Minneapolis from 5 to 7 weekly
Moncton from 3 to 4 weekly
Nanaimo from 2 to 3 weekly
Puerto Vallarta from 1 to 2 weekly
Reykjavik new 1 weekly
St. John's from 5 to 6 weekly
Vancouver from 53 to 60 weekly
Yellowknife from 4 to 7 weekly