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Calgary’s a good sized city but probably not big enough to be a hub airport for 2 airlines and I’m not sure it ever made sense for AC to have 4 hubs. Their long term preference would always be to use the main cities.
Calgary will be like a Denver (United) or Minneapolis (Delta) for comparison, but for a city our size it’s not the worst thing to happen. At the end of the day we have world class direct flights that few, if any cities our size have.
Because of Westjet’s solid reach in the west, those international flights are going to be a good viable choice for western Canadians. I mean it’s a no brainer to transfer at Calgary instead of Toronto if you live in the west. Vancouver doesn’t have some of the direct flights we do, so it would also be a no brainer to transfer through Calgary for those flights.
It’s always a loss to loose a Legacy carrier flight to Europe. Though the loss has already been replaced W23. Eurowing Discover going year round and Westjet increasing CDG have filled the gap. Maybe KLM upgages their plane to add more premium seats. To me not end of the world for now.
 
Ceding the YYC-FRA to EW Discover makes sense. The rockies are really popular for German tourists and that's not a strong direct route for AC. The connecting rate on that flight must be high through Lufthansa, but with WS flying direct to the most popular European destinations, AC probably saw lower loads this summer.

I just wish the lack of competition doesn't mean WS start raising their prices for these transatlantic flights next year.
 
I just wish the lack of competition doesn't mean WS start raising their prices for these transatlantic flights next year.
I've been wondering the same thing. If the prices get out of control, I imagine many will either hold off their travel plans, or use an other carrier like KLM where you have one stop but with the same carrier.
 
Disappointing if true, but I think direct AC international flights from YYC are pretty limited. I took the Frankfurt flight this summer and I’ve taken the London flight in past years (which WJ offers). Outside of that I think AC flies direct to Cancun, which WJ (and SW) flies.
It's not great news, but not necessarily bad new either. We still keep the Frankfurt flight, but from another carrier instead. As far as YOW goes, we still have non-stops via WS, but I suppose the lack of competition isn't good. Outside of that, this story is mostly a non-story.
 
In the most predictable news from this weekend, Westjet announces capacity increases on YOW and lax

YOW 7 >> 14
LAX 16 >> 21

Westjet release

effective October 30

This puts us at over 900 weekly departures from WS.


~128 weekly flights out of YYC on Air Canada this winter this includes a lot of mainline upgauges on YXE/YQR/YLW/YZF.
 
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In non-YYC news AC has also given a large amount of routes in the maritimes to Provincial Airlines (PAL) which include:

YHZ-YOW - 1x daily
YHZ-YYT - 3x daily
YHZ-YQX - 2x daily
YHZ-YYR - 1x daily
YHZ-YDF - 1x daily

This is mainly due to limit labour resources, and shows how their further cutting to fill labour demand to their 3 main hubs.
 
My flights to Europe as well as a few flights from Seattle were loaded up with Americans. The Seattle flights have lots of Delta connections ongoing to Europe
Nice to hear an update in the media on this. It's been mentioned before that WS might be trying to attract American passengers traveling to Europe, but I hadn't heard if it was working. It makes sense though, as American travelers going to Europe, might have better options if going through Calgary. A quick search shows that there are direct flights from Seattle to Paris, but a Delta non-stop flight is more money than a Westjet flight with a stop in YYC. If a passenger decides to the cheaper flight with a stop, Calgary isn't a bad spot, compared with stopping at another American airport.
 
Nice to hear an update in the media on this. It's been mentioned before that WS might be trying to attract American passengers traveling to Europe, but I hadn't heard if it was working. It makes sense though, as American travelers going to Europe, might have better options if going through Calgary. A quick search shows that there are direct flights from Seattle to Paris, but a Delta non-stop flight is more money than a Westjet flight with a stop in YYC. If a passenger decides to the cheaper flight with a stop, Calgary isn't a bad spot, compared with stopping at another American airport.

I hope over the long term that this might allow direct flights from Calgary to some smaller airports in the western US that don't have enough O&D traffic to justify directs right now. e.g. Sacramento, San Jose, Oakland, Albuquerque, Boise, Reno, Bozeman, Spokane.
 
Condor Airlines is returning in S24

2x weekly service YYC-FRA

Effective May 27:
DE2440 FRA 12:10 - 13:55 YYC 339 14
DE2441 YYC 15:55 - 09:20+1 FRA 339 14

https://condor-newsroom.condor.com/e...miami-florida/

Looking forward to seeing this livery around the airport!

AB5A2A49-DA61-4906-82C8-6018CC5F4F6C.jpeg
 

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