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Trendline seems to be up for Flair but they still have a way to go on US traffic

Amazing that with load factor in excess of 90% westjet still won't deign to increase frequency or fly the 787 from YEG.

This is what was mentioned on the internal memo announcing the YEG crew base at WestJet:

“WestJet plans to increase capacity to the Edmonton market this year with the intention of strengthening our network to focus on our western and leisure business.”

The summer schedule will be announced this month.
 
This is what was mentioned on the internal memo announcing the YEG crew base at WestJet:

“WestJet plans to increase capacity to the Edmonton market this year with the intention of strengthening our network to focus on our western and leisure business.”

The summer schedule will be announced this month.
Problem with WS is they do not have a smaller regional jet they could operate 2-3 times daily to LAX or anywhere. Frequency is critical and daily essential. Porter would do well to hub at YEG. .
 
This is what was mentioned on the internal memo announcing the YEG crew base at WestJet:

“WestJet plans to increase capacity to the Edmonton market this year with the intention of strengthening our network to focus on our western and leisure business.”

The summer schedule will be announced this month.
Sounds like they are saying the right things. Looking forward to what they announce.
 
Getting Icelandair back would be a big deal. That was a popular route and I still have friends and coworkers talking about how they wish we got that back. I hope these rumours are true.

I don't trust Westjet enough to give their statement much weight. They really don't seem concerned with the Edmonton market, but if we were able to get a major transatlantic route (like how Ottawa got AF) we likely would see them pivot to us out of the blue.
 
Westjet won’t be offering transatlantic service out of YEG in the near future. They have closed their widebody fleet at 7 in the short term. Going through the expense of establishing a crew base is a good vote of confidence in the market. I do also recall YEG being the only non hub market they retained their own above wing employees a while back (when they oursourced in many markets).

I have had my share of criticisms for WS but it hasn’t all been bad. I don’t ever buy into the we should be thankful for what they give us narrative as if we aren’t a legit market deserving of quality service.

This year has the potential to be quite a good year at YEG for many reasons.
 
1. WestJet has cut a lot of capacity across the country in its efforts to focus on Western Canada. Because of this, there is a lot of extra capacity with planes sitting around more. They need to redeploy a lot of that capacity
2. More than likely for many reasons it doesn’t make sense or work to redeploy all that capacity out of Calgary so redeploying some of that excess capacity out of YEG makes sense and is consistent with their Western Canada focused strategy
3. Hopefully then that means that there is more connecting capacity out of YEG that will not only add to a couple of new or expanded routes, but also drive passenger numbers higher at YEG with connections
 
Interesting that Air North is doing a YEG-SFO Charter.
Edmonton – San Francisco
4N901 YEG1000 – 1100SFO 737 21FEB23
4N902 SFO1200 – 1500YEG 737 23FEB23

Looks like Flair have a new head of IT who will be based in Vancouver.
flair-airlines-appoints-chief-digital-officer
 
Nashville needs to advertise themselves to Edmonton, it is a good alternative party destination compared to Las Vegas and Orlando. Few people know about it.
It's more of a Flair issue than a "lack of Nashville knowledge" issue... if the number of people flying YEG-DEN-BNA or YEG-YYC-BNA is any indication. Somebody should be able to successfully fly YEG-BNA. Not sure why Flair can't.

Getting Icelandair back would be a big deal. That was a popular route and I still have friends and coworkers talking about how they wish we got that back. I hope these rumours are true.

Agreed. Even if this specifics announcement is not for Icelandair, it's almost a guarantee that they will be back at some point.

1. WestJet has cut a lot of capacity across the country in its efforts to focus on Western Canada. Because of this, there is a lot of extra capacity with planes sitting around more. They need to redeploy a lot of that capacity
Preliminary fleet utilization for S23 looks roughly the same despite the eastern cuts. Doesn't look like there's going to be a ton of excess capacity to redeploy though YEG should still fare relatively well.
 
Hearing now that it might not be Icelandair. Kinda what happens when everything is just rumours and coming through the grapevine. So now I'm very curious to see what is announced.
 
Hearing now that it might not be Icelandair. Kinda what happens when everything is just rumours and coming through the grapevine. So now I'm very curious to see what is announced.
Others on SSP are saying the same thing. Someone else also said WestJet is announcing their summer schedule next week too.

Guess we'll have to wait until Monday.
 

With Air Canada beefing up its US transborder out of Vancouver, I wonder if the WS announcements out of Edmonton (and no doubt Calgary) are in response to Air Canada's strategy out of Alberta and more to Vancouver.

Will be interesting to see what routes and capacities Edmonton gets from WestJet, if anything material at all (and I dont mean double daily to Vegas).

Lots of interesting games being played in the Canadian airline market right now.
 

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