Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW/CYOW)

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by MountainView

As both an aviation fan and active user of YOW (especially pre-pandemic) I am very hopeful and excited for what Porter may bring to our market.... but I think we need to relax our expectations at first.

I am not sure on their aircraft delivery schedule, but I would think they would start with "safe" markets. Especially in the beginning to get crew trained. I would say to look for YOW-YHZ on their jet planes at first, even potentially YUL/YYZ-YHZ.

After that, I think they expand and stay in Canada first. Porter exec's have always been saying that their customers have been wanting Western Canadian destinations for a while now. So I would look for them to expand to YYC and YVR (maybe YEG & YWG) first before they do anything in the mid-west and western coast of the USA.

Also, the Florida routes would make sense for them to fly from YYZ as there is plenty of O&D on those routes. They can operate without connections from their other hubs.

I think when Porter says that YYZ will be a hub... it might operate more standalone compared to what their plans might be in YOW, YUL and YHZ. Pearson can support O&D to Western Canada and other destinations. Perhaps they might fly a daily jet from YOW/YUL/YHZ to YYZ to connect to the bank, but I don't think their plan would be to send people from YYZ to YOW/YUL for any connection bank.

YOW and YUL could be used as a connection point from destinations that serve the dash-8. Think, YTZ, YQM, YFC, YHZ to YOW to connect on a jet plane to YYC/YVR/YWG (in the short term).

What I think will be an interesting aspect to all of this that I haven't seen brought up much is if Porter will be willing or have an appetite to fly some of their dash-8's on US routes to YOW. Something like BOS and EWR to connect to a western Canadian bank. There would also be some O&D on these routes as AC hasn't brought back BOS yet.

Overall, I think this is wonderful news for our airport and I hope YOW can capitalize on it and make it work. I think destinations like LAX, SFO, PHX, DEN are all 2+ years away though. Perhaps... one of them might come next summer or this winter... but we will see!

And my thoughts on the YYZ and YTZ bases for Porter... I think they will be operated separately... no bus service. I think if someone wants to fly to YYC from YTZ, they will connect in YOW/YUL... and this will be by choice not to drive/park/deal with the business of Pearson.

Yup at first they're no doubt only going to have somewhere between 2 and 6 E95s when the jet ops launch. An early indicator is if they start selling connections through YOW. Indeed for YTZ-anywhere out of Dash 8 range, they'll sell connections at YOW & YUL, just like AC already does for YTZ, even for backtracking for those that want to walk/subway to/from downtown Toronto vs dealing with to/from YYZ.

I would think that they're going to only add 1 or 2 cities out west to start and then probably 1 or 2 Florida for the winter. That's where converting one of the daily YHZ-YOW frequencies to a jet makes sense for some initial connections.

It'll be exciting times ahead for PD and where they'll go from here.

Today's departure count: 62

[originalmuffins]

I know there is a master plan until 2038 is out, but is there anywhere that indicates what kind of expansions they are planning? looked into it and only saw a small expansion in one of the terminals, metro link, and additional hotel that's even closer to the airport but that's all i really saw

[Dominion301]

Today's departure count: 62

[antresenect]

Originally Posted by originalmuffins

I know there is a master plan until 2038 is out, but is there anywhere that indicates what kind of expansions they are planning? looked into it and only saw a small expansion in one of the terminals, metro link, and additional hotel that's even closer to the airport but that's all i really saw

The airport has a shiny new terminal that's big enough for now and almost $500 million in debt that has been getting larger instead of smaller. I don't think they have anything major in the pipeline, even 10+ years out.

[Coho]

Was checking out Google Flights for a few dates in September and AC has put the 787 back on the YOW-YVR route (at least on the days I searched). This time it's the larger 787-9 flying AC342 (YVR-YOW) and returning as AC345 (YOW-YVR). I know lots can happen with schedule changes, especially 4 months out, but I hope it sticks on the route! The Signature Class pods are a huge upgrade to the regular North American business class seats.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by Coho

Was checking out Google Flights for a few dates in September and AC has put the 787 back on the YOW-YVR route (at least on the days I searched). This time it's the larger 787-9 flying AC342 (YVR-YOW) and returning as AC345 (YOW-YVR). I know lots can happen with schedule changes, especially 4 months out, but I hope it sticks on the route! The Signature Class pods are a huge upgrade to the regular North American business class seats.

This actually looks to start early July... almost a week after the 3rd daily YOW-YVR begins! Awesome news for sure.

I also noticed that YOW-YQB will be on the CR9 instead of the DH8 with evening departure/arrival times on both segments. Which is much better than when they originally had it leave YOW around 14:00... that departure time was strange to me.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by MountainView

This actually looks to start early July... almost a week after the 3rd daily YOW-YVR begins! Awesome news for sure.

I also noticed that YOW-YQB will be on the CR9 instead of the DH8 with evening departure/arrival times on both segments. Which is much better than when they originally had it leave YOW around 14:00... that departure time was strange to me.

That'll be the largest aircraft on YOW-YQB since the days of the DC-9 that ended in the late 80s.

Today's departure count: 51, including what I believe is the inaugural YOW-YYJ on Flair. Will operate twice weekly all summer long.

[Coho]

Checked the timetable and AC has pushed the restart of their YOW-YEG flights to June 23rd. Think it was originally scheduled to resume June 1st.

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 62

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 63

Today’s cancellation count (so far): 3 - had this been zero it would have resulted in the most departures since the start of the pandemic.

[BenYOW]

The Airport Authority has released information on infrastructure projects to be completed in 2022, including the reconstruction of Taxiways A, M, AA, BB, and CC. Work is to begin on May 16 and be completed in October.

A visual of the alignment of the previously announced Taxiway R has also been provided, with completion scheduled in October.

[Dominion301]

Today’s departure count: 59

Today’s cancellation count: 2

[RomanR27]

Originally Posted by BenYOW

The Airport Authority has released information on infrastructure projects to be completed in 2022, including the reconstruction of Taxiways A, M, AA, BB, and CC. Work is to begin on May 16 and be completed in October.

A visual of the alignment of the previously announced Taxiway R has also been provided, with completion scheduled in October.

Guessing runway 14 won't be available for takeoffs and 32 won't be available for landings during this work.

[YOWflier]

https://yow.ca/en/corporate/airport-...provements-yow

[fanofYOW]

Originally Posted by Coho

Checked the timetable and AC has pushed the restart of their YOW-YEG flights to June 23rd. Think it was originally scheduled to resume June 1st.

I said it once, I'll say it again. Air Canada and Westjet do not care about Ottawa. We are a feeder city so they can continue to cater to YYZ, evident in their failure to add extremely basic routes out of an airport serving 1.5 million people. It could be due to competition from Swoop and Flair offering routes to Edmonton, but if that's the case, AC deserves it for being too slow to reinstate routes.

[Dominion301]

Originally Posted by RomanR27

Guessing runway 14 won't be available for takeoffs and 32 won't be available for landings during this work.

14 can still be used for departures but will require backtracking on the runway during construction.

Today's departure count: 60

Today's cancellation count: 2

[Coho]

Originally Posted by fanofYOW

I said it once, I'll say it again. Air Canada and Westjet do not care about Ottawa. We are a feeder city so they can continue to cater to YYZ, evident in their failure to add extremely basic routes out of an airport serving 1.5 million people. It could be due to competition from Swoop and Flair offering routes to Edmonton, but if that's the case, AC deserves it for being too slow to reinstate routes.

I agree and would love to see more routes out of YOW, from any carrier, but AC and WS aren't in the business of "caring" about an airport or not. They'll implement new routes if the demand and profits are there, and if not, will continue to route through YYZ or YUL. It's the same with YLW and YYJ in BC, being routed through YVR (AC) or YYC (WS).

[Richard Eade]

13 of us going to Europe this summer. I tried to justify flying out of Ottawa, but, finally gave in and booked direct flights out of Montreal for over $400 less, each person - and that is after upgrading to Premium Economy on the YUL flights.

We could have come close on price if we wanted to fly back to YUL, then YYZ, then YOW - but more than doubling the already 10h flight was not reasonable.

YOW has become an airport that is no longer useful to me. This past winter, it was $1,000 a ticket saving by flying south out of Syracuse. This summer it is much better for me to fly to Europe from Montreal.

For me, there are too many relatively close airports that offer better flights at better prices.

[Dominion301]

Tomorrow’s departure count: 62

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

13 of us going to Europe this summer. I tried to justify flying out of Ottawa, but, finally gave in and booked direct flights out of Montreal for over $400 less, each person - and that is after upgrading to Premium Economy on the YUL flights.

We could have come close on price if we wanted to fly back to YUL, then YYZ, then YOW - but more than doubling the already 10h flight was not reasonable.

YOW has become an airport that is no longer useful to me. This past winter, it was $1,000 a ticket saving by flying south out of Syracuse. This summer it is much better for me to fly to Europe from Montreal.

For me, there are too many relatively close airports that offer better flights at better prices.

This has always been the case to some extent but with pandemic reductions it is really tough to use YOW at all. Some Air Canada flights will give you the free connection but the timing still makes them less convenient though cheaper usually with the expensive parking at YUL.