7636 replies to this topic

[Missed Approach]

West Jet and Encore have canceled numerous flights, daily. I'm thinking passenger loads were so low it wasn't worth running the flight. 1 round trip Calgary, 1 round trip Edmonton, 1 round trip Vancouver for the rest of the week and maybe beyond.

[Mike K.]

Victoria International Airport (YYJ) Achieves Health Accreditation



For Immediate Release November 9, 2020


Victoria International Airport (YYJ) has joined several other Canadian airports to receive accreditation under the Airports Council International (ACI) Airport Health Accreditation Programme.

The accreditation is recognition of how seriously Victoria Airport Authority (VAA) is taking the COVID-19 pandemic and reflects our continued commitment to prioritizing health and safety measures in accordance with international industry recommendations, guidelines and best practices.

“At YYJ, the health and safety of our passengers, partners and employees is our top priority. Achieving ACI’s Airport Health Accreditation, along with our TravelSafe YYJ program which we implemented this past summer, affirms our commitment to ensuring that passengers and staff feel safe and confident while at the airport,” said Geoff Dickson, VAA President and CEO.

ACI’s Airport Health Accreditation programmes provides airports with an assessment of how aligned their health measures are with industry best practices and in accordance with International Civil Aviation Council (ICAO) Aviation Restart Task Force recommendations.

Areas of assessment for accreditation include cleaning and sanitization, physical distancing, staff protection, physical layout, passenger communications and passenger facilities.

VAA launched its TravelSafe YYJ program July 1, 2020 and measures include:

· Requesting that only travellers with a valid ticket and airport employees enter the air terminal building. There are exceptions for those who are accompanying someone who needs extra assistance.
· Dedicated one-way entry and exit to/from the air terminal building.
· Requesting that face coverings be worn at all times throughout all areas of the air terminal building.
· Physical distancing measures with new floor and seating decals, stanchions and signage.
· Plexiglass barriers at all airline check-in and departure gate counters, security checkpoint, car rentals and retail and food & beverage service counters
· PPE availability for purchase.
· Cleaning and Sanitization
o Deployed 60 hand sanitization stations.
o Increased cleaning at all high-touch areas including seating areas, check-in kiosks, elevators, escalator and stair handrails, baggage carts and enhanced cleaning of washrooms to every hour.
o Custodial staff use of a high-quality probiotic textile spray that fights unwanted bacteria and viruses on surfaces for three days.
o Incorporated misting sanitizer into cleaning equipment.

· Requesting that passengers collect their baggage and immediately exit the air terminal building. Short term parking remains FREE for family and friends to pick-up arriving passengers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has required an extraordinary response and the increased health measures that are in place are to assure travellers that we have incorporated the guidance materials provided by public health officials, government officials and industry experts and that we will continue to work with those partners, test new technologies and implement new international standards as they emerge.

[Matt R.]

Western Canada Marine Response Corp. is building a new spill response base at the airport, due to the TMX expansion.  Eight vessels will be moored at Van Isle Marina, and an office/warehouse will be built at the airport.  Construction is set to start this month and continue into late 2021.

 

Matt.

[Victoria Watcher]

Speaking on Australian tv show A current Affair, Alan Joyce, the CEO of Qantas, has confirmed that the airline will change it’s terms and conditions.

 

The change will ask all international travelers to have a COVID vaccine before getting onboard their aircraft.

 

Mr Joyce also believes vaccinations will be a “common theme” across the entire industry. “What we are looking at is how you can have vaccination passport, an electronic version of it, that certifies what the vaccine is, is it acceptable to the country you are travelling to. There’s a lot of logistics, a lot of technology that will be needed to be put in place to make this happen. But the airlines and the governments are working on this as we speak.”

 

https://www.airlive....nal-travellers/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 November 2020 - 09:06 AM.

[Barrrister]

Correct me if I am wrong but vaccines do not prevent one from getting Covid but rather help fight the virus so it is less fatal. One can still be infectious even if vaccinated if I understand the science correctly. 

[Victoria Watcher]

technically. but the vaccine has told your antibodies how to quickly fight it and prevent it from replicating in your body. so you never become contagious. or ill. so effectively you do not have it.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 November 2020 - 11:36 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

A call from the provincial government to reduce non-essential travel in B.C. appears to be working.

 

Vehicle and walk-on passenger traffic on major routes fell by more than half on the weekend compared to the previous weekend, according to BC Ferries.

 

Walk-on ridership fell by 65 per cent, while vehicle traffic decreased by 50 per cent, BC Ferries said Monday.

 

https://vancouverisl...ories-1.5201012

[Missed Approach]

The non stop Air Canada flight has disappeared from the AC time table and FIDS at YYJ.

 

Looking ahead, it's back in Dec for a short time, mixed AC mainline and Rouge service, with regular service in the new year daily with a over nite in YYJ

 

Looking into spring / summer 2021, so far the time table looks like the planned service expansion from last summer.

 

May, 3X YYC with CRJ 900 up from 2 on DH Q400

June   YUL returns with Daily A 319

June YYZ goes from 1 to 2 Daily A 321 

 

There is alittle hope on the horizon....

Edited by Missed Approach, 26 November 2020 - 12:59 PM.

[lanforod]

Jeepers I thought for a second you were talking about a flight disappearing from radar...

[Matt R.]

A call from the provincial government to reduce non-essential travel in B.C. appears to be working.
 
Vehicle and walk-on passenger traffic on major routes fell by more than half on the weekend compared to the previous weekend, according to BC Ferries.
 
Walk-on ridership fell by 65 per cent, while vehicle traffic decreased by 50 per cent, BC Ferries said Monday.
 
https://vancouverisl...ories-1.5201012

Bit more back to normal today in Fulford. Couple full boats going over, and the 3 home was full too. Business back up a bit.

Matt.

[Missed Approach]

A year and 4 months after completion of the extension of Taxi way Echo to runway 27-09, still isn't open.

VAA still blames NavCan for funding towards a CCTV system as the new taxi area isn't visible to the tower.

 

Anyone in the know why this is still a stale mate between the two originations, a project that cost just over 4 million dollars is sitting

wasting away, still causing back tracking which causes arrival and departure delays.  

[LJ]

With the amount of air traffic flying it can't be causing too many delays.

 

I don't think NavCan is earning much money these days.

[AllseeingEye]

NavCan is in the midst of a major restructuring, and are otherwise preoccupied laying off staff including the 180 or so announced just last week so I doubt they're terribly focused on what's happening at our tiny air operation. Since the beginning of the pandemic they've laid off almost 20% of their employees. 

[North Shore]

NavCan is in deep trouble, I think.  LAying off staff, and cancelling training, etc..  When this all comes back, they're going to be on the back foot for quite a while, between expected retirements, and a ?1 year gap in training new people..

[Missed Approach]

Well this project has been on the books well before the coivd outbreak, was done and meant to be open in Oct 2019.......

 

Traffic or no traffic, it was a capital project that got completed with a technical complication  

[Citified.ca]

Had a chance to discuss this issue with Geoff Dickson.

 

Interesting to note that a control tower expansion is in the cards, but not quite as fast as originally planned. Thanks for the heads-up, MA.

 

Victoria International's $4.3 million aircraft taxiway extension unusable due to Nav Canada hang-up

https://victoria.cit...canada-hang-up/

[Victoria Watcher]

Amazon is buying four jets from WestJet and seven from Delta as the e-commerce giant moves to beef up its delivery fleet at a time when passenger jets are no longer so in demand.

 

In a release, the company said the 11 jets, which are all Boeing 767-300s, are all currently set up to carry passengers but are in the process of being converted to carry only cargo. The WestJet jets will join Amazon's fleet some time this year and the Delta ones in 2022.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...stjet-1.5861635

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 05 January 2021 - 11:40 AM.

[Mike K.]

So that’s that for Westjet’s long haul 767s.

[vortoozo]

They went to Florida & then to Israel/Mexico for conversion last August/September.

Edited by vortoozo, 05 January 2021 - 03:07 PM.

[Missed Approach]

This is how the last 767 300 they had looked like when it left YYC ( calgary ) 4 months ago.

 

The sticker by the front passenger door says SOLD, to some really nice people.  Some WJ good humor

 

 https://www.youtube....h?v=F57ZJ7osOSQ