9701 replies to this topic

[Missed Approach]

Air Canada confirms it won’t supply the route for a second consecutive year.

 

Direct Nanaimo to Toronto flights not renewed, YCD optimistic for future.

 

 

https://nanaimonewsn...tic-for-future/

[lanforod]

I'll stick with Porter.

 

Yeah, of course. Rouge might be cheaper, but you get what you pay for. 

[Missed Approach]

Yeah, of course. Rouge might be cheaper, but you get what you pay for. 

Porter by a mile, but at least AC Rouge MAX8 is an upgrade from the 25 yr old AirBus A319/320 that was regular on the route. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Seven Air Canada pilots who refused complying with controversial Covid-19 vaccine mandates on religious grounds will soon be compensated by the airline after an arbitrator ruled that their rights had been violated.

 

In his ruling, Arbitrator James Hayes stated, “All of the grievors testified honestly and the substantive nexus between their religious beliefs and objections to the employer mandatory vaccination policy was manifest.”

 

https://www.junonews...tm_medium=email

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 06 March 2026 - 10:25 AM.

[Missed Approach]

Marriot Hotel Victoria Airport not opening till "April 8th" which is a rolling date now....

[Missed Approach]

Victoria Airport Wins Service Award ........ for " under 2 million " 

 

can't crack 2 million.

 

https://cheknews.ca/...rience-1310144/

Edited by Missed Approach, 10 March 2026 - 08:39 AM.

[spanky123]

Victoria Airport Wins Service Award ........ for " under 2 million " 

 

can't crack 2 million.

 

https://cheknews.ca/...rience-1310144/

 

And still hasn't recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

[Missed Approach]

And still hasn't recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

Ms Brown said they were well on course to break 2 million at the end of 2025.......

YLW broke records last 3 years.....

recovery.......

[Mike K.]

I still see as many people as ever choosing to fly direct out of YVR, then slog via BC Ferries after a tiring travel ordeal.

How can we be unable to market ourselves out of that?

[lanforod]

I do that, and am doing it soon. The thing is, until its easier to book the through flight with other airlines, it will keep happening too. I always check and want to fly from/to YYJ, but it just does not work many times. I can get a direct to destination flight from YVR, but if I wanna go via YYJ I have to connect somewhere with a long layover, or I have to transfer from YVR south terminal or have to book two seperate airlines/flights with the risks that adds etc.

[lanforod]

Oh yeah, another issue - try booking on points. Many airlines just do not make that possible via YYJ, even if they have code shares with AC or Westjet.

[aastra]

 

 

How can we be unable to market ourselves out of that?

 

Partly it's because of the uniquely close relationship between Vic and Van. It's one of those very rare regions of Canada where there are multiple cities within a small area instead of just one isolated city acting as its own region with nothing else around it for 200+ miles. Many people in southwestern BC have always regarded it as one big place, and thus Victoria's airport is YVR for a lot of them. Victoria is the only jurisdiction in Canada where many people are obligated to take a ferry to access their own local airport. If a Victorian makes a casual conversational reference to "the airport" there's probably at least a 50/50 chance that he's talking about YVR and not YYJ.

 

Need I also note, immense numbers of Victorians have never in their lives flown out of the harbour. They wouldn't even consider it, absolutely out of the question. You could put a gun to their heads and offer them a lot of money and they still wouldn't do it. (I've tried offering to pay... that's how I know it won't work for a lot of people. But I admit I've never actually tried the gun thing. That was hyperbole on my part. Sorry. There's no excuse for that on this board.)

[aastra]

 

 

If a Victorian makes a casual conversational reference to "the airport" there's probably at least a 50/50 chance that he's talking about YVR and not YYJ.

 

Back in the day it was much higher. As a young man I found myself questioning some world travel plans that started and ended with the ferry slog, and by the reaction I received you'd think I had suggested swimming to our overseas destination with our luggage on our backs instead of flying. Making use of Victoria's airport wasn't even on the radar (no pun intended). For one thing, how would you even get there? It's so far away. And so forth.

[Mike K.]

Yeah, both of your points make sense.

I’ve always had good connections via YYJ. My next flight has me flying to Calgary then catching another flight there. Usually it’s a connection in YVR or Toronto, but it’s never a problem. Granted, I don’t fly on airlines like Condor or others like it that may not code share.

[vortoozo]

Yeah, both of your points make sense.

I’ve always had good connections via YYJ. My next flight has me flying to Calgary then catching another flight there. Usually it’s a connection in YVR or Toronto, but it’s never a problem. Granted, I don’t fly on airlines like Condor or others like it that may not code share.

 

Condor codeshares with both Alaska & Westjet. No issues at all booking a Condor flight out of YYJ

Edited by vortoozo, 10 March 2026 - 04:33 PM.

[Kilo95]

FWIW, Ottawa's airport experience's a very similar issue to YYJ with Montreal. Granted, it's a lot easier to get to than YVR is from YYJ (1.5-2 hr drive or train ride), but Ottawa sees a significant amount of leakage for people that start their trips from Montreal instead. For similar reasons as YYJ.. reduced costs, more destination/flight availability, better schedules, etc. 

[Mike K.]

Condor codeshares with both Alaska & Westjet. No issues at all booking a Condor flight out of YYJ

What would it be that makes it difficult for Lanf? Are there airlines that don’t code share which fly out of YVR? Air Transat?

[Mike K.]

FWIW, Ottawa's airport experience's a very similar issue to YYJ with Montreal. Granted, it's a lot easier to get to than YVR is from YYJ (1.5-2 hr drive or train ride), but Ottawa sees a significant amount of leakage for people that start their trips from Montreal instead. For similar reasons as YYJ.. reduced costs, more destination/flight availability, better schedules, etc.

First I’ve heard of this. Interesting.

[vortoozo]

What would it be that makes it difficult for Lanf? Are there airlines that don’t code share which fly out of YVR? Air Transat?

 

Air Transat doesn't serve YVR - all of their operations are focused on Eastern Canada, and they do codeshare with Porter so you can buy a YYJ-Toronto-Air Transat destination ticket seamlessly.

 

Of the top of my head, I can think of Jetblue which isn't easily accessible from YYJ though they only have limited service from YVR - Boston and New York and it's easy enough to get to either of those cities one-stop from YYJ on other airlines. Sun Country is another US carrier - but they only have seasonal service to Minneapolis so their utility is quite limited. Flair, Central Mountain Air, some of the Chinese airlines, Japan's ZIPAIR... there really isn't a whole lot these days.

 

Getting onto American's network can be a little tricky from YYJ as well. They codeshare on Alaska, but only on the first two daily Seattle flights regardless of how many run. You can't buy a late afternoon ticket on Alaska and onwards to American via Seattle. You can connect onto their Eastern US network via Porter in Toronto, but that doesn't help if you're flying to the Western US. When American runs their summer redeye flights out of Vancouver, I've sometimes done either a self connection or taken the ferry over to YVR to connect with their midnight departures to DFW or Chicago.

 

Having said that, sometimes codeshares increase the cost fairly significantly even on fairly mundane routes. I'm flying to San Francisco for Easter. United had some extremely attractive YVR-SFO fares, but adding the YYJ-YVR tag on AC on the same ticket increased the price 3x. A function of that late afternoon AC flight being extremely in demand on a long weekend, only high fares are available on that flight. Which is causing the whole ticket to be priced at a high fare bucket, since often with codeshares they won't combine different fare buckets together. Luckily the Air North flight happens to run that afternoon and is often around $80, so it's a self-connection risk that I decided to take that day to save $300 or so. If Air North wasn't running that day, or if I were going to travel with bags that connection is too short for comfort, I'm not sure what my choice would have been. If the Air North flight is late or cancelled last minute, I'm on my own if I misconnect. So there's risk that I'm accepting by doing so.

 

That's an outlier caused by a long weekend travel date, but those are the types of situations that cause people to not book directly from YYJ. 

[Mike K.]

That’s very good info, Vort.

What about using Harbour Air? Is the South Terminal arrival problematic for connections? I’ve never flown into or out of the South Terminal.