The growth in passengers at YYC continued in January 2011 although like the previous month it was minuscule.
Compared to January 2010, the first month of 2011 saw passenger numbers increase by an overall amount of 0.6%. All three sectors carved out small increases with domestic travel increasing 0.6%, Transborder 0.9% and International 0.5%. Overall, 964,189 passengers used the airport in January.
January 2011
Domestic: 637,036
Transborder: 205,947
International: 121,206
Source: YYC.com
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Air Canada cuts Calgary to Chicago, London, ON and San Francisco flights
According to a news release from Air Canada, the airline will be cutting three Calgary routes as of May 1. The routes being cut are Calgary to London Ontario, Chicago and San Francisco. Air Canada says it can no longer operate the routes profitably due to high fuel costs.
Source: Air Canada
Source: Air Canada
Thursday, March 3, 2011
December + Full Year Passenger stats
Despite being one of the slowest months in 2010, the December passenger numbers for YYC were still positive a helped contribute to a record year of 12,630,695 passengers! If you have been cooped up then this will be news to you otherwise you will have seen it on or in the news for the past couple of days. I, unfortunately left this in my in-box for a couple days and now it is relatively old news but here it goes anyways:
With only April 2010 showing smaller growth then December, the month just barely carved out a positive growth number of 0.4% over December 2009. Domestic traffic saw a 0.7% growth while Transborder numbers saw the biggest gain of 1.2%. For International numbers, December was the first month to see a negative amount with a 2.5% drop in passengers from 2009. Overall the month saw 1,035,474 passengers go through YYC.
December 2010
Domestic: 720,808
Transborder: 210,594
International: 104,072
2010 Totals (% Change)
Domestic: 8,844,080 (2.3%)
Transborder: 2,462,295 (4.4%)
International: 1,324,320 (12.9%)
Source: YYC.com
With only April 2010 showing smaller growth then December, the month just barely carved out a positive growth number of 0.4% over December 2009. Domestic traffic saw a 0.7% growth while Transborder numbers saw the biggest gain of 1.2%. For International numbers, December was the first month to see a negative amount with a 2.5% drop in passengers from 2009. Overall the month saw 1,035,474 passengers go through YYC.
December 2010
Domestic: 720,808
Transborder: 210,594
International: 104,072
2010 Totals (% Change)
Domestic: 8,844,080 (2.3%)
Transborder: 2,462,295 (4.4%)
International: 1,324,320 (12.9%)
Source: YYC.com
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Westjet, American Airlines expand relationship with code share agreement
Cross-post from my RewardsCanada.ca blog
Following an earlier interlining announcement in October 2010, WestJet and American Airlines have announced a new code share agreement between the two airlines. The agreement will allow each airline to place their codes on the other airlines flights. At this point this means American customers will be able to connect to up to 20 cities in Canada that AA or American Eagle does not serve while WestJet customers will be able to fly on WestJet coded American Airlines flights from Canada to Boston and Chicago. Future arrangements should see the WestJet place their codes on American flights to more cities.
For our readers, the biggest perk here is the reciprocal frequent flyer benefits in the agreement. This means members of either airlines frequent flyer programs will be able to earn AAdvantage miles or WestJet dollars on the code share flights. What is unknown at this time is whether you have to fly a connecting flight on your actual airline to earn miles/dollars or if you will be able to earn those miles for the code share flight only. In most other agreements as long as the flight has your main airline's code then you get the miles/dollars but on some occasions some programs have made it more restrictive that you have to connect to/from a flight flown with your airlines own metal. Hopefully that will not be the case here as they may attract a few more business customers to the WestJet frequent guest program primarily out east with the numerous flights that AA has from Eastern Canada to Boston and Chicago.
Source: WestJet
Following an earlier interlining announcement in October 2010, WestJet and American Airlines have announced a new code share agreement between the two airlines. The agreement will allow each airline to place their codes on the other airlines flights. At this point this means American customers will be able to connect to up to 20 cities in Canada that AA or American Eagle does not serve while WestJet customers will be able to fly on WestJet coded American Airlines flights from Canada to Boston and Chicago. Future arrangements should see the WestJet place their codes on American flights to more cities.
For our readers, the biggest perk here is the reciprocal frequent flyer benefits in the agreement. This means members of either airlines frequent flyer programs will be able to earn AAdvantage miles or WestJet dollars on the code share flights. What is unknown at this time is whether you have to fly a connecting flight on your actual airline to earn miles/dollars or if you will be able to earn those miles for the code share flight only. In most other agreements as long as the flight has your main airline's code then you get the miles/dollars but on some occasions some programs have made it more restrictive that you have to connect to/from a flight flown with your airlines own metal. Hopefully that will not be the case here as they may attract a few more business customers to the WestJet frequent guest program primarily out east with the numerous flights that AA has from Eastern Canada to Boston and Chicago.
Source: WestJet
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
One Day Only: Save 20% on AC flights from Calgary to Asia
Straight from Air Canada:
To get your exclusive discount, simply enter this promotion code when booking right here at aircanada.com:
Visit Air Canada to book.
Calgary special discount code.
Save 20 % on Tango Plus fares from Calgary to Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo.To get your exclusive discount, simply enter this promotion code when booking right here at aircanada.com:
Promotion code
XNA96K81
- Book by February 23, 2011, midnight, from city of departure.
- Valid for departures from February 23 to May 31, 2011.
- All travel must be completed by May 31, 2011.
- Valid only on Air Canada operated flights (codeshare flights are excluded).
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Earn bonus Aeroplan miles on select Air Canada flights out of Calgary
On January 26th Air Canada launched their latest Aeroplan flight bonus promotion and we Calgarians can take advantage of all of the offers if you connect to other AC flights. In this post however I only wanted to highlight the direct routes out of YYC that you can earn the bonus Aeroplan miles on:
Calgary - Vancouver
Earn Double Aeroplan Miles for every eligible round trip, or two one-way flight segments, on scheduled flights operated by Air Canada and Jazz
Calgary - Tokyo
7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you complete two eligible round trips, or four one-way flight segments, on the scheduled flights operated by Air Canada. Plus, you earn an extra 7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for every additional eligible round trip or two one-way flight segments
Calgary - London/Frankfurt
5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you complete two eligible round trips, or four one-way flight segments, on scheduled flights operated by Air Canada. Plus, you earn an extra 5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for every additional eligible round trip or two one-way flight segments.
All of the offers run until April 30, 2011 and require registration prior to flying. For full details and registration links for all of the Aeroplan flight offers please visit Rewards Canada's Aeroplan page
Calgary - Vancouver
Earn Double Aeroplan Miles for every eligible round trip, or two one-way flight segments, on scheduled flights operated by Air Canada and Jazz
Calgary - Tokyo
7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you complete two eligible round trips, or four one-way flight segments, on the scheduled flights operated by Air Canada. Plus, you earn an extra 7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for every additional eligible round trip or two one-way flight segments
Calgary - London/Frankfurt
5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you complete two eligible round trips, or four one-way flight segments, on scheduled flights operated by Air Canada. Plus, you earn an extra 5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for every additional eligible round trip or two one-way flight segments.
All of the offers run until April 30, 2011 and require registration prior to flying. For full details and registration links for all of the Aeroplan flight offers please visit Rewards Canada's Aeroplan page
Friday, February 11, 2011
Lufthansa Summer 2011 schedule for YYC
Lufthansa will be decreasing capacity on its YYC-FRA route for summer 2011 in comparison to summer 2010. The flight will be reduced to 6x weekly service although this is an increase from the 5x weekly for the current winter season.Luf
Source: Airline Route Updates
Source: Airline Route Updates
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
I Fly Calgary to Kahului, Maui: 'The Three Amigos'
Wow, I can't believe it has been well over a year since I wrote my last I Fly Calgary trip report. In fact I haven't been posting as much as I would like to in general on I Fly Calgary as the travel rewards and oil & gas industries have been keeping me very busy. I am going to make a conscious effort to try to do more on I Fly Calgary even though 2011 is shaping up to be even busier then 2010.
For the third year in a row my family has decided to vacation on the beautiful beaches of Maui. Each year we have added one more day to vacation and this year was no exception. The biggest difference this year is that we got both the outbound and inbound flights on Air Canada's direct non-stop flights between YYC and OGG. 2010 saw us go via Vancouver on WestJet to Maui but we did grab the AC direct flight back. For our family of four (kids 7 and 5), getting non-stop flights is typically a priority even though connecting flights can mean more elite qualifying miles and segments (I should try to practice what I preach) and the lack of a new interior with IFE due to AC's use of 'The Three Amigos' on the route
If you are wondering what 'the Three Amigos' are, they are three Boeing 767-300s that Air Canada acquired and did not refurbish the interiors during their XM project that saw new interiors and seat back IFE installed on almost all of the AC fleet. 'The Three Amigos' moniker seems to stem from one of the planes originally being built for Spanair (Fin 687)
As we awaited my family and I prayed to the substitution gods that one we would some how luck out and have one of the XMed 767 subbed in for our flight. As we board the aircraft luck would not be on our side, I see the old school business class seats and know we have one of 'The Three Amigos' The flight out to OGG left YYC pretty much on time with the wheels leaving the ground 15 minutes after the posted departure time and arriving at the gate in OGG six hours and thirty six minutes later. The flight was uneventful with very little turbulence although it was quite cool to see another AC' 767 from YVR heading to Honolulu fly up to us, make a bit of a right turn and stay just ahead and a little below our aircraft for most of the route. Entertainment wise we had Flight Attendants apologizing for someone forgetting to load new movies onto to plane for the overhead projection system, so we were stuck watching 'One Fine Day' and 'The Matrix'. Overall service was good throughout the flight from the cabin crew, and is consistent with what I have experienced from AC over the past year.
Once on the island, we hopped into our minivan from Budget (my parents came along this year so we needed a vehicle my family loves to hate) and drove the forty minutes to the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas. The Ocean Resort Villas are great for families as you have an awesome hotel resort style complex with condo type rooms that have kitchens and a washer/dryer. As much as I would like to book the resort through Starwood to earn Starpoints and get a commission, you just can't get rates as good as the third party booking company we used called Maui Hawaii Vacations. If you choose to use them be sure to ask for Naomi if you book by phone.
Fast forward 9 days and a great vacation that included Snorkeling, Whale Watching, tons of food, pool and beach time was over. After dropping our rental off we get to AC's check in counters around 5:30pm (departure is 7:55pm) with a small line up ahead of us. Check in was almost a breeze except for one of our bags being 4lbs overweight, blame it on all the Honolulu Cookie Co. cookies and Maui Jelly Factory Jellies and Jams (oh and one mustard). Luckily we had enough room in our carry on luggage to move 4lbs out. The check-in agent said that normally he would let it go but they were being audited so he had to comply with AC's rules. Once again, we were blessed with one of 'The Three Amigos' for our flight home. This time the flight home was quite rough turbulence wise for a good portion of the flight that delayed the just about to start in-flight service for well over an hour. This meant that the hot items from the buy-on-board service were free as they sat in the ovens for the period of turbulence. This time for entertainment they had one new movie 'Life as We Know It' and once again 'The Matrix'. The flight arrived into Calgary 10 minutes late but with no other flights arriving from the U.S. or elsewhere at 5am customs was a breeze and we didn't have to wait too long to get our luggage.
Overall, the trip was great, the flights were good and once again YYC served me well. I have flown AC quite a bit over the past year and have no complaints as I like their service, and their planes (even 'The Three Amigos'). I look forward to my next flight out of YYC and telling you about it. Until then, its Adios Amigos!
For the third year in a row my family has decided to vacation on the beautiful beaches of Maui. Each year we have added one more day to vacation and this year was no exception. The biggest difference this year is that we got both the outbound and inbound flights on Air Canada's direct non-stop flights between YYC and OGG. 2010 saw us go via Vancouver on WestJet to Maui but we did grab the AC direct flight back. For our family of four (kids 7 and 5), getting non-stop flights is typically a priority even though connecting flights can mean more elite qualifying miles and segments (I should try to practice what I preach) and the lack of a new interior with IFE due to AC's use of 'The Three Amigos' on the route
If you are wondering what 'the Three Amigos' are, they are three Boeing 767-300s that Air Canada acquired and did not refurbish the interiors during their XM project that saw new interiors and seat back IFE installed on almost all of the AC fleet. 'The Three Amigos' moniker seems to stem from one of the planes originally being built for Spanair (Fin 687)
 |
| On our way to OGG! |
Once on the island, we hopped into our minivan from Budget (my parents came along this year so we needed a vehicle my family loves to hate) and drove the forty minutes to the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas. The Ocean Resort Villas are great for families as you have an awesome hotel resort style complex with condo type rooms that have kitchens and a washer/dryer. As much as I would like to book the resort through Starwood to earn Starpoints and get a commission, you just can't get rates as good as the third party booking company we used called Maui Hawaii Vacations. If you choose to use them be sure to ask for Naomi if you book by phone.
Fast forward 9 days and a great vacation that included Snorkeling, Whale Watching, tons of food, pool and beach time was over. After dropping our rental off we get to AC's check in counters around 5:30pm (departure is 7:55pm) with a small line up ahead of us. Check in was almost a breeze except for one of our bags being 4lbs overweight, blame it on all the Honolulu Cookie Co. cookies and Maui Jelly Factory Jellies and Jams (oh and one mustard). Luckily we had enough room in our carry on luggage to move 4lbs out. The check-in agent said that normally he would let it go but they were being audited so he had to comply with AC's rules. Once again, we were blessed with one of 'The Three Amigos' for our flight home. This time the flight home was quite rough turbulence wise for a good portion of the flight that delayed the just about to start in-flight service for well over an hour. This meant that the hot items from the buy-on-board service were free as they sat in the ovens for the period of turbulence. This time for entertainment they had one new movie 'Life as We Know It' and once again 'The Matrix'. The flight arrived into Calgary 10 minutes late but with no other flights arriving from the U.S. or elsewhere at 5am customs was a breeze and we didn't have to wait too long to get our luggage.
Overall, the trip was great, the flights were good and once again YYC served me well. I have flown AC quite a bit over the past year and have no complaints as I like their service, and their planes (even 'The Three Amigos'). I look forward to my next flight out of YYC and telling you about it. Until then, its Adios Amigos!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
WestJet and Delta ink interline agreement
WestJet announced yesterday that they have signed an interline agreement with Atlanta based Delta Airlines. The agreement went into effect immediately allowing WestJet and Delta customers to purchase connecting flights on one ticket, receive boarding passes for all segments at their first check-in, and tag bags through to their final destination. Currently it will allow connections between WestJet and Delta in over 25 cities in Canada and the U.S.. At the moment passengers must book via Delta booking channels to get the interline flights on both airlines.
This move makes a lot of sense for WestJet even though they already have an agreement in place with American Airlines. Why? As we have stated in the past Delta serves the most cities in Canada after Air Canada and WestJet and Delta's SkyTeam alliance is the second largest alliance in Canada after Star Alliance (solely because of Air Canada) The majority of the Canadian cities covered by Delta are served by WestJet as well, more so then American Airlines and allows for many more connections to be made across Canada rather then only 4 or 5 major cities.
Source: WestJet Press Release
This move makes a lot of sense for WestJet even though they already have an agreement in place with American Airlines. Why? As we have stated in the past Delta serves the most cities in Canada after Air Canada and WestJet and Delta's SkyTeam alliance is the second largest alliance in Canada after Star Alliance (solely because of Air Canada) The majority of the Canadian cities covered by Delta are served by WestJet as well, more so then American Airlines and allows for many more connections to be made across Canada rather then only 4 or 5 major cities.
Source: WestJet Press Release
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Air Canada increases Calgary-Tokyo flights, plans year round service
Air Canada has announced that they will be increasing service on the non-stop Calgary-Tokyo route to 5x weekly as of March 26. There are also plans to make the route operate year round subject to approvals in Japan. According to Air Canada the demand has been strong for business and leisure travelers as well as for cargo. The flights will continue to be operated with a Boeing 767-300ER.
Source: Air Canada
Source: Air Canada
WestJet adds Orange County flights from Calgary
WestJet announced today that they will offer direct non-stop flights between Calgary and Orange County, California. The summer seasonal service will be daily and is slated to start on June 13. WestJet will also be offering flights to Orange County from Vancouver. For those who are not aware, Orange County's John Wayne Airport is close to Anaheim (Disneyland), Knots Berry Farm and the beach cities of Southern California.
Flight timings
Calgary-Orange County Dep 930 Arr 1149
Orange County-Calgary Dep 1230 Arr 1635
Source: WestJet
Flight timings
Calgary-Orange County Dep 930 Arr 1149
Orange County-Calgary Dep 1230 Arr 1635
Source: WestJet
Friday, January 7, 2011
November Passenger Stats
The positive growth continues at YYC as November 2010 was the best November ever for the airport
Percentage wise, November 2010 was the best month yet this past year for growth over 2009 with an overall increase of 7.8%. Domestic travel saw its best gains to date in 2010 with a 10.2% increase over 2009 while transborder traffic was the only sector that was down albeit only slightly, with a decrease of 0.9%. International traffic growth continued once again in November although unlike the previous six months it was only single digit growth at 8.1%. Overall, 963,943 passengers used the airport in November.
November 2010
Domestic: 697,271
Transborder: 183,051
International: 83,621
Source: YYC.com
Percentage wise, November 2010 was the best month yet this past year for growth over 2009 with an overall increase of 7.8%. Domestic travel saw its best gains to date in 2010 with a 10.2% increase over 2009 while transborder traffic was the only sector that was down albeit only slightly, with a decrease of 0.9%. International traffic growth continued once again in November although unlike the previous six months it was only single digit growth at 8.1%. Overall, 963,943 passengers used the airport in November.
November 2010
Domestic: 697,271
Transborder: 183,051
International: 83,621
Source: YYC.com
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