Earn up to 105,000+ Bonus BA Miles between YYC and LHR (or beyond)

British Airways is running a new promo for their Executive Club members in North America which of course includes us here in YYC. The offer although limited to Full Fare tickets is definitely worth taking advantage of you or your employer buys these type of fares. The offer is as follows (as taken from my Rewards Canada site)

British Airways Executive Club
Earn up to 105,000 (and more) Bonus Avios Points/BA Miles when you fly on a full-fare, transatlantic round-trip ticket for travel beginning and ending in North America. Valid for flights that are operated and/or marketed by American Airlines, British Airways or Iberia Airlines in the following booking classes: First (booking classes F, A), Business Class (booking classes J, C, D, R, I) World Traveller Plus Premium Economy (booking classes W, E, T) and Economy (booking classes Y, B, H)
- 25,000 bonus Avios points/BA Miles for first round-trip purchased and flown as an Executive Club member in a qualifying full-fare
- 35,000 bonus Avios points/BA Miles for second round-trip purchased and flown as an Executive Club member in a qualifying full-fare
- 45,000 bonus Avios points/BA Miles for third (and each additional) round-trip purchased and flown as an Executive Club member in a qualifying full-fare
Full Details, Online Registration & Booking (Registration is required) Until Dec 31, 11
Restrictions
Valid for residents of U.S. and Canada only

WestJet and El Al sign interline agreement

On September 12th WestJet signed an interline agreement with Israel's El Al Airlines. The agreement will allow consumers to purchase one ticket for flights from Israel to Toronto on El Al and connect to WestJet flights within Canada (including Calgary of course) and to Florida and the Caribbean.

To celebrate El Al Matmid Club members can earn 20% bonus Matmid points on the WestJet portion of their flights during the month of December.

Source: Shalom Life

July 2011 Passenger Statistics

The slight increase in passenger growth seen at YYC in June has been negated with a decrease in July traffic when compared to 2010. Overall July 2011 saw a decrease of 0.9% from the same month last year.

Broken down domestic and International traffic were the sectors driving the decrease with a drop of 0.8% and 7.4% respectively while Transborder traffic increased by 2.9%. This has been a tough year for international numbers at YYC with the year to date numbers running 1.4% below 2010 and the huge drop in July is surprising given that it is summer holidays and the Stampede was taking place.

July 2011
Domestic: 869,246
Transborder: 221,480
International: 118,164

Source: YYC.com

Air Canada reducing some capacity out of YYC

First off let me apologize to the readers of this blog, it has been over a month since I posted anything. A busy work schedule has kept me away from this 'fun blog' of mine as my focus has been on all my Loyalty sites and consulting. This does not mean that I have forgotten about Iflycalgary or YYC in general. My love of travel and passion for flying out of YYC has not diminished and I know I am not the only one. In fact, I would recommend visiting the "Calgary International Airport" thread over on Skyscraper pages. the news in that thread is as current as it can get because you have a group of guys (and probably some girls) who are just as passionate or more passionate then I am about YYC. I really should just stop lurking there and start to participate in the dialogue. In fact, today's news comes from one of the posters in that thread:

Although not huge, "Johnny Aussie" posted that Air Canada is cutting flights to London, ON and San Francisco plus there are are reductions to Saskatoon and Castlegar. Saskatoon is going to 6 flights per day from 7 and Castlegar is losing service on weekends (weekday flights remain). According to the post Air Canada has dropped 17 frequencies per week out of YYC for this upcoming winter season compared to last winter.

KLM 5 Day Sale

KLM is offering some pretty decent fares out of Calgary with their current 5 day KLM Flash Fare sale:

Copenhagen from $ 895
Istanbul from $ 895
Moscow from $ 895
Warsaw from $ 895
Berlin from $ 995
Munich from $ 995

Book online at KLM.com

All fares departing from Calgary,  incl. taxes and surcharges. Book by August 16, 2011. Travel from September 11 to December 10, 2011. 1 free stop over in Amsterdam. Weekend departure, add $30 each way.

June 2011 Passenger Statistics

The passenger growth seen at YYC over the past few months nearly came to an end in June with only a slight increase in traffic over 2010. Overall June saw an increase of 0.2% over the same month last year.

Broken down domestic and transborder traffic were the only sectors to see increases of 0.4% and 1.2% respectively while International traffic dropped by 2.9%.

June  2011
Domestic: 775,621
Transborder: 188,736
International: 104,303

Source: YYC.com

KLM set to increase flights between YYC & AMS for Summer 2012

KLM has updated their summer 2012 schedule (per Airline Route Updates) and it looks like KLM is inching its way closer to daily service on the Calgary-Amsterdam route as the schedule shows service 6 times weekly up from 5 seen this summer. The extra flight takes effect on July 6, 2012. The schedule also shows that the service reverts back to an A330-200 which replaces the MD-11 being used currently. Please note that this increased service may change seeing that it is nearly a year away and is definitely not set in stone (KLM has done this in previous years)

WestJet Winter Schedule Update for YYC

I am a little late with this news but I guess its better late than never. WestJet released their winter schedule changes for the 2011/12 season which includes a new city to their roster, San Juan Puerto Rico, however the service is from Toronto not Calgary. Anyways per Airline Route Updates here are the new routes or changes for WestJet's winter flying schedule out of Calgary:

Calgary – Cancun Increase from 6 weekly in W10 to 8 weekly in W11
Calgary – Las Vegas Increase from 14 to 17 weekly
Calgary – Palm Springs Increase from 9 to 14 weekly
Calgary – Phoenix Increase from 14 to 16 weekly
Calgary – Puerto Vallarta Increase from 5 to 7 weekly
Calgary – San Diego Increase from 3 weekly to 4 weekly (Winter operation changes)
Calgary – San Jose/Los Cabos Increase from 4 to 5 weekly
Calgary – Montego Bay Canceled
Calgary – Montreal Winter service increase from 1 to 2 Daily

American expands codeshares on WestJet flights out of YYC

This month American AAdvantage added their flight numbers on the following WestJet routes out of Calgary:
Calgary-Los Angeles
Calgary-Saskatoon
Calgary-Victoria

Source: Airline Route Updates

May 2011 Passenger Statistics

YYC continued to see improved passenger numbers in May 2011 albeit not with not as great of growth as seen in April. Overall May saw increase of 1.6% over the same month last year.

All three sectors saw growth over 2010 with domestic traffic growing by 1.6%, transborder by 0.9% and International by 2.4%.

May  2011
Domestic: 747,609
Transborder: 2196,644
International: 103,356

Source: YYC.com

Air Canada cutting Calgary-Punta Cana but Thomas Cook is adding it

From Airline Route Updates, it appears that Air Canada's winter service to Punta Cana is being canceled. According to this post on SSP, Thomas Cook Canada (operated by Jazz) will introduce the route for the upcoming winter season. Thomas Cook is also adding service between Calgary and Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Molson Brewhouse opens at Calgary International

Just caught this on the YYC website as I have not been in Concourse D for a little while. Looks like we have another option for food/drinks when past security with the opening of the Molson Brewhouse. Apparently the place will showcase Molson's beers (but of course!) and feature pub favorites such as Beer Battered Fish n’ Chips, Mac n’ Cheese Dark, and Sausage with Peppers & Onions. It looks like it is also open for breakfast according to the press release.

If any of our readers have tried it out please feel free to comment below on the food, drinks and service!

Source: YYC