At the end of February Air Canada announced that the non-stop Calgary to Tokyo service that has operated for the two Summer seasons will be moving to a year round service. As mentioned before the flight will operate 5 times weekly in the Summer and when it continues in the Winter season it will be reduced to 3 flights per week.
Source: Air Canada
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Emirates/Alaska codeshare. Another option for YYC-Dubai and beyond
Emirates, the (in)famous airline from Dubai will be starting service between Seattle and Dubai in March and while that news does not directly impact Calgary, their recent announcement of becoming a codeshare partner with Alaska Airlines does. Why does it? Well Emirates will be codesharing on Alaska Airlines flights between Calgary and Seattle for the connecting flight to Dubai. This means more competition for the all the Oil & Gas Travel to the Middle East. While British Airways and KLM attempt to take some of this business away from the stranglehold Air Canada/Lufthansa have for this traffic, this new option is extremely viable and with the right amount of marketing could change some YYCer's habit for flying to the Middle East. Emirates is aware of this and is making sure to price the flights competitively and here is a comparison of total all in pricing between YYC and DXB for a March 13th departure with a return on March 20th
Air Canada
Lowest price is $1611.37 in Tango (not Tango Plus) with connections in Toronto and Frankfurt; on the way back stops are in Frankfurt and Montreal. One stop flights via Frankfurt price out at $1810.85
Business Class: $8852.85 with stops in Frankfurt each way
KLM
Lowest price is $1620.87 with a stop in Amsterdam on the way out and Amsterdam/Vancouver on the way back.
Business Class: $8975.87 with stops in Amsterdam each way
British Airways
Lowest price is $1500.29 with a stop in London both ways.
Business Class: $8740.86 with a stop in London on the way out but a painful London and Dallas routing on the way back
and finally Emirates
Lowest price is $1257.30 with the stop in Seattle both ways.
Business Class: $9209.99 with the stop in Seattle both ways.
As you can see, EK is offering great pricing in Economy class however not as great business class pricing although some flyers would argue their business class trumps the other three airlines business classes and is worth the extra money whereas some other wouldn't. Also one thing to note is that I checked pricing for the first month of service where EK is trying to stimulate demand and will go up if the route proves popular. I will definitely check the pricing now and again to see if this holds true. One other thing that may make people avoid EK is that you have to clear U.S. customs to connect via Seattle and some may not want this extra hassle.
Emirates is also offering a Skywards Miles Accelerator bonus for the month of March between SEA and DXB, so for Economy you would earn a total of 21,000 Skywards miles between YYC and DXB or 73,500 Miles for Business Class.
They also offer a first class cabin (Private Suites) for the SEA-DXB route. Unfortunately there is no First or Business Class cabin on the Alaska Airlines portion between YYC-SEA. For more information on Emirates flights or to book visit them at Emirates.com
Air Canada
Lowest price is $1611.37 in Tango (not Tango Plus) with connections in Toronto and Frankfurt; on the way back stops are in Frankfurt and Montreal. One stop flights via Frankfurt price out at $1810.85
Business Class: $8852.85 with stops in Frankfurt each way
KLM
Lowest price is $1620.87 with a stop in Amsterdam on the way out and Amsterdam/Vancouver on the way back.
Business Class: $8975.87 with stops in Amsterdam each way
British Airways
Lowest price is $1500.29 with a stop in London both ways.
Business Class: $8740.86 with a stop in London on the way out but a painful London and Dallas routing on the way back
and finally Emirates
Lowest price is $1257.30 with the stop in Seattle both ways.
Business Class: $9209.99 with the stop in Seattle both ways.
As you can see, EK is offering great pricing in Economy class however not as great business class pricing although some flyers would argue their business class trumps the other three airlines business classes and is worth the extra money whereas some other wouldn't. Also one thing to note is that I checked pricing for the first month of service where EK is trying to stimulate demand and will go up if the route proves popular. I will definitely check the pricing now and again to see if this holds true. One other thing that may make people avoid EK is that you have to clear U.S. customs to connect via Seattle and some may not want this extra hassle.
Emirates is also offering a Skywards Miles Accelerator bonus for the month of March between SEA and DXB, so for Economy you would earn a total of 21,000 Skywards miles between YYC and DXB or 73,500 Miles for Business Class.
They also offer a first class cabin (Private Suites) for the SEA-DXB route. Unfortunately there is no First or Business Class cabin on the Alaska Airlines portion between YYC-SEA. For more information on Emirates flights or to book visit them at Emirates.com
Friday, February 24, 2012
WestJet to start Calgary-Chicago service
As was mentioned by our reader BigTime in the comments of American Airlines dropping YYC-ORD service, WestJet will be picking up the route this May when they officially service between Calgary and Chicago.
The daily service will operate as follows (thanks to Airline Route Updates):
Calgary – Chicago O’Hare
WS1646 YYC1600 – 2015ORD 73W D
WS1523 ORD1830 – 2115YYC 73W D
Naturally, I would assume that American Airlines will codeshare on the route for seem-less connections out of their Chicago hub.
The daily service will operate as follows (thanks to Airline Route Updates):
Calgary – Chicago O’Hare
WS1646 YYC1600 – 2015ORD 73W D
WS1523 ORD1830 – 2115YYC 73W D
Naturally, I would assume that American Airlines will codeshare on the route for seem-less connections out of their Chicago hub.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
KLM Official Press Release for YYC Daily Service
Although most of us have known about this since early December or so, KLM sent out an official release announcing the YYC daily service:
KLM INCREASES ITS CALGARY-AMSTERDAM SERVICE TO A DAILY FLIGHT
Montréal, February 22, 2012 – KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has announced it will expand its presence on the Calgary-Amsterdam route by offering a daily flight as of June 6, increasing its seat offer by 24 % over the previous summer.
Flights will be operated with an Airbus A 330-200 aircraft offering a total capacity of 243 seats: 213 in Economy Class and 30 in World Business Class.
After a 13-year absence from Alberta, the airline reopened the route on May 3, 2009 amidst the economic crisis. ‘We are pleased with our gradual increase in seat capacity strategy which now allows us to schedule a daily flight this summer. This confirms the destination’s potential and enables us to provide even more travel options between Western Canada and Amsterdam and then on to our worldwide network’, commented Fabien Pelous, Vice President and General Manager AIR FRANCE KLM Canada.
“We are thrilled that KLM will be increasing frequency of their non-stop service to Amsterdam out of YYC,” said Stephan Poirier, Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer for The Calgary Airport Authority. “Amsterdam is an important hub for business and leisure travelers and offers passengers extensive connections to the globe. KLM’s daily service expands our already extensive network of destinations, making YYC the gateway of choice for passengers.”
"KLM’s decision to increase flights to daily service this summer is great news for Alberta's tourism industry and for potential visitors from important markets across Europe," said Jack Hayden, Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation. "Added flights reflect the growing popularity of Alberta as a destination of choice for European vacationers. This demonstrates that the partnership between KLM, Travel Alberta, WestJet, Calgary International Airport and industry partners is producing positive results, and helping to expand tourism in Alberta," he said.
KLM’s 2012 summer program between Calgary and Amsterdam(Local times)
KLM INCREASES ITS CALGARY-AMSTERDAM SERVICE TO A DAILY FLIGHT
Montréal, February 22, 2012 – KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has announced it will expand its presence on the Calgary-Amsterdam route by offering a daily flight as of June 6, increasing its seat offer by 24 % over the previous summer.
Flights will be operated with an Airbus A 330-200 aircraft offering a total capacity of 243 seats: 213 in Economy Class and 30 in World Business Class.
After a 13-year absence from Alberta, the airline reopened the route on May 3, 2009 amidst the economic crisis. ‘We are pleased with our gradual increase in seat capacity strategy which now allows us to schedule a daily flight this summer. This confirms the destination’s potential and enables us to provide even more travel options between Western Canada and Amsterdam and then on to our worldwide network’, commented Fabien Pelous, Vice President and General Manager AIR FRANCE KLM Canada.
“We are thrilled that KLM will be increasing frequency of their non-stop service to Amsterdam out of YYC,” said Stephan Poirier, Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer for The Calgary Airport Authority. “Amsterdam is an important hub for business and leisure travelers and offers passengers extensive connections to the globe. KLM’s daily service expands our already extensive network of destinations, making YYC the gateway of choice for passengers.”
"KLM’s decision to increase flights to daily service this summer is great news for Alberta's tourism industry and for potential visitors from important markets across Europe," said Jack Hayden, Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation. "Added flights reflect the growing popularity of Alberta as a destination of choice for European vacationers. This demonstrates that the partnership between KLM, Travel Alberta, WestJet, Calgary International Airport and industry partners is producing positive results, and helping to expand tourism in Alberta," he said.
KLM’s 2012 summer program between Calgary and Amsterdam(Local times)
From | To | Flight | Departure YYC | Arrival AMS | Aircraft | Operating | Flight | Departure AMS | Arrival YYC |
March 25 | April 29 | KL 678 | 15:20 | 08:15 + 1 | A 330-200 | Daily ex. Mon. & Wed. | KL 677 | 12:30 | 13:30 |
April 30 | June 5 | KL 678 | 15:20 | 08:15 + 1 | A 330-200 | Daily ex. Wednesday | KL 677 | 12:30 | 13:30 |
June 6 | October 28 | KL 678 | 15:20 | 08:15 + 1 | A 330-200 | DAILY | KL 677 | 12:30 | 13:30 |
KLM in Canada
KLM is part of the AIR FRANCE KLM Group and the SkyTeam Alliance. This summer the airline offers daily flights to Amsterdam from Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto - double daily -, for a total of 35 flights per week. A KLM coach also connects passengers from Ottawa to Montreal-Trudeau. KLM’s codeshare with WestJet ensures connectivity to 10 additional Canadian cities: Kelowna, Prince George, Comox, Abbotsford, Victoria, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Regina and Halifax. -30 -
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Delta / WestJet launch codeshare routes
Once again it has been awhile since I posted on IFlyCalgary, in fact most of my work was on hiatus due to a family emergency in mid January and then when everything was better a nice vacation to Maui from Jan 23 to Feb 1. I will try to catch up on what is probably old news for all of our readers but feel I should post it anyways. The first news is the Delta/WestJet codeshare launch which I believe has expanded even further than the list below. The good news about this codeshare agreement is that it seems to be the first where you can earn WestJet Dollars on an airline other than WestJet (as long as it is booked through WestJet and carries a WS flight #)
These are the following routes that Delta started codesharing on WestJet when this launched on January 23:
Calgary – Kelonwa
Calgary – Las Vegas
Calgary – Regina
Calgary – Saskatoon
Calgary – Vancouver
Calgary – Victoria
Calgary – Winnipeg
Source: Airline Route Updates
These are the following routes that Delta started codesharing on WestJet when this launched on January 23:
Calgary – Kelonwa
Calgary – Las Vegas
Calgary – Regina
Calgary – Saskatoon
Calgary – Vancouver
Calgary – Victoria
Calgary – Winnipeg
Source: Airline Route Updates
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Alaska Airlines Redemption Sale: Save over 30% Mileage Plan miles on YYC-SEA
Alaska Airlines is running a Winter Award sale for their Mileage Plan program and the sale includes their flights between Calgary and Seattle. Each one-way award ticket can be had for 8,700 Mileage Plan Miles (regular is 12,500) and must be booked by January 10th for travel until Mar 7.
More details can be found here.
More details can be found here.
American Airline cancels Calgary - Chicago service
As of January 30th American Airlines will discontinue their service between Calgary and Chicago. Over the last few years this service has come and gone and now it is leaving YYC again. American will still serve Calgary from their Dallas Ft. Worth hub.
Source: Airline Route Updates
Source: Airline Route Updates
Monday, December 5, 2011
KLM increases Amsterdam flights to daily service for Summer 2012
According to our usual source Airline Route Updates, KLM will finally serve Calgary on a daily basis starting in June 2012. The increased schedule will take effect on June 2, 2012 and is a further enhancement to the previously announced increase to 6x flights per week for the Summer 2012 season.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Air Canada increasing Calgary-Tokyo service
OK, I admit, once again I am late with this news, I bookmarked it on November 10th to post here as soon as I could and somehow I missed posting it. Well, anyways here is the good news:
Air Canada will be increasing their summer service between Calgary and Tokyo to 5 flights per week in 2012 and they continue to state that they are working on getting the approvals to make the service year round.
The Calgary-Tokyo flights will operate on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, departing Calgary at 12:45 p.m. and arriving in Tokyo the following day at 2:25 p.m. Flights will depart Tokyo on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays at 4:00 p.m., arriving Calgary same day at 10:40 a.m.
Soruce: Air Canada
Air Canada will be increasing their summer service between Calgary and Tokyo to 5 flights per week in 2012 and they continue to state that they are working on getting the approvals to make the service year round.
The Calgary-Tokyo flights will operate on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, departing Calgary at 12:45 p.m. and arriving in Tokyo the following day at 2:25 p.m. Flights will depart Tokyo on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays at 4:00 p.m., arriving Calgary same day at 10:40 a.m.
Soruce: Air Canada
Monday, November 21, 2011
August & September Passenger Statistics (and updated July stats)
Once again playing catch up on YYC news, this time on the passenger statistics front. I have not updated these since YYC posted the July stats and now they have the August, September and revised July numbers out.
First lets revisit July, when I originally posted the stats as released by YYC the overall numbers were lower then 2010, but the revised numbers show July 2011 growing by 1.1% over July 2010 to 1,232,978. Broken down the numbers look like this
July 2011
Domestic 894,422
Transborder 217,651
International 120,905
The positive growth in the overall passenger numbers continued in August and September with growth at 2.7% and 1.8% respectively. In total, August saw 1,247,359 passengers while 1,071,835 people passed through the airport in September.
August 2011
Domestic 913,177
Transborder 219,000
International 115,182
September 2011
Domestic 777,108
Transborder 191,168
International 103,559
In the above numbers both Domestic and Transborder saw positive gains over 2010 while International continued into its four month of negative numbers.
Source: YYC.com
First lets revisit July, when I originally posted the stats as released by YYC the overall numbers were lower then 2010, but the revised numbers show July 2011 growing by 1.1% over July 2010 to 1,232,978. Broken down the numbers look like this
July 2011
Domestic 894,422
Transborder 217,651
International 120,905
The positive growth in the overall passenger numbers continued in August and September with growth at 2.7% and 1.8% respectively. In total, August saw 1,247,359 passengers while 1,071,835 people passed through the airport in September.
August 2011
Domestic 913,177
Transborder 219,000
International 115,182
September 2011
Domestic 777,108
Transborder 191,168
International 103,559
In the above numbers both Domestic and Transborder saw positive gains over 2010 while International continued into its four month of negative numbers.
Source: YYC.com
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Aeroplan Fall Flight Bonus Mile Offers
I posted the British Airways promo awhile back and Air Canada has matched the London offering from BA (and AA, CO, UA, AFKLM, DL etc.) but Air Canada also has some other flight promotions for this fall season. All offers run until Dec 15:
Earn up to 105,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles in Executive First® (Lowest and Flexible fare options) or in Economy Class (Latitude fare option), on scheduled non-stop flights operated by Air Canada between Canada and London, England.
- 1st round-trip = 25,000 bonus miles
- 2nd round-trip = 35,000 bonus miles
- 3rd round-trip = 45,000 bonus miles
Register online (Registration is required)
5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for every eligible round-trip, or two one-way flight segments in Economy Class (Tango Plus fare option), on scheduled non-stop flights operated by Air Canada between Canada and London, England. Register online (Registration is required)
Double Aeroplan Miles for every eligible round-trip, or two one-way flight segments in Executive Class, on eligible scheduled non-stop flights operated by Air Canada between Canada and Florida, Las Vegas, Phoenix or the Caribbean Register online (Registration is required)
7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for every eligible round-trip or two one-way flight segments in Economy Class (Tango Plus fare option), on non-stop flights operated by Air Canada between Toronto or Vancouver and Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai
Register online (Registration is required)
Copied off of my Rewards Canada Aeroplan page
Earn up to 105,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles in Executive First® (Lowest and Flexible fare options) or in Economy Class (Latitude fare option), on scheduled non-stop flights operated by Air Canada between Canada and London, England.
- 1st round-trip = 25,000 bonus miles
- 2nd round-trip = 35,000 bonus miles
- 3rd round-trip = 45,000 bonus miles
Register online (Registration is required)
5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for every eligible round-trip, or two one-way flight segments in Economy Class (Tango Plus fare option), on scheduled non-stop flights operated by Air Canada between Canada and London, England. Register online (Registration is required)
Double Aeroplan Miles for every eligible round-trip, or two one-way flight segments in Executive Class, on eligible scheduled non-stop flights operated by Air Canada between Canada and Florida, Las Vegas, Phoenix or the Caribbean Register online (Registration is required)
7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for every eligible round-trip or two one-way flight segments in Economy Class (Tango Plus fare option), on non-stop flights operated by Air Canada between Toronto or Vancouver and Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai
Register online (Registration is required)
Copied off of my Rewards Canada Aeroplan page
WestJet & Delta apply for codeshare service
Despite being announced before the WS/AA tie up which progressed quickly, the much slower partnership between WestJet and Delta appears to be moving forward now as they have applied to the US DOT to codeshare on many routes to/from Canada. The following routes out of Calgary are included
WestJet operated by DELTA
Minneapolis – Calgary
Salt Lake City – Calgary
DELTA operated by WestJet
Los Angeles – Calgary
Source: Airline Route Updates
WestJet operated by DELTA
Minneapolis – Calgary
Salt Lake City – Calgary
DELTA operated by WestJet
Los Angeles – Calgary
Source: Airline Route Updates
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