Air Canada announced today that they are back serving Hamilton, with two flights per day to Montreal. Certainly a good thing for Hamilton and the somewhat beleaguered airport, especially after New Leaf, the new discount carrier after announcing service seems to have hit a fairly significant bump in the road.
Ottawa would have been nice too, but with basically only service to Frankfurt and London, it doesn't provide the possibilities of flying on to Europe from Montreal. Would a Hamiltonian rather fly from Hamilton to Montreal and then on to Europe or go to Pearson and fly direct? Depends on the person and where they live in Hamilton. If you live on the Mountain and only fifteen minutes away by car, then maybe.
Hopefully the service does well and Air Canada expands to Ottawa eventually as well. That's pretty much all one can hope for in terms of Air Canada at Hamilton airport.
Showing posts with label westjet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label westjet. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Thoughts on Air Canada Rouge Coming to Hamilton Airport
I was pretty surprised that Air Canada's low budget airline Rouge announced that they were offering a new Hamilton to Calgary service. Especially since Air Canada already tried service to Montreal and Ottawa briefly and then pulled out some years ago and that WestJet is already servicing that route year round.
I'm not sure if Air Canada is purposely going after WestJet or not. However one factor is the fact that (and I'm not 100% sure of this) I don't think Air Canada can service the same route with both regular Air Canada planes and with Rouge (which has lower operating costs with cheaper pilots and flight attendants). So Air Canada can't fly with Rouge from Pearson to Calgary, but can from Hamilton since there is no Air Canada plane flying that route. Hamilton airport's costs are cheaper too compared to Pearson. Also one can connect in Calgary to anywhere out in Alberta and BC including Fort McMurray. Between Hamilton and Niagara, that's a big market for those working in the oilsands region who might prefer to not have to go to Pearson.
Potentially Rouge could offer other services from Hamilton, although I'm not sure if Rouge flies any short routes like Montreal or Ottawa would be. Maybe since Rouge offers some flights to Europe, it could offer a flight to London.
I'm skeptical how long this route will last considering how short Air Canada's last tenure was in Hamilton.
I'm not sure if Air Canada is purposely going after WestJet or not. However one factor is the fact that (and I'm not 100% sure of this) I don't think Air Canada can service the same route with both regular Air Canada planes and with Rouge (which has lower operating costs with cheaper pilots and flight attendants). So Air Canada can't fly with Rouge from Pearson to Calgary, but can from Hamilton since there is no Air Canada plane flying that route. Hamilton airport's costs are cheaper too compared to Pearson. Also one can connect in Calgary to anywhere out in Alberta and BC including Fort McMurray. Between Hamilton and Niagara, that's a big market for those working in the oilsands region who might prefer to not have to go to Pearson.
Potentially Rouge could offer other services from Hamilton, although I'm not sure if Rouge flies any short routes like Montreal or Ottawa would be. Maybe since Rouge offers some flights to Europe, it could offer a flight to London.
I'm skeptical how long this route will last considering how short Air Canada's last tenure was in Hamilton.
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