Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF

[ac3r]

It would only be trending if you regularly interact with Kitchener/RoW related Tweets. But that barely counts as trending, that's more the algorithm showing you stuff versus the actual big trends people across North America see. I never see Kitchener trend, but I get a bunch for Star Trek, architecture, art etc since I interact with that stuff. It's a weird way to promote things because you would think oh Kitchener is trending? What happened? But it's just the fact you regularly interact with such things so they show you more of it. So I guess like a "it's sort of trending for you" trend.

[nms]

This Record article  said the following about safety incidents at YKF this year:

The injury reported in the Friday landing is the first at the Breslau airport this year among 128 other safety-related incidents that did not result in anyone getting hurt.

The mostly minor incidents are recorded by Transport Canada in a national database, which covers all operations at the airport including flight schools, commercial flights, and private flights.

Flair Airlines and WestJet have reported a dozen safety-related incidents in 2022 at the Breslau airport.

These incidents included wing flaps not fully extending as a jet from Edmonton tried to land, an overshot runway on first approach before landing safely, and air traffic controllers calling off a homebuilt airplane’s takeoff as a Flair flight from Vancouver was about to land on an intersecting runway.

In the first incident, the unit controlling the wing extension was replaced before the airplane returned to service.

Is 128 safety incidents similar to other airports, correcting for airport capacity, size etc?

[taylortbb]

Is 128 safety incidents similar to other airports, correcting for airport capacity, size etc?

I can't speak specifically to the number, but the example incidents seem pretty minor. Wing flaps not fully extending on approach is a maintenance issue, but there's nothing YKF-specific about it, the airplane hadn't yet landed at YKF when it happened. It's also exactly the sort of thing that will have a back-up procedure. I expect with a major flight school there's lots of minor mistakes by new pilots, every one of which gets recorded for statistical purposes.

Even the runway excursion isn't that rare (Air Canada has had multiple similar incidents in the past several years that I can recall). Though obviously it's much more serious, it could have turned into Air France 358 at YYZ which resulted in a large fire, and 12 serious injuries (though fortunately no deaths).

[panamaniac]

Has anybody heard whether Pivot is still planning to serve Montreal and Ottawa out of YKF? Their pilots came back a couple of months ago (aircraft still held in DR?). Has this perhaps died?

[danbrotherston]

Looks like Flair has cancelled their KW->Montreal route:

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...being.html

[panamaniac]

Looks like Flair has cancelled their KW->Montreal route:

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...being.html

Suspended until the last week of March, it seems.

[Rainrider22]

Outhit likely couldn't wait to do this article. He salivates at any opportunity to run negative stories on the airport. And all he ever does is regurgitate previous stats and lines from his previous articles.. He is a poison pill...

[KevinT]

Catching up on this thread just prompted me to look on Flair's web site for flights to Deer Lake NL. Sadly they're just a summer thing, I was hoping it would make snowboarding at Marble Mountain an easier trip to plan.

In their defence, I'm probably the only person in town considering such a trip. Marble is 2.5 times taller than Blue Mountain, but shorter than Tremblant and with less skiable area than either of them. I do really like the place though...

[plam]

Catching up on this thread just prompted me to look on Flair's web site for flights to Deer Lake NL. Sadly they're just a summer thing, I was hoping it would make snowboarding at Marble Mountain an easier trip to plan. 

In their defence, I'm probably the only person in town considering such a trip. Marble is 2.5 times taller than Blue Mountain, but shorter than Tremblant and with less skiable area than either of them. I do really like the place though...

That's not true! I was just thinking of a Marble Mountain trip for Easter weekend (which is probably the last weekend they'll be open this season), with Gros Morne snowshoeing as a backup plan. I've never been there but would be keen on going. I would fly from YYZ though. I basically will try really hard to avoid flying ULCCs though.

[KevinT]

In their defence, I'm probably the only person in town considering such a trip. Marble is 2.5 times taller than Blue Mountain, but shorter than Tremblant and with less skiable area than either of them. I do really like the place though...

That's not true! I was just thinking of a Marble Mountain trip for Easter weekend (which is probably the last weekend they'll be open this season), with Gros Morne snowshoeing as a backup plan. I've never been there but would be keen on going. I would fly from YYZ though. I basically will try really hard to avoid flying ULCCs though.

Last time I did Air Canada from Pearson to Halifax, then transferred to a turbo prop from Halifax to Deer Lake. It wasn't cheap, and the return flight from Halifax got delayed about 6 hours. That's why I've been jonesing for a cheap non-stop with Flair from KW. I used Flair for Kitchener to Calgary and it worked out mostly alright.

I say mostly because my reservation and online check-in emails both said 15:30 p.m., which my brain saw as 5:30 p.m. and caused me to miss my flight. I arrived at the airport just as they had buttoned up the door, and had to high-tail it to Pearson for a later one-way WestJet flight to arrive that same evening. Oddly enough my return flight was listed in their emails as just 18:15 without a p.m. tacked on, and that flight I caught and enjoyed without issue. Weirdest bug I think I've ever encountered.

I hope you make that trip, Marble Mountain was great!

[plam]

That's not true! I was just thinking of a Marble Mountain trip for Easter weekend (which is probably the last weekend they'll be open this season), with Gros Morne snowshoeing as a backup plan. I've never been there but would be keen on going. I would fly from YYZ though. I basically will try really hard to avoid flying ULCCs though.

Last time I did Air Canada from Pearson to Halifax, then transferred to a turbo prop from Halifax to Deer Lake. It wasn't cheap, and the return flight from Halifax got delayed about 6 hours. That's why I've been jonesing for a cheap non-stop with Flair from KW. I used Flair for Kitchener to Calgary and it worked out mostly alright.

I say mostly because my reservation and online check-in emails both said 15:30 p.m., which my brain saw as 5:30 p.m. and caused me to miss my flight. I arrived at the airport just as they had buttoned up the door, and had to high-tail it to Pearson for a later one-way WestJet flight to arrive that same evening. Oddly enough my return flight was listed in their emails as just 18:15 without a p.m. tacked on, and that flight I caught and enjoyed without issue. Weirdest bug I think I've ever encountered.

I hope you make that trip, Marble Mountain was great!

Yeah I really should do it!

I can see how a nonstop does have less potential for disaster, yep. There is an Air Canada nonstop on April 6 but it's a bit more expensive than the stop in Montreal which is more expensive than the stop in Halifax. But the nonstop gets you there in time to be able to have another half day in Newfoundland, which is also worth something.

15:30pm is just not correct. I actually know someone who did a similar thing with probably Flair from Montreal to Vancouver or Abbotsford a few weeks ago.

[danbrotherston]

At this point, I'm not sure I'd rely on Flair for a trip...they're in the news again for disruptions.

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...spute.html

This does seem strange, I was under the impression that the lessor was the majority shareholder (albeit ostensibly not the controlling shareholder) of the airline. Seems self-defeating to cause major financial losses for the airline. Honestly this whole airline is seeming rather sketchy of late.

[ac3r]

ULCC's seem to all be the same: they pop up, offer cheap flights, start to have problems (usually financial) and then vanish. Another one buys up the aircraft and the cycle repeats.

[SammyOES]

This does seem strange, I was under the impression that the lessor was the majority shareholder (albeit ostensibly not the controlling shareholder) of the airline. Seems self-defeating to cause major financial losses for the airline. Honestly this whole airline is seeming rather sketchy of late.

It's all super complex/confusing financial engineering. But my understanding is that the foreign company (777 Partners) is not the majority shareholder and no longer has a majority of board seats. It was leasing planes to Flair, but it wasn't the only one. These planes were repossessed by Airborne Capital which is (as far as I can tell) a different company. There's a third company mentioned in articles Bank of China Aviation.

There's also been a report that 777 Partners sold 5 new planes that were pained in Flair livery to a leasing company in December. Which would seem to indicate that they were suppose to go to Flair but ultimately didn't.

This all seems sketchy, but it might just be the reality of budget airlines. But the reality is definitely that Flair is on very shaky financial foundations and the airport has to be worried that all of this new traffic could disappear in an instant.

[ac3r]

Wouldn't be the first time an airline used it as a base of operations then vanished. YKF is a revolving door.