Pivot Announces New Routes out of Kitchener (CYKF)

Discuss topics relating to PIVOT Airlines.

Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, lilfssister, North Shore, I WAS Birddog

Post Reply
DHC-1 Jockey
Rank 8
Rank 8
Posts: 821
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:41 pm

Pivot Announces New Routes out of Kitchener (CYKF)

Post by DHC-1 Jockey »

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchene ... -1.5724507

Routes are YKF to Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor and Montreal, pending "regulatory approvals," and "COVID-19 travel-related restrictions."
---------- ADS -----------
 
User avatar
Canoehead
Rank 8
Rank 8
Posts: 951
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2005 11:08 pm
Location: YEE 220 @ 4

Re: Pivot Announces New Routes out of Kitchener (CYKF)

Post by Canoehead »

https://flypivot.com/news/pivot-airline ... al-airport

Quite the commitment in Pivot building Mx, operations and offices there. Would have thought everyone would have learned by now with the past attempts at this venture. I doubt this goes anywhere, and if it does, won't be around long. Eric should know better.
---------- ADS -----------
 
LTR123
Rank 1
Rank 1
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue May 08, 2018 1:26 pm

Re: Pivot Announces New Routes out of Kitchener (CYKF)

Post by LTR123 »

I'm guessing there is an exclusivity deal with the airport for a while, though I doubt this operation will last to the end of it given who is on the management 'team'. If they do last until the routes open up, I look forward to seeing Encore and Jazz come in and do some steamrolling.
---------- ADS -----------
 
notwhoyouthinkIam
Rank 7
Rank 7
Posts: 514
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:49 am

Re: Pivot Announces New Routes out of Kitchener (CYKF)

Post by notwhoyouthinkIam »

LTR123 wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 11:40 am I'm guessing there is an exclusivity deal with the airport for a while, though I doubt this operation will last to the end of it given who is on the management 'team'. If they do last until the routes open up, I look forward to seeing Encore and Jazz come in and do some steamrolling.
Who would pay extra to fly from Kitchener when they can drive to the airport an hour away?

The flight from London to Toronto is 10-20 minutes... Kitchener would likely be close to the same as the biggest portion of the time is the approach. The stopover in YYZ would be longer than the drive time saved.
---------- ADS -----------
 
LTR123
Rank 1
Rank 1
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue May 08, 2018 1:26 pm

Re: Pivot Announces New Routes out of Kitchener (CYKF)

Post by LTR123 »

notwhoyouthinkIam wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2020 7:45 pm
LTR123 wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 11:40 am I'm guessing there is an exclusivity deal with the airport for a while, though I doubt this operation will last to the end of it given who is on the management 'team'. If they do last until the routes open up, I look forward to seeing Encore and Jazz come in and do some steamrolling.
Who would pay extra to fly from Kitchener when they can drive to the airport an hour away?

The flight from London to Toronto is 10-20 minutes... Kitchener would likely be close to the same as the biggest portion of the time is the approach. The stopover in YYZ would be longer than the drive time saved.
The idea is to have direct flights out of YKF, not to use it to fly into a hub. YKF is more than 'an hour away' from YYZ for much of the day (with non-COVID traffic that is). When you factor in how long it takes at YYZ to park, get through security, and then to your gate compared to YKF, there is a really big time savings. Lots of local business people would gladly pay more to fly out of YKF and give up the Aeroplan miles for this, especially considering that they still get points on high-end corporate credit cards anyway.

The problems for Pivot are:

1 - Their leadership group, only a few months ago, ran the previous iteration of their company into bankruptcy;
2 - If they make any inroads on their local market AC and WJ will both react strongly as soon as any exclusivity deal with the airport authority expires.

Problem number 1 can be fixed by hiring a competent CEO and other senior leaders (not easy to hire good people who would see a likely lost cause for what it is) but getting around problem number 2 would be very hard for anyone.
---------- ADS -----------
 
DHC-1 Jockey
Rank 8
Rank 8
Posts: 821
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:41 pm

Re: Pivot Announces New Routes out of Kitchener (CYKF)

Post by DHC-1 Jockey »

I live in London and when I worked for Jazz, I always drove to Pearson. People asked why I didn't jumpseat, and I told them this: By the time I left my house, drove to YXU to arrive 30 mins early before departure, board, de-ice (in winter), deal with the inevitable YYZ flow delays (YXU is ALWAYS under flow restrictions due to being so close), fly to YYZ, taxi in, deplane and get to the crew room, it was almost always faster just to drive from London to YYZ.

YKF, being a 1 hour drive closer to YYZ than YXU further amplifies the savings by driving. The drive time from YKF to YYZ is 45 mins to 1:15. There's no way driving to YKF and going through the same process I described above can be faster than driving, plus the gas would be a fraction of the cost of a ticket.

I don't know how Pivot can make a go of YYZ. The other destinations? Maybe. But not YYZ.
---------- ADS -----------
 
Post Reply

Return to “PIVOT Airlines”