DL's latest SEA adds: BOS, YYJ for 2016

[WorldTraveler]

taking advantage of the first opportunity to sell seats in April 2016, DL is adding BOS and YYJ (Victoria, BC, Canada) in addition to MCO service which starts later in 2015.

BOS will be a daytime 738 while YYJ will be 3 daily CR7s.

http://airlineroute.net/2015/05/25/dl-sea-apr16/

DL apparently is still finding gate space to build SEA.

DL's summer 2015 additions have started or will start within a few weeks with expanded Alaska service plus new service within the west including DEN, BOI, BZN, YYC, and SMF.

The 333 is making a debut on SEA-ICN.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

The DL flights to YYJ is kind of interesting, or odd if you will. 
The city itself is kind of small, less than 100k population, ~300k metro population.
Is there a large market (demand) for YYJ-Asia that DL is trying to capture?  Or general tourist traffic?
I would have thought that AC would have that well covered from YVR (or UA via SFO?)?

 

[WorldTraveler]

DL doesn't really care whether other carriers have the market "covered" or not.

There is clearly a market that can connect.

and let's dispense with the mindset that DL is solely out to have an Asian hub at SEA or that DL is not able to capture the same yield that AS does. With the exception of the Alaska markets, DL's yields have been as strong as AS' and I expect that the reason why DL is aggressively expanding in Alaska this summer and I will bet will do the same next summer - perhaps even starting intra-Alaska flights - is because there is a minimum size in the market that is necessary to gain preference. DL has it at SEA; they don't have it in Alaska.

As I have noted before, DL will not succeed in the local market solely by relying on what flights it needs for feeding Asia flights.

DL doesn't have to be of equal size as AS; it does need to get comparable yields and also needs to be able to gain sufficient traffic for its int'l flights.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

So while I'm not airline network planner, but the addition of SEA-YYJ would suggest to me that it may be geared to connecting to DL's Asian flights. 
 
I mean if the goal is to connect to the wider DL network, to me MSP-YYJ  might have made more sense. 
 
I'm just asking if there is a huge demand in YYJ for flights to SEA and logically to Asia.  I know AC is often beaten up in the Canadian press and WS (the can-do-no-wrong Canadian LCC darling), is already at YYJ ... ... ... so DL must see some value of SEA-YYJ, I'm just trying to figure out what it is (besides connections to Asia or specific corporations demanding SEA service, etc.?).

 

[topDawg]

So while I'm not airline network planner, but the addition of SEA-YYJ would suggest to me that it may be geared to connecting to DL's Asian flights. 
 
I mean if the goal is to connect to the wider DL network, to me MSP-YYJ  might have made more sense. 
 
I'm just asking if there is a huge demand in YYJ for flights to SEA and logically to Asia.  I know AC is often beaten up in the Canadian press and WS (the can-do-no-wrong Canadian LCC darling), is already at YYJ ... ... ... so DL must see some value of SEA-YYJ, I'm just trying to figure out what it is (besides connections to Asia or specific corporations demanding SEA service, etc.?).

it isn't really geared for Asia. 
 
Just a market that AS gets very good fares for that Delta is jumping into. Help build the network of the overall hub. 

 

[WorldTraveler]

DL has shifted some capacity from SLC and MSP to markets to help SEA develop.

DL's advantage over AS in the SEA hub is that DL can serve many markets via multiple hubs including SEA, MSP, and SLC, and in some cases LAX.

DL wants to have the mass in SEA to compete. YYJ is a large enough market and one that AS is in that DL wants in it too.

There is probably more significance to DL's addition of flights in the eastern US as that DL is adding capacity in the NW.