With YOW being the airport code for Ottawa, Canada. US Airways is beginning nonstop service to the Canadian capital starts on May 31 (June 1 return), one flight a day on a 50-seat regional jet.

US Airways currently services Ottawa three times a day from its Philadelphia hub. The airline was going to add a YOW-DCA flight had the slot swap with Delta been approved. So obviously, it ties into that, perhaps suggesting they’ll accept the DOT slot-sale conditions, and thus need to shift the flight to Charlotte.

And if US Airways is willing to give CLT-YOW a go, gotta wonder what other destinations they’ll be announcing in the next few weeks. I can think of a half dozen or so cities in New York and New England that get more service from Philly than does Ottawa that don’t have nonstop service to Charlotte. A couple of Midwest cities could be in play too.