Toronto Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport | ?m | ?s | Ports Toronto | Arup

[kEiThZ]

^ Porter could easily match that. And they should. They'd still be making solid profits at that price. And all they have to do is match the price. They don't need to offer lounge service since they have their own. Combined with the time and cost savings from traveling to Pearson and it's a no-brainer. I hope Porter's got some thing in the wings to compete with this.

Also, keep in mind that the cost of passes always excludes airport fees, navcan and CATSA fees, etc. That usually adds close 36 bucks on top of GST per direction...so 72 bucks to a round-trip.

 

[sjc]

I'm curious as to what their sales numbers are like on the three types of Porter passes. I haven't purchased any myself, but have just bought tickets at the prevailing price when I decide I need to fly. Sometimes that has gone above $200 one-way to Ottawa, but generally has fallen into the $119 to $169 range, usually cheaper than the flexible pass, but not by a lot, remembering that the pass includes taxes and fees.

I've noticed that generally speaking people coming from Ottawa to Toronto generally have had to pay a little bit more than those of us from Toronto do, as those flights seem a bit busier.

If they offered a $100 per flight no restriction pass, it would kill their flexible pass sales. Are people buying those passes now?

 

[kEiThZ]

They don't necessarily have to compete fully with Westjet. They need to dropp their Firm pass to under a thousand (like 999 for example) and they have to really drop their Flexible pass to somewhere around 2000 bucks with the freedom pass at around 2500 bucks. As priced right now the passes don't offer that much value or that much competition to AC or Westjet.

 

[kEiThZ]

If they want to compete with Westjet on this sale, the could simply offer 50% off on Flexible and Freedom passes till 30 September.

 

[sjc]

Also, keep in mind that the cost of passes always excludes airport fees, navcan and CATSA fees, etc. That usually adds close 36 bucks on top of GST per direction...so 72 bucks to a round-trip.

Do you pay that with your credit card when you book your flight? I thought that the passes did include all fees besides GST. A few years ago, I had some Royal Airlines passes and I just called to give them a coupon number and no other transaction was required. I haven't used any type of passes since then, though.

Do Air Canada, Westjet and Porter all charge extra for fees and such on passes?

If they want to compete with Westjet on this sale, the could simply offer 50% off on Flexible and Freedom passes till 30 September.

That's a very good idea.

Or leave them the same price, but make them work to and from all Porter destinations.

 

[kEiThZ]

Or leave them the same price, but make them work to and from all Porter destinations.

Now that's really a good idea. Given that Porter's segments are all within 100nm of each other, there's really not that much cost difference. If they turned those flight passes into basically coupons for any segments that would be a hot plan. This way somebody from Ottawa or Montreal could use a coupon to fly to Toronto or two to fly to Chicago (via Toronto).

 

[kEiThZ]

Certainly British Airways appears to think so, having recently introduced business-class-only LCY-JFK service.

This is what I find interesting. LCY can support trans-atlantic business travel but doesn't have a Porter style airline based out of LCY. And as nfitz pointed out LCY is easily accessible by transit and a much shorter ride to Canary Wharf and Bank. Even with Crossrail and/or the Heathrow Express from Heathrow, LCY is still a shorter ride to the City or Canary Wharf. It's remarkable that nobody has seized this as a business opportunity (unless there's some kind of restriction on the airport or higher landing fees, etc.) Maybe it's a future business opportunity for Deluce!

 

[sjc]

Because of the short runway, the LCY-JFK flights have to stop in Shannon to refuel. Passengers go through US preclearance while refueling is going on. JFK-LCY is non stop. I see prices around 2000 british pounds return in October.

EDIT: I wonder if a 32-seat A318 could take-off and land at TCCA. If jets were ever allowed at TCCA, perhaps LCY-YTZ could happen one day, although I suppose it would require two different refueling stops (ottawa and shannon perhaps). Or they add it on as an extension to its LCY-JFK flight.

Perhaps there will be a short-field version of the new Bombardier C-series and when that finally comes out, a new round of lobbying can get the rules changed. By then, the TCCA will hopefully have an acknowledged position in the downtown Toronto transportation infrastructure.

 

[sjc]

The Boston Herald is reporting that Porter is doing well with their Boston launch and that they plan to add flights shortly.

Porter Airlines Sales Take Off

Porter Airlines, which launches service at Logan International Airport tomorrow with three daily nonstop flights to Toronto City Centre Airport, expects to add additional flights this fall when it receives new aircraft, according to Chief Executive Robert Deluce.

“Sales are very strong,” Deluce said. “This is the third U.S. city that we’ve started service from, and it’s by far the best startup we’ve had in terms of early bookings. We met our first-month passenger targets two weeks before the intended first flight, so we’re extremely pleased. We know we can easily add one or more additional flights.”

The 3-year-old airline will add a 14th 70-seat Bombardier Q400 aircraft to its fleet Tuesday and will have 18 in service by November and an expected 20 by April.

EDIT: I notice that the Boston Herald has filed this under "Women's Business News"

 

[MatrixElement]

September 12 Picture

The new building September 12

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41002894@N07/3914370970/

 

[sjc]

I wonder what they are going to do with the old heritage terminal? Where it is, it doesn't seem very useful as it has been pretty much completely cut off from the air side of the airport.

I wonder if there will be some sort of access from the old terminal to the new one? Or will you have to go outside and around the circle to the main terminal entrance by the ferry terminal?

I suppose it could be used for administrative offices, even without direct air-side access. Who is using it now (besides Druxys)? Are the various small-plane charter companies in there?

 

[kEiThZ]

Because of the short runway, the LCY-JFK flights have to stop in Shannon to refuel. Passengers go through US preclearance while refueling is going on. JFK-LCY is non stop. I see prices around 2000 british pounds return in October.

EDIT: I wonder if a 32-seat A318 could take-off and land at TCCA. If jets were ever allowed at TCCA, perhaps LCY-YTZ could happen one day, although I suppose it would require two different refueling stops (ottawa and shannon perhaps). Or they add it on as an extension to its LCY-JFK flight.

Perhaps there will be a short-field version of the new Bombardier C-series and when that finally comes out, a new round of lobbying can get the rules changed. By then, the TCCA will hopefully have an acknowledged position in the downtown Toronto transportation infrastructure.

I don't want to give more ammunitition to the anti-airport crowd. I'd rather leave out discussions about jets (and Bombardier's short-field version of the Cseries still exceeds the Islands runway in take-off field length). Let the Island exist as a solid regional airport with a solid regional airline. When we eventually get high speed rail, Porter can become a much more US and Northern Ontario focused airline.

Porter could use another hub like Ottawa, for example, to offer such a non-stop service. I'd be worried though that such service will just add fuel to the fire for those who keep stating that Porter is an elitist service.

 

[sjc]

Porter could use another hub like Ottawa, for example, to offer such a non-stop service. I'd be worried though that such service will just add fuel to the fire for those who keep stating that Porter is an elitist service.

Perhaps Porter could start up a code-share with a foreign airline that might like to move into the Ottawa-Europe (or Ottawa-Asia) market, (pretty much limited to a few Air Canada/Star Alliance flights at the moment). Code-Sharing with Porter would give the new airline access to passengers from both Toronto and Halifax/St. John's to supplement the Ottawa traffic, making the success of the new service more likely.

 

[Automation Gallery]

Perhaps Porter could start up a code-share with a foreign airline that might like to move into the Ottawa-Europe (or Ottawa-Asia) market, (pretty much limited to a few Air Canada/Star Alliance flights at the moment). Code-Sharing with Porter would give the new airline access to passengers from both Toronto and Halifax/St. John's to supplement the Ottawa traffic, making the success of the new service more likely.

Come on..... Ottawa-Europe just would not fly, Ottawa is to small of a market. Maybe Montreal

 

[sjc]

Ottawa-Europe just would not fly, Ottawa is to small of a market.

Ottawa is a small market, but Ottawa+Toronto+Halifax (via Porter connecting flight) is not. [EDIT: and you will be able wait for your flight in Ottawa in the new Porter lounge]