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

Apparently, Porter has been very successful with their new Sault Ste. Marie route -- enough that they are adding a third daily flight starting June 27th (9:10am out of Toronto and 11am out of the Sault).

http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3129053
"Support from the community of Sault Ste. Marie has been fantastic," said Robert Deluce, president and CEO of Porter Airlines. "We're in a position to take advantage of this early success and improve the service right away."
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Porter is considering expanding to other Newfoundland destinations:
http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&id=14559&latest=1

It won't be long before Porter Airlines has some good news for the province. President and CEO Robert Deluce told the St. John's Board of Trade that number of passengers out of the capital city continues to grow. Porter operates four daily flights from St. John's to Halifax with connections to Toronto, Ottawa, and most recently Montreal. Deluce says in the first quarter of 2011 there's been a 23 percent increase in local passenger traffic. He says because of the level of success the company is looking at other locations in the province, but he won't say what those places are.
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I wonder what other cities are on the short list? I've seen a lot of people pushing for expansion to Stephenville; Goose Bay? Deer Lake? Gander?

Also, Robert Deluce spoke to USA Today recently:
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/05/porter-qanda-part-1/170937/1
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/05/porter-airlines-qanda-2/170942/1
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/05/porter-airlines-qanda-part-3-/170943/1
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/05/porter-airlines-qanda-part-4/170945/1

Sounds like Washington is on the short list, likely BWI or Dulles -- although if pre-clearance begins to appear likely, they may go for Philadelphia while waiting to move into DCA.
 
newswire.ca online news release:

TPA 2010 Net Income Rises Five-Fold

TORONTO, June 3, 2011 /CNW/ -

The Toronto Port Authority (TPA) closed out 2010 with net income of $7.1 million, a five-fold increase over 2009. This is the third year in a row that the TPA has operated at a profit, and is a record since the TPA was founded in 1999. TPA Board Chairman Mark McQueen described the results as indicative of the popularity of a downtown airport, tight cost control, and improved economic growth across the GTA region.

"This level of profitability bodes well for the year to come," McQueen said. "After we pay royalties to Ottawa and taxes to City Hall, every profit dollar is reinvested in the business. This robust financial picture allows us to make the investments that our passengers and business partners want, invest in significant improvements for neighbouring communities, and continue our commitment to environmental sustainability." During the past 12 months, the TPA has paid government agencies $3.1 million in the form of royalties and Payments-in-lieu of Taxes (Pilts).

The Billy Bishop Airport and the Outer Harbour Marina both operated at a profit, with the airport generating an operating profit of $12.5 million, more than double the 2009 results. Growth is expected to continue at the Airport in 2011, as passenger volumes are expected to exceed 1.5 million, due in large part to Porter's higher yields and additional destinations and also to Air Canada's return in May 2011.

The Outer Harbour Marina, which is currently undergoing a major upgrade, saw its operating profit increase to $1.2 million, a slight increase from 2009. The marina's summer berthing rate grew to 96 per cent, up from 90 per cent in 2009.

Traditional port maritime activity should begin to recover in 2011, after continued softness in 2010 led to a slight operating loss of $0.5 million. The TPA is actively marketing the port as a construction products staging hub for downtown development.

In 2010, the TPA undertook an Environmental Assessment regarding the proposed pedestrian tunnel, and also continued efforts to erect noise barriers and assist with traffic mitigation. The TPA also made progress on the creation of a fish habitat wetlands in Tommy Thompson Park, and made significant investments to upgrade airport emergency and snow removal equipment.

"On behalf of the entire Board, I salute every member of the TPA team for the part each of them has played in helping the agency achieve this tremendous milestone," added McQueen.

About the Toronto Port Authority

The Toronto Harbour Commissioners was continued as a port authority under the name of the Toronto Port Authority as of June 8, 1999 under the Canada Marine Act. It is a federal public authority providing transportation, distribution, storage and container services to businesses. The TPA owns and operates the Billy Bishop Airport, Marine Terminals 51 and 52, and the Outer Harbour Marina. The TPA also provides regulatory controls and public works services to enhance the safety and efficiency of marine navigation and aviation in the port and harbour of Toronto.

Further information about the TPA is available at www.torontoport.com.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2011/03/c2391.html
 
Porter has just had its best May ever: https://www.flyporter.com/About/News-Release-Details?id=152&culture=en-CA

They had a 59.5% load factor in May and managed to improve the load factor on their YTZ-YUL route by 5% even as Air Canada was introducing their new service.

It was a record-setting month for Porter Airlines. A 59.5 per cent load factor was its best-ever May result, while passenger numbers, ASMs (Available Seat Miles) and RPMs (Revenue Passenger Miles) were the highest for any month in the airline’s history. More than 182,000 passengers travelled during the month compared to 130,000 in May 2010. This puts the total passenger count over four million since Porter’s first flight in October 2006.

Year-over-year load factor increased 10.5 points to 59.5 per cent in May, from 49 per cent in 2010. Figures for the month show 115.3 million ASMs and 68.6 million RPMs. ASMs grew 18.5 per cent from 97.3 million and RPMs increased 43.8 per cent from 47.7 million versus last year......Load factor on the high-frequency Toronto City-Montreal route increased nearly five points year-over-year, while maintaining consistent capacity.
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Good for Porter. They have an old-school way of dealing with public unlike that mess that is Air Canada and if you time things right and book well in advance you can get competitive fares. I'll be happy if they expand and continue to thrive. Air travel in general sucks compared with the 80s and 90s.
 
My girlfriend and I are flying to Boston in October with Porter; we took advantage of their latest seat sale! I can't wait to fly with Porter, honestly I haven't been this excited for a flight in a long time! Since my last flight was with Air France and it was delayed 3 hours and I missed my connecting flight (but to be fair to AF they arranged a new connecting flight for me.)
 
Air travel in general sucks compared with the 80s and 90s.
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It's a lot cheaper now, though. It used to regularly cost me $800 (return) to go to Ottawa on Air Canada, except when I managed to score a $750 seat sale.
 
sjc said:
It's a lot cheaper now, though. It used to regularly cost me $800 (return) to go to Ottawa on Air Canada, except when I managed to score a $750 seat sale.
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Yes and no. I used to fly to Asia a lot and paid around $1100-1300 return to Seoul with a one year or open ticket in the 90s. Compare that with specific fares to Seoul now which are generally far higher and most of the amenities are gone. Depends on the location and frequency I suppose.

And Ottawa suddenly doesn't look so good even now considering the distance and with taxes in. :)
 
Ugh ... compare to 15-20 years ago when I'd sometimes fly to Montreal from Toronto because you could get the occasional cheap weekend return ticket that wasn't that much more than the train (which wasn't itself much more than the bus).
 
Yes and no. I used to fly to Asia a lot
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I was referring to domestic travel in Canada as that is what I am familiar with.

..you could get the occasional cheap weekend return ticket that wasn't that much more than the train
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Return tickets used to be cheap if you stayed over a Saturday night. If you didn't want to stay over the weekend, then it was really expensive ($800 to Ottawa, $1400 to Saskatoon, $2000 to Vancouver). Seat sales almost always required a Saturday-night sleepover.

EDIT: Until Canada 3000/Royal/Jetsgo came along and introduced the concept of "one-way" fares.
 
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I flew to Ottawa return with Porter last week....cost (taxes all-in) for this same day return trip (booked on fairly short notice but using the "firm" fare which is their cheapest) was $755....so not much has changed in all these years ;)

Was, by no means, my first Porter flight but it was the first one where I had a legitimate customer service "beef".....ironically, was also the first time I have been randomly selected for one of their post travel email surveys!

I didn't let them off the hook for the complaint but did use the small free form area to let them know that it was, in my experience, not the Porter "norm".

Porter does nothing special....what is remarkable is that air travel has gotten to the point that their "looking after basics" approach is being greeted as something really special!
 
Porter does nothing special
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Porter does one thing that is special for those traveling to/from Toronto -- it provides a low-stress "small airport" experience close to downtown. Airlines flying out of Pearson require that you go to Pearson to use them.

Air Canada (Air Ontario) used to (prior to 2006) provide at least some of this experience through Toronto Island, but there have been a lot of improvements to the airport since Porter started up. Now Air Canada is able to offer the same experience, although only to one non-stop destination.
 
Porter had a 64.6% load factor in June, its highest ever. They moved 203,000 passengers in June, up from 136,000 for the same month last year.

The short list for new destinations includes Washington Dulles within 12 months (and later Reagan National once preclearance at YTZ comes through), Philadelphia, North Bay, Timmins and London. They are still waiting on two more Q400 deliveries next spring and have options for 4 more.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...o-expand-routes-in-us-ontario/article2088110/
 
I flew Porter from the Island to Moncton in June and it was a full flight both ways.

Interesting about the US pre-clearance possibility - hopefully this would mean that they would pre-clear for all US routes if it's implemented. Is there already provision made in the terminal for such a facility? I can't recall seeing anything when I flew to Newark last year.
 
sjc said:
Porter had a 64.6% load factor in June, its highest ever. They moved 203,000 passengers in June, up from 136,000 for the same month last year.

The short list for new destinations includes Washington Dulles within 12 months (and later Reagan National once preclearance at YTZ comes through), Philadelphia, North Bay, Timmins and London. They are still waiting on two more Q400 deliveries next spring and have options for 4 more.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...o-expand-routes-in-us-ontario/article2088110/
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I guess they should build "create labour disruption at Air Canada" into all of their business planning!
 
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