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[sjc]

Government of Canada moves to expand publicly funded border services at airports

The Minister announced that the CBSA will be providing new levels of publicly funded services at the following airports: Toronto City Centre Airport, Deer Lake Regional Airport, Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport and Regina International Airport. In addition, two other airports are receiving expanded services. The details will be announced shortly.

“Through this investment, Toronto City Centre Airport may now offer 16 hours of daily border clearance services,†added Minister Van Loan. “These important service changes will help the airport respond to the steady increase in passenger traffic and meet the requirements of the travelling public.â€

Looks like Porter is doing well enough with their transborder routes that they are expanding customs service.

 

[Ziggy]

I noticed this image in the "Quay West @ Tip Top" thread. In the background, you can see that they are using proximity to Porter and the Island Airport as a selling feature for the condo.

I found it interesting, and was happy to see it framed in a positive way for the local residents. So far, I've heard local residents complaining about the airport, but I wonder if people's perceptions will change once Porter becomes more established and seen as a valuable transportation link, not just an annoyance.

Northeast View

 

[Automation Gallery]

...has Porter Air won?

New flights, new planes, new ferry. It looks like the plucky upstart is flying high. In the knock-down, drag-'em-out battle for the future of the islands, is it time to ask ...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090404.PORTER04/TPStory/National

The signs are everywhere: the clatter of construction equipment working on a $20-million terminal

Wow thats new news to me. Anyone have any renderings/pics of this new development.

 

[jn_12]

I've seen both the renderings and the site plan but I don't have access to them. It'll have ten gates and It'll be two stories and be much more like a traditional airport in the sense that it'll have restaurants and gift shops, maybe a duty free, etc to go along with the Porter lounge. The current lounge will be converted into training and office space.

The interesting thing is what will happen to the white heritage airport building. When asked about it, Deluce said the plan was to build around it, but he also gave a hypothetical answer (complete with sly smile) that involved it being moved. So I think that could be the next battle on the island.

Whether Porter is profitable, well last year I got a profit sharing cheque that was pretty good. The cheque I got for the 4th quarter of 08 was about 1/4th the total of the same quarter in 07. Since then I've left Porter, but I know that the Chicago route hasn't improved since I left and that was abysmal. Funny thing is that they always said it would take 6 months to establish a route, and now Deluce is saying 1 year. So what does that tell you?

I think we have to remember that the company has a lot of financial backing, so it's impossible to tell where that financing ends and where revenue generating begins. I hope they're successful because I have many friends who hope to make a career out of Porter, but it could be tough if the recession gets deeper in the States. Ultimately, they're running out of quality places in Canada, and Chicago should have been the 2nd best American market, so it'd be interesting to see what direction the airline goes in over the next year or two. I will tell you one thing: they're hiring like crazy in anticipation for the additional planes, flights and the new terminal.

 

[sjc]

>>>Funny thing is that they always said it would take 6 months to establish a route, and now Deluce is saying 1 year. So what does that tell you?<<<

In retrospect, I think he picked a particularly poor 6 months for the start of the Chicago run, given the economic situation the past half-year. In any other 6-month period, I think it would have been fine.

Everyone has been having a bad time lately though. Air Canada doesn't look like it is in good shape, so competitive pressure from that direction is not likely to increase substantially.

It is quite possible that the ability to sell Chicago (and New York and Thunder Bay) tickets in Montreal and Ottawa will have a positive effect over time on numbers, once people start realizing that they can buy connecting flights.

>>>Ultimately, they're running out of quality places in Canada<<<

The number of possible destinations in Canada could increase depending on how much Air Canada will need to contract over the coming months. Some destinations that Air Canada might want to drop (particularly Jazz destinations) might be economical for Porter (Northern Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick).

 

[kEiThZ]

There system is not perfect yet. For example, there's no way to book a flight from Montreal to Halifax. They'll be able to get more business once they work out the kinks on that.

Also, there is always the possibility of code-sharing with a US partner who wants greater access to the Toronto market....another avenue of bolstering revenue.

 

[jn_12]

With regards to buying tickets from Montreal to Halifax, I can't imagine it'd be very appealing to a passenger to fly from Montreal to Toronto then to Ottawa then to Halifax. That's a good 5 hours of travelling time. So perhaps that's why they haven't offered that opportunity yet.

New routes - I'd bet that St John's is on the radar, with flights from Halifax. I could also see Halifax becoming somewhat of a mini-hub with service being provided to other Atlantic cities.

Code sharing will take a long time to develop. Airlines want to make sure that they're dealing with an established brand before they team up with them. Westjet has only just recently been able to team up with Southwest. I can't imagine any significant airlines wanting to team up with Porter until they know that Porter will survive. I guess airlines like Frontier (based in Denver) and AirTran (Atlanta, i believe) could team up, but if Porter wants to be considered a serious contender, I'd imagine they would hold out to be able to codeshare with someone bigger and more established.

Another option down the line is having the company go public, which is in the plan down the road when the need for further investment is needed.

 

[kEiThZ]

With regards to buying tickets from Montreal to Halifax, I can't imagine it'd be very appealing to a passenger to fly from Montreal to Toronto then to Ottawa then to Halifax. That's a good 5 hours of travelling time. So perhaps that's why they haven't offered that opportunity yet.

Or they could go via Ottawa since all of Porter's Halifax services from Toronto are via Ottawa. What surprises me is why they didn't run Porter's service to Halifax via Montreal and simply have Ottawa passengers fly to Montreal. I think Montreal would make a good secondary hub down the road.

New routes - I'd bet that St John's is on the radar, with flights from Halifax. I could also see Halifax becoming somewhat of a mini-hub with service being provided to other Atlantic cities.

Agreed. Something to rival Jazz. It makes sense since AC mainline is not as prevalent in the Atlantic. Porter's services could really put the hurt on Jazz.

I really wonder where their next hub is going to be.

 

[jn_12]

^well they would need service between Montreal and Ottawa and that isn't in the plans, nor does it make a lot of business sense. I think the reason it's Toronto-Ottawa-Halifax rather than via Montreal is that the government crowd can be served between Ottawa and Halifax. They have done routes to Halifax via Quebec City in the past, but they're the only airline servicing that route so that was the niche there.

I agree that Montreal would make for a good hub, with service to the east coast (us and canada), but I think it will all depend on what happens with the US economy. If they don't think they can go to places like Washington and Boston from Toronto then they'll need to use those planes somewhere and odds are that means they'll set up a hub in Montreal or Halifax. There's a lot of cost though to creating a second hub (infrastructure, staff, etc) so it'd be a costly endeavour that wasn't in the original business plan. I say that Halifax has a better chance of being a mini-hub only because the q400 only needs 25 people on board to break even, and they shouldn't have a lot of trouble getting that between places like Halifax, Moncton, Fredriction, St John's, St John, etc. Montreal just seems too close to Toronto to be a hub, especially if people are already willing to travel to Toronto and make connections.

I think the fear is that Porter won't be taken seriously if it doesn't establish itself in the US. It's supposed to be a business-people airline, and serving routes that aren't high-end doesn't match the image they're trying to portray.

 

[sjc]

Porter Airlines charting an aggressive expansion plan

We've got numerous short-term growth opportunities," Mr. Deluce said Tuesday in an interview, "but certainly an expansion of Porter from the East and moving West is possible. We've always thought the brand was exportable."

While those plans are a little further out, destinations like Boston, Washington, and Philadelphia remain on Porter's radar in the near-term, as are flights to Windsor, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and Sudbury, as the airline takes on new planes, he said.

The carrier will add a tenth aircraft by the end of the week, two more by May, and another six this fall, Mr. Deluce said.

In the meantime, Porter is busy upgrading its reservation system to allow for code-share agreements with U.S. carriers in places in Newark and Chicago within the next six months, he added.

 

[kEiThZ]

^ If you've got an airplane that allows you to make a profit with only a 40-50% load factor, it makes aggressive expansion quite feasible, even in this economy. As an aviation enthusiast and an aerospace engineer I am extremely happy to see the public finally 'get' the virtues of turbo-props.

 

[ganjavih]

Starting May 6, Porter is increasing its Toronto-Montreal service to 18x daily.

 

[nfitz]

Starting May 6, Porter is increasing its Toronto-Montreal service to 18x daily.

Obviously a sign of impending failure ... they must be very desperate to go from 9 to 18 flights a day - hourly service. Clearly the only strategy for this doomed airline is to run the planes as frequently as the ferry, so that they can maximise the number of passengers.





for the humour impaired.

 

[jn_12]

This wasn't the plan though. I'm fairly certain it's the result of what's going on in the US and the lack of foreseen success in new American markets like Boston or Washington considering how Chicago has done. And the planes keep coming. It's really really frowned upon in the airline industry to have a plane sit on the ground. So Porter has to send them somewhere, and the only thing they can do is put them into the Montreal and Ottawa rotations. It might be a case of too many planes, too fast. Mind you, they had to make sure they were in line for the new aircraft, so I don't blame them but they optioned a lot of planes that they might not have routes for. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

 

[sjc]

I don't know about Montreal, but a lot of the Ottawa flights have been getting pretty full in the early morning and late afternoon/early evening, especially for people coming from Ottawa to Toronto.