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[Toronto Star -Nov 9,2006] Fog forces Porter to use Pearson

Billed as a convenient and dignified alternative to flying out of Pearson airport, the new Porter Airlines had to shuttle some of its passengers yesterday to and from the tarmac city in Mississauga.

Pinned down by heavy fog settling over its home base at City Centre Airport, Porter diverted a total of about five incoming and outgoing flights from the lakeshore to Pearson.

Porter CEO Robert Deluce said the adjustments had nothing to do with the size or sophistication of the airport facilities and everything to do with the fact the fog simply hung heavier in the harbour.

"Two different airports. Twenty-eight kilometres apart. Different weather conditions," Deluce said. "We were doing anything and everything to ensure that our passengers were inconvenienced to the minimum possible. It was a difficult day all the way around at airports (yesterday)."

Passengers arriving at the island airport to catch a flight to Ottawa — the airline's only current destination — checked in and passed through security screening. Then, instead of boarding the plane, they got on a bus that drove them from the island to a hangar at Pearson rented by Porter, and got on the plane without having to check-in or go through security again.

"This whole process was arranged ahead of time and co-ordinated with approval from Transport Canada, CATSA (Canadian Air Transport Security Authority) and the GTAA (Greater Toronto Airports Authority)," Deluce said.

When weather makes it impossible to land at the island airport, Porter arranges for a bus to drive passengers from Pearson to Union Station, where they can transfer to a Porter shuttle headed for the island airport, if their cars are parked there.


[The Bulletin- November 9,2006] Porter Air skips Island, flies in & out of Pearson

The few passengers taking scheduled flights from Ottawa to the Island Airport and Porter Airlines’ new ferry had a quite an unexpected rough ride on a foggy Nov. 8. They were flying in and out of Pearson Airport. It’s reported that the U.S. ambassador, David Wilkins, was also among the hapless crowd flying the new airline that has a raccoon as its mascot. He got slightly better treatment than most.

The multimillion-dollar ferry has been having regular problems finding its way into the new $5 million dollar upgraded docking facilities, often hitting the seawall and occasionally been blown or drifted off course. But for a number of hours the ferry was out of service when a log got caught in one of its propellers.

The police harbour unit sent divers—perhaps at city taxpayers’ expense—to attempt to dislodge the log. That meant passengers hoping to take off at fog-bound Island airport were riding the old Maple City ferry across the gap to be frisked in the preflight procedure before being bused off to Pearson Airport.

Their quickly chartered bus was reportedly escorted through highway traffic by an RCMP car because the of the American official on board the bus. Once at Pearson, the handful of Porter passengers walked across the tarmac and boarded their Porter plane.
 
Most people working at the Island Airport realize that if Porter fails the airport closure is pretty much a sure thing.
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i was wondering about this. would the whole place close up shop or would jazz come in?

i work downtown and stare at every porter bus i see. admittedly, starting up is always hard, but every bus is empty. not 1 or 2 people. nobody. they must be burning through piles of cash.
 
i knew people who use to fly out of the island airport (with jazz), but because flights were frequently diverted to pearson (for example, heavy fog, strong winds), they permanently switched to pearson. the uncertainly just wasn't worth the possible time saving.
 
I took a porter flight to Ottawa and would highly recommend it - the view flying out of the island airport alone is worth the trip. The airport is small, modern and clean. Service is efficient and friendly (lots of friendly staff compared to Pearson). From standing on the land, through the ferry, check in and security took less then 20 minutes. Service on the plane with a meal was excellent.

Although the capacity on the plane was maybe 20% - I don't think this venture will last long unless there is a significant pick-up in business.

I flew back through Pearson - big difference in terms of service, speed and convenience.
 
They really need to expand their routes quickly!

And if they expand too quickly, whats the worst that can happen that wouldn't already happen if they keep their current under utilized flight plans?
 
Looks like one of Toronto sports team is giving it a shot..

[Toronto Star, Nov 9,2006]- Airport non-issue for mayor, Argos

The Toronto Argonauts have chartered to and from Montreal for Sunday's Eastern final on Porter Airlines — the new airline operating out of the Toronto Island Airport.

That's also the airline Mayor David Miller would like to make disappear. Matter of fact, Miller wouldn't mind the downtown airport disappearing with it.

The Argos also happen to be, far and away, the city's most community-oriented pro sports team, but are making this first-time connection with Porter because, according to a team spokesperson, "in both time and cost, it best fit what we needed to do."

Convenient, one might say.

"It never remotely even crossed my mind," Argonaut CEO Keith Pelley said on one of life's possible little ironies.

So what did the Mayor's Office think of this?

"Would we prefer they weren't using the island airport? Yes," said spokesman Stuart Green. "But this is simply a business decision they've made."

Green pointed out Miller enjoys a close working relationship with both the Argos and coach Mike Clemons and that the city was an enthusiastic partner in the Argos' "Stop the Violence" initiative.

"The end result is all that matters," Green added. "And that's Toronto dominating Montreal on Sunday."
 
Any attempt to shut down commercial flights at the Toronto Island airport would have "dire financial and economic consequences" that would cost millions of dollars
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How could it have dire economic consequences? The airport didn't have any commercial service a month ago, and the economy seemed to be doing just fine.

Porter is great, though, from what I hear. I hope it pushes Air Canada to upgrade their service. I wanted to take it this weekend to Montreal, but they haven't started offering flights there yet.
 
i was wondering about this. would the whole place close up shop or would jazz come in?
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The airport wasn't profitable with Jazz so it would likely be the whole airport that closes if Porter fails and that is the feeling of staff at the airport. So far the loads on the flights haven't really picked up enough.

I still maintain that more business trips start from home rather than the office. In addition to being more accessible to most people in the 905 and northern Toronto, Air Canada has decent service to far more destinations and a rewards program. Admittedly that rewards program is becoming less rewarding since they divested it. Lastly, Pearson has a brand new terminal, a huge parking facility, rental car companies, and an airfield more equiped to handle flights in inclement weather. I'm sure Porter can capture the market of people starting and ending their journey in downtown Toronto, flying to Ottawa or Montreal on other than foggy days, and who don't collect points on Aeroplan but how big is that market? The Bombardier CRJ has taken many routes away from the Dash-8 despite the fact the economics are better with the Dash-8 on some of those routes due to public perception of prop-aircraft. How much will this affect Porter's numbers negatively? How much of that market will disappear when the rail connection to Pearson is built?

Porter will probably last for about a year or two. Once the air-rail link is built I don't think they will have a chance.
 
enviroto

when will the air-rail link be built and by whom? Blue22 is dead in the water but last I heard still hold the rights to rail links into Pearson lands. The Weston residents have to be placated. The link should by operated as a GO Transit service not a private operator because as you point out, downtown office people aren't the only ones who use Pearson.

The real question is why does it take 4h20m to get to Ottawa by rail, why aren't there hourly services and who's going to fix that. Collenette failed because his HSR plan just looked like Fed welfare for Bombardier but there needs to be a plan to improve VIA service incrementally to a point where it's a realistic alternative to flying.
 
Well the Georgetown-Pearson study continues to move forward and is expected to be complete at the end of 2007. Once it is complete I wouldn't be surprised to see immediate improvements to the corridor to serve GO expansion followed by new announcements dealing with a Pearson connection, either with GO, VIA, or some private entity. I think that something will definitely happen in the Weston rail corridor, the question is what.

I agree with better rail links between Ottawa and Montreal but I don't think we have the right government in Ottawa to even remotely consider that possibility.
 
to be honest I'm surprised we haven't seen CUTS in Via given the current regime.
 
The Liberals weren't that much better, despite David Collenette's enthusiasm for passenger rail. Basically VIA got some new cars and locomotives it badly needed, and a few station improvements. And a third train on the Kitchener route. I think Paul Martin is as ideologically opposed to passenger rail as the Conservatives.

Though one bright spot was the appointment of Lawrence Cannon as Transport Minister - he ran the STO in Hull, and is a moderate. We could have got one of the anti-VIA people from BC or Alberta (who think that the private, overpriced Rocky Mountaineer is proof passenger rail should not get subsidies).
 
spmarshall - that's what I meant, VIA on the block to placate the west. I'm bummed that I'm going to Kitchener this week and VIA is just not feasible as you don't get there until the afternoon.
 
He clearly isn't as ideologically opposed to it as the Conservatives, who used to introduce a private member's bill to privatize it every session when they were in opposition. I think the basic issue for Martin was that he owned a bus company when he was younger, and like all bus companies, he felt that VIA was an unfairly subsidized competitor. I disagree, of course, since the buses use the public roads.
 
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