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Southwest is already partnered with Westjet

There are a few airlines that I think Porter could team up with. Virgin and Delta are the first that come to mind. I guess really the entire "Skyteam" network would be a possibility eventually.
 
Yeah, I was thinking Virgin too. But I just think JetBlue might be closer to Porter's self-image plus they have a limited exposure to Canada. SkyTeam partners like Delta would be good. But so would any Oneworld partner like AA if they are willing to give up their Toronto (and a few other cities maybe) routes to Porter.
 
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Well i was thinking Virgin because Carty is chairman of Virgin America and on Porter's board. Plus they are both very service oriented and have the same rebellious spirit.
 
Do you think it is better for Porter to fly to US airports that have good connection possibilities or to ones that are smaller and closer to downtown? (EDIT: I would include Canada in the discussion, but for the most part there is only one real choice for airports in most Canadian cities -- St. Hubert, maybe? Gatineau?)

For example:
Cleveland Hopkins airport (CLE) vs Burke Lakefront (BKL)
Cincinnati International (CVG) vs Cincinnati Municipal Lunken (LUK)
Minneapolis (MSP) vs St. Paul Downtown (STP)
Detroit Metro airport (DTW) vs. Detroit City Airport (DET)

Are there others?

(I would have included New York and Washington in the discussion, but in both cases, the close-in airports are "real" airports that also offer connection possibilities and are obvious choices if access can be achieved.)

The smaller airports generally have few, if any, connection possibilities but are generally closer to the city (which might be more convenient for travellers that are not connecting to somewhere else).

Smaller airports are very often cheaper to land and park at and have fewer delays due to congestion. They often do not, however, have advanced terminals with jetways, etc.

Flights from YTZ to smaller less-served airports will also compete less directly with YYZ flights (both end points would be different).

Of course, this almost certainly would have to wait until US preclearance is put in place at the island, since the smaller airports generally have limited or no customs facilities.

Personally, I would vote for the smaller airports as they are generally involve much less hassle and when I go to cities, I am generally going to the downtown core.

EDIT: with the quick turnaround possible at small airports, it might be worth stopping at more than one on each trip. For example, YTZ-BKL-DET-YTZ. If you only refuel at one of them (can a Q400 from the island do Cleveland, Detroit and back without refueling?), it wouldn't add to much time to stop at the other without refueling -- just unload and load passengers quickly and move on).

There is no reason why they couldn't do multiple airports in the same city if the traffic was there -- either separate YTZ-CLE and YTZ-BKL trips (one of them likely more often than the other), for example, or even perhaps YTZ-CLE-BKL-YTZ)
 
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CLE has a quick (and cheap) rapid transit option to downtown Cleveland. It has connections, and a lot more businesses (and business-class workers) in the suburbs.

Detroit City only works if there's no Connection partner (in this case, NorthWorst), but it is close to GM, Chrysler, some of the parts companies and the small high-tech clusters located downtown and in Oakland County, which, with the Grosse Pointes, is where the "business class" live for the most part. If the focus ends up being the Ann Arbor high-tech cluster, the western burbs and Ford, Romulus might be the best place to land.
 
The use of small airports might be a good idea if most of Porter's passengers are destined for those cities. However, if Porter is working towards being a regional feederline then connections are important and flights to the hub airports are paramount. Given that Porter has largely targeted business travelers then the choice of destination airfields will vary. In some places it could be the hub airfileds. In others it would be airports closer to the core. The determining factor I would presume would be where those travelers are going: are they transiting through or terminating their travel at that city?
 
Profit Takes off at Island Airport

Profit takes off at Island Airport

In financial statements released yesterday, the port authority, responsible for operating Toronto's harbour lands and the Toronto City Centre Airport, recorded a net income of $863,000 in 2008.

The modest profit was recorded thanks in part to a 95 per cent increase in the number of Porter Airlines passengers. In 2008, 258,483 passengers paid the $15 airport improvement fee, up from 132,227 the year before.
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Of course not everyone thinks this is a good thing:
But critics say the port authority's profits come at the expense of Torontonians.

Brian Iler, chair of Community Air, a non-profit residents' group dedicated to closing the island airport and returning the land to public use, calls the airport a "travesty."

"Nothing justifies having the noisiest, stinkiest airport in the best recreational area in our city, and they're getting a paltry sum in terms of revenue for that kind of exclusive use of that kind of real estate," said Iler. "They're not self-sufficient. They shouldn't be a port authority."
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250,000+ passengers obviously disagree with him. What kind of revenue are they getting from the rest of the islands?
 
sjc said:
250,000+ passengers obviously disagree with him. What kind of revenue are they getting from the rest of the islands?
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Profitability and use isn't everything. Most gangs are quite profitable and their wares are well used. A city park is never profitable, nor a sidewalk, nor a road.
 
EnviroTO said:
Profitability and use isn't everything. Most gangs are quite profitable and their wares are well used. A city park is never profitable, nor a sidewalk, nor a road.
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Most gangs don't operate highly fuel efficient aircraft from an airport that allows for near zero wait and taxi times. Saying that the Island airport is the "noisiest, stinkiest airport" is an outright lie. I wonder what he'd say if he lived in Malton or Rexdale and had Pearson nearby.
 
I read it "the noisiest, stinkiest airport in a recreational area of our city". There are no other airports in a recreational area of our city so by default the island airport is both the cleanest and the stinkiest in the category "airport in a recreational area in our city".
 
... and the A321s that Air Canada flies on the Montreal route are no less fuel efficient than the Q400. Only on routes with aircraft smaller than the A321 does the Q400 come out more fuel efficient per seat.
 
EnviroTO said:
Profitability and use isn't everything. Most gangs are quite profitable and their wares are well used. A city park is never profitable, nor a sidewalk, nor a road.
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I was responding to Mr. Iler's comment that the city doesn't get much revenue from the airport. ("they're getting a paltry sum in terms of revenue"). Turning it into a park is not likely to increase the revenue significantly.
 
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