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LONGUEUIL, QUE. \u2014 Porter Airlines plans to launch a dozen routes this summer from the overhauled Montreal Metropolitan Airport, as Canada\u2019s third-largest carrier seeks to gain purchase in the competitive domestic market and start putting its half-billion-dollar investment to work.<\/p>\n
The Toronto-based airline announced flights to Canadian cities including Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto \u2014 at both Pearson and Billy Bishop airports \u2014 Halifax and St. John\u2019s, N.L., out of a Montreal-area airport currently used mainly for regional service, cargo trips and flight training.<\/p>\n
Kicking off June 15, Porter has scheduled 138 flights per week through the revitalized hub, which has the capacity to handle four million passengers each year. It sits on Montreal\u2019s South Shore just a 20-minute drive from downtown in Longueuil, Que., making it a viable alternative to the Trudeau airport, which will continue to host some 15 flights a day from Porter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI refer to this as Billy Bishop on steroids,\u201d said Porter CEO Michael Deluce in an interview at the new terminal, a spacious set of halls with pleather seating and USB ports. It can also host Porter\u2019s 52 jets, unlike Billy Bishop, whose short runway permits only turboprops. Toronto\u2019s small island airport near downtown serves as Porter\u2019s headquarters, and could one day harbour jets as well, given Ontario Premier Doug Ford\u2019s pledge this week to take over land currently owned by the city in order to extend the runway.<\/p>\n
\u201cHalf of the Montreal market residential population lives closer to this airport,\u201d Deluce said. \u201cPeople go to the airport that\u2019s closest for them. But on top of that, this is a very convenient way for people outside of Montreal to come and visit Montreal and get to downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deluce predicted the so-called MET, formerly known as the Saint-Hubert Airport, will rank among Canada\u2019s 10 busiest airports within two years, and achieve the No. 7 spot within four.<\/p>\n
The airline is banking on it. Through the jointly owned YHU Infrastructure Partners, Porter and Macquarie Infrastructure Partners have invested more than $400 million in the terminal \u2014 the original projection was about $200 million \u2014 plus millions more on a planned hotel at an airport that currently borders farmland.<\/p>\n
Several hurdles persist.<\/p>\n
One is the fact that for all its sleekness, the airport can host flights to and from domestic destinations only \u2014 no international trips allowed, due to exclusivity clauses that allow just one airport in a local area to have international flights.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the soaring price of fuel due to the war in Iran that prompted Porter on to announce fuel surcharges on bookings made via loyalty points. The sky-high cost of jet fuel has pushed up ticket costs across the globe and threatened to reduce sales.<\/p>\n
More broadly, there\u2019s the depressed demand for Canada-U.S. travel amid a trade war set off by U.S. President Donald Trump, a feud that began as Porter was in the middle of a rapid fleet expansion predicated largely on cross-border traffic.<\/p>\n
Porter was launched in 2006 by Deluce\u2019s father Robert \u2014 he remains the executive chairman \u2014 who used Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport as a base to offer service from the city\u2019s downtown.<\/p>\n
\u00a92026 The Canadian Press<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n