As part of its efforts to adjust its summer flight schedule, Porter Airlines will fly direct from Ottawa to Victoria seven times a week over the peak summer season, up from a maximum of four times that the airline originally announced in January.
Domestic flying during the summer period will form 80 per cent of total network capacity, up from 75 per cent in the original summer plan, Porter said in a news release Monday. This is balanced by “targeted frequency reductions in select U.S. markets,” the release said.
Despite the changes, Porter’s presence in the Canada-U.S. market will be 25 per cent larger than last summer, the airline added.
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“Our goal is to fly where our customers want to travel, and this is a moment Canada is at the top of many people’s list,” said Kevin Jackson, president, Porter Airlines. “We are adding routes and increasing flights in regions across the country to meet this demand.
“These routes complement existing schedules by creating more non-stop flight options and greater connectivity for travelling beyond hubs in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax,” added Jackson.
The summer schedule is supported by 10 additional Embraer E195-E2 aircraft compared to last year, growing the number of jets in the airline’s fleet to 44. These operate in conjunction with the airline’s regional fleet of 29 De Havilland Dash 8-400s.
Other changes include Toronto Pearson-Moncton as a new route complementing existing flights between Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport-Moncton and Ottawa-Moncton. Hamilton-Vancouver service will double to 14 weekly flights, while Montreal-Vancouver and Toronto-St. John’s both double planned service to 14 weekly flights.
Porter is also launching new service between Toronto Pearson-New York-LaGuardia and Montréal-New York-Newark this spring. This is supported by expanding winter seasonal service through the summer to destinations such as Phoenix and San Diego and increasing year-over-year capacity for Las Vegas and San Francisco.
“Porter has increased capacity in the U.S. by 25 per cent year-over-year,” said Jackson. “Based on our current spring bookings, the number of passengers travelling on Porter across our transborder routes is up more than our capacity, demonstrating strong traveller demand for Porter’s elevated experience. As we shift some capacity to domestic routes in the near term to account for consumer travel interest, we are still seeing an overall increase in U.S. travel on Porter flights,” said Jackson.
