Porter Airlines is expanding its services from Ottawa with two new winter seasonal routes that will connect Eastern Ontario to Las Vegas.
Starting Nov. 1, Porter will offer nonstop service between Ottawa International Airport (YOW) and Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) four times per week. The following day, service between Las Vegas and Montreal will begin with flights three times weekly.
Joel Tkach, vice-president of business development and marketing for the Ottawa International Airport Authority, said the expansion of Porter’s network from YOW is a “jackpot.”
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“We’re betting that Ottawa-Gatineau travellers will be all-in on Las Vegas,” Tkach said in a news release. “More locations and options for flying refined is more good news for our community.”
The new routes to Las Vegas reflect Porter’s “commitment to meeting passenger demand,” Porter Airlines president Kevin Jackson said a statement.
The new routes continue Porter’s efforts to rapidly expand its network using the nation’s capital as a hub and bring more direct flights to YOW.
Porter began offering direct routes from YOW to St. John’s, N.L., in June. The previous month, the carrier launched a non-stop route between Ottawa and Winnipeg.
Porter also plans to add direct flights from Ottawa to Florida’s Gulf Coast, California, the Caribbean and other destinations over the next two years as it looks to cement the capital’s status as a major hub for the carrier, CEO Michael Deluce said in April.
Porter has been expanding its presence at the Ottawa International Airport in other ways, including the creation of a new crew base at YOW for pilots and flight attendants who staff its new Embraer E195-E2 aircraft. The base serves about 150 crew members.
Porter is also boosting capacity on eight routes from the nation’s capital to key destinations in Canada and the U.S. amid rising demand for air travel. Porter says it will operate 14 non-stop flights from Ottawa this summer.
Porter’s future plans for YOW include building two new aircraft hangars totalling 150,000 square feet, a $65-million project that officially opened in May.
The facility will be the primary maintenance base for the Embraer E195-E2 fleet and support maintenance of the De Havilland Dash 8-400 aircraft. It’s also expected to employ hundreds of workers.
Porter currently employs about 650 pilots and 775 cabin crew operating from an Embraer E195-E2 crew base at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport as well as Dash 8-400 crew bases at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and terminals in Ottawa, Halifax and Thunder Bay.
The airline says it will have about 2,000 total crew members by the end of 2024.
– with files from David Sali
