sjc
Active Member
Porter will soon have all of the 20 planes that were in their original order. Bombardier has about a two-year backlog for Q400 manufacturing, so if Porter wants to expand further, they are going to have think soon about whether they would like to order more.
Based on reports that the island is noise-limited to between 120-160 movements per day, once they have 20 planes, I believe that they will have pretty much filled their potential schedules for YTZ. Expansion beyond that will likely be elsewhere in Canada.
From reports, the last few planes will be put to use serving Washington and Philadelphia, and potentially somewhere in Northern Ontario.
Where do you think that Porter should look to expand to next? Or should they settle in with 20 planes and stick to what they have?
Here are some things that I have considered as options for Porter expansion:
- use the planes that are on the way to expand to DCA and PHL.
- Declare Thunder Bay and Ottawa to be hubs and bases for expansion. I would build a Porter Lounge in Thunder Bay (there is one coming already in Ottawa). In Ottawa, they have already begun to build a base of local customers that are building a preference for Porter.
- Talk to Westjet about codesharing (and with Southwest if the Southwest/Westjet deal goes forward). Right now, Westjet competes only minimally with Porter and it might be possible to move forward in a cooperative manner rather than try to steal each others customers.
- Start direct flights from Ottawa to Porter destinations. Depending on how the connecting tickets are selling, consider starting YOW-EWR, YOW-MDW, YOW-DCA.
- Atlantic Canada: I think there are expansion opportunities here, notably Fredericton (YFC), Saint John (YSJ) and Moncton (YQM). (some possibilities: YOW-YFC-YSJ, YOW-YQM-YHZ)
- Thunder Bay (YQT)could be a hub for Western Canada as it is in range of quite a few possible destinations and can feed passengers into YTZ Some possible routes:
YQT-YXE (Saskatoon)-YZF (Yellowknife)-YEV (Inuvik) [The money in Canada these days is in the Northwest and oil and gas workers have money to travel and many of them live in the east. YZF and YEV are relatively inconvenient to get to, so having stops isn't that big a deal. Potentially they could expand with some YZF-Alaska flights (Juneau, Fairbanks, Anchorage).
YQT-YFB (Iqaluit)- RKV (Reykjavik, Iceland). Right now, to get out of Iqaluit, you pretty much have to go through Ottawa. RKV is the airport in Reykjavik that is not 50km outside town. From RKV, they could hit LCY (London City Airport) as well, if they wanted to keep going. This might be worthwhile if they are allowed to sell RKV-LCY tickets. Greenland (Nuuk?) is another option from YFB.
YQT-MDW, YQT-EWR, YQT-YOW, YQT-YUL. [At first connect people through Toronto to those destinations, but if there does appear to be traffic, add non-stop flights. ]
YQT-YXE-YYC (Calgary)
YQT-YMM (Fort McMurray)
YQT-YQR (Regina)-YEG (Edmonton) [If YXD (Edmonton City Airport) ever allowed bigger planes in, I would switch to that one].
Expansion into US: Beyond DCA and PHL, I would look at BKL (Cleveland Burke Lakefront), MYR (Myrtle Beach), LUK (Cincinnati Lunken Airport) [YTZ-BKL-LUK?].
Leisure traffic: Build on the YTM (Mount Tremblant) flights with other destinations. What about extending the Saturday morning flight to Vermont or even Bermuda? Start selling three-leg tickets so that someone could go to Tremblant for a couple of days, Bermuda for a few days and then back to Toronto. Maybe people in Bermuda like to ski? YTM-YHZ might work as well.
Northern Ontario: Timmins (YTS), Sault Ste. Marie (YAM) and Sudbury (YSB) are all options, perhaps via milk run or YQT-YAM-YSB-YOW and YTZ-YSB-YTS
Most of these routes that I have suggested are either not served at all, or currently served by multiple stops or connections. While I expect there aren't a lot of people that will fly LCY-RKV-YFB-YQT-YTZ over LHR-YYZ, there is likely potential traffic between the various segments, and it would certainly be a more interesting route.
EDIT: I would also look at ordering some Q400x (90-seater) and C-Series. They couldn't use the C-series at YTZ, but could elsewhere. If they order from Bombardier, the unions and federal (and provincial) government will likely continue to support Porter.
Based on reports that the island is noise-limited to between 120-160 movements per day, once they have 20 planes, I believe that they will have pretty much filled their potential schedules for YTZ. Expansion beyond that will likely be elsewhere in Canada.
From reports, the last few planes will be put to use serving Washington and Philadelphia, and potentially somewhere in Northern Ontario.
Where do you think that Porter should look to expand to next? Or should they settle in with 20 planes and stick to what they have?
Here are some things that I have considered as options for Porter expansion:
- use the planes that are on the way to expand to DCA and PHL.
- Declare Thunder Bay and Ottawa to be hubs and bases for expansion. I would build a Porter Lounge in Thunder Bay (there is one coming already in Ottawa). In Ottawa, they have already begun to build a base of local customers that are building a preference for Porter.
- Talk to Westjet about codesharing (and with Southwest if the Southwest/Westjet deal goes forward). Right now, Westjet competes only minimally with Porter and it might be possible to move forward in a cooperative manner rather than try to steal each others customers.
- Start direct flights from Ottawa to Porter destinations. Depending on how the connecting tickets are selling, consider starting YOW-EWR, YOW-MDW, YOW-DCA.
- Atlantic Canada: I think there are expansion opportunities here, notably Fredericton (YFC), Saint John (YSJ) and Moncton (YQM). (some possibilities: YOW-YFC-YSJ, YOW-YQM-YHZ)
- Thunder Bay (YQT)could be a hub for Western Canada as it is in range of quite a few possible destinations and can feed passengers into YTZ Some possible routes:
YQT-YXE (Saskatoon)-YZF (Yellowknife)-YEV (Inuvik) [The money in Canada these days is in the Northwest and oil and gas workers have money to travel and many of them live in the east. YZF and YEV are relatively inconvenient to get to, so having stops isn't that big a deal. Potentially they could expand with some YZF-Alaska flights (Juneau, Fairbanks, Anchorage).
YQT-YFB (Iqaluit)- RKV (Reykjavik, Iceland). Right now, to get out of Iqaluit, you pretty much have to go through Ottawa. RKV is the airport in Reykjavik that is not 50km outside town. From RKV, they could hit LCY (London City Airport) as well, if they wanted to keep going. This might be worthwhile if they are allowed to sell RKV-LCY tickets. Greenland (Nuuk?) is another option from YFB.
YQT-MDW, YQT-EWR, YQT-YOW, YQT-YUL. [At first connect people through Toronto to those destinations, but if there does appear to be traffic, add non-stop flights. ]
YQT-YXE-YYC (Calgary)
YQT-YMM (Fort McMurray)
YQT-YQR (Regina)-YEG (Edmonton) [If YXD (Edmonton City Airport) ever allowed bigger planes in, I would switch to that one].
Expansion into US: Beyond DCA and PHL, I would look at BKL (Cleveland Burke Lakefront), MYR (Myrtle Beach), LUK (Cincinnati Lunken Airport) [YTZ-BKL-LUK?].
Leisure traffic: Build on the YTM (Mount Tremblant) flights with other destinations. What about extending the Saturday morning flight to Vermont or even Bermuda? Start selling three-leg tickets so that someone could go to Tremblant for a couple of days, Bermuda for a few days and then back to Toronto. Maybe people in Bermuda like to ski? YTM-YHZ might work as well.
Northern Ontario: Timmins (YTS), Sault Ste. Marie (YAM) and Sudbury (YSB) are all options, perhaps via milk run or YQT-YAM-YSB-YOW and YTZ-YSB-YTS
Most of these routes that I have suggested are either not served at all, or currently served by multiple stops or connections. While I expect there aren't a lot of people that will fly LCY-RKV-YFB-YQT-YTZ over LHR-YYZ, there is likely potential traffic between the various segments, and it would certainly be a more interesting route.
EDIT: I would also look at ordering some Q400x (90-seater) and C-Series. They couldn't use the C-series at YTZ, but could elsewhere. If they order from Bombardier, the unions and federal (and provincial) government will likely continue to support Porter.
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