Porter Airlines will soon begin flying its first of 100 Embraer E195-E2 aircraft on order, which marks a new chapter for the Canadian airline. The carrier has previously exclusively operated De Havilland Dash 8-400 turboprops out of Toronto Billy Bishop Airport (YTZ), but will now be expanding to Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ).
Continue reading: Revealed: Porter’s First Embraer E195-E2 Routes
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Is the Canadian domestic market really that big and lucrative that another player on the Toronto-Vancouver corridor is needed, and on a small plane no less?
Id imagine that the small plane is a positive in this scenario, less PAX needed to fill it up.
That's been my thought too, Air Canada, WestJet, Flair and Swoop somehow haven't saturated the market yet. There's also Lynx and Canada Jetways but they don't fly YVR-YYZ (yet). And I guess there's also Air Transat seasonally. Maybe Sunwing too? If Porter is trying to compete on price, hopefully they can find enough passengers who are willing to be brand loyal to them, trying to compete with the ULCCs seem questionable to me.
Has nothing to do with frequencies, everything to do with airport location. Toronto's Billy Bishop airport is in the middle of the city, as opposed to Toronto's Pearson airport in suburban Mississauga. Bishop is basically Toronto's equivalent to London City Airport or Washington National - smaller airports with convenient access to the city. That's why these routes will sell.
Missed that. Thanks for the correction. Yeah, then I have no idea. If they can't fly these from Bishop then there's really no point except to beat AC and WestJet on price, but that's not likely a winning proposition.
It does seem a bit odd. Although the YVR-YYZ market is strong and most flights seem usually full (at the least ones I go on) there is already significant competition on the route already on everything from a ULCC to 400-seat 777-300ER's on AC. What made Porter special was its access to Billy Bishop airport in downtown Toronto.
A lot of people love Porter for it's service quality, and would pay more to fly Porter. Definitely not *most*, but quite possibly enough to fill an E195.