Porter Airlines has announced the launch of a daily flight going from Saskatoon to Toronto and talked about the company’s expansion.
Air travellers leaving Saskatoon now have another option.
Representatives from the city and its airport authority joined senior leaders from Porter Airlines on Thursday at John G. Diefenbaker International Airport to celebrate the start of regular flights between Saskatoon and Toronto.
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Mayor Charlie Clark welcomed the addition, noting that the city grew by 15,000 people in 2023. He hears from many people about how it can be difficult to travel to the city, he said.
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“Those airline connections feel like one of the biggest links to helping our community take off.”
Airport authority CEO Stephen Maybury said adding the Porter Airlines flight to Toronto will give passengers more connection opportunities through the airline and its partners, and generate some impressive economic numbers for the community.
“Each time this aircraft arrives and departs YXE it generates 1.1 full time equivalent jobs, $41,600 in annual labour income and $167,000 in total economic output.”
Andrew Pierce, vice president of network planning and reporting for Porter Airlines, said the company’s expansion into Saskatoon is part of wider expansion efforts; the company has also started offering flights out of Winnipeg.
“We’ve expanded into St. John’s, we’re bigger than ever in Halifax, and now Saskatoon; it really is starting to fill in the country.”
Pierce said Porter has a leg up on its competition in that it’s the only airline flying the 132-seat Embraer E195-E2. He said the plane allows Porter to offer services to markets its competitors can’t offer because they’re either flying smaller or much larger aircraft.
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“We can open up markets where other carriers can’t quite perform at a daily level; we could take a four times weekly market and convert it into a daily.”
The company’s overall strategy is to offer Canadian travellers the ability to more easily fly across country in the warmer months and offer flights to the south in the colder months.
Porter Airlines completely shut down its operations during the pandemic. Pierce said the decision was made because the carrier had been primarily focused on serving business travellers. During the down time, the company reevaluated its plans and further developed it operation hubs, he said.
“It gave us the right time to reset our thinking about how we would develop hubs; that includes Toronto City Airport, it includes Pearson, it includes Ottawa.”
He said Porter also connected with Embraer, a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer that was looking to get its planes into North America. Pierce said the company has been good about making its deliveries on time, which is helping Porter expand to meet growing demand.
“We’re looking to have 44 (planes) by the end of the year and upwards of 75 by 2027,” he said.
Pierce said business travelers will always be important for Porter, but the company has made a real pivot to serve economy passengers, which has changed its customer base.
“The volume now really does come from the leisure market.”
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