LittleYHZ

You mean Western Canada Economic downturn. (which is itself a red herring - as anyone who is Suncor, Shell, Husky or Imperial will have minimum impact on their profits - everyone else is likely to be bought for 50 cents on the dollar by the former. If you are a refiner and a producer you'll hardly notice this...) The lower 84.5 cent dollar and low energy prices are rapidly shifting the economics of manufacturing in Ontario and Quebec for the better. BBD as an example did quite well in Q4 with orders - its product is literally becoming cheaper by the day (labour is a huge part of building an aircraft). Most of the CRAs in the USA were bought under low dollar environment.

Anyway thats a total side track. But AC and WJ are going to get busier before they get slower - it could put real pressure on YYZ. Encore + ACs wide body binge are going to bust the place.

Tangoer

I use it several times each year YTZ-YUL-YYG. I guess porter will have to take me to YUL. I have 750 Porter points somewhere...no expiry date.

krayZpaving

I love it for flying to YUL. But I don't fly to YUL all the time...

yulhammeryyz

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I use it frequently, the island certainly appears busier than it was a few years ago and the Ferry is almost always full. The construction at Union may have also impacted shuttle operation and people's choice to use the island airport.

grumbler

I am not a Porter person, but that terminal works for them - and they pretty much fill that YOW flight. They also seem to be doing ok with EWR and MDW.

If UP works out the way people hope (and downtown Toronto traffic continues to be what it is, especially around YTZ), AC doesn't lose by killing the flight.

Transpacificflyer

Consumers when given the option of either AC or Porter at this airport prefer Porter. Newer equipment, nicer people than AC mainline, although the Skyservice folks are just as nice based upon my most recent experience.

As someone, who refused to use the AC option because I hadn't forgiven AC for pulling out the last time, I only used the AC option last last year because I wanted to see how it compared and to be honest, I was less than enthused with Porter's deteriorating on time performance.

I love Billy Bishop and I like the Bombardier props. If AC can't make go of the airport it is an omen of things to come as Westjet's Encore service moves into AC turf.

The assumption that the airport express train will kill off the airport is naive. The train will still add time to the journey and it is a guarantee that the train schedules and reliability will have teething pains for at least a year. The train will just deliver pax to YYZ, an airport that is now subject to chronic delays at peak hours. Quite a contrast to the island which doesn't suffer from the congestion problems.

rjp123

Porter points expire.

jaysona

I hope this is just posturing to get better rates for the gate at YTZ and not the precursor to pulling service. I fly in/out of YTZ at least once a week, usually flying into YTZ vs flying out.

The airport express is going to be anything but express. I guess I'll just have to start collecting VIPorter points again if AC pulls service from the island.

why fly

what a joke, just another AC failure to try flying from the island airport.
AC complains YYZ is to expensive.
LOL now they want to move the island airport flights to YYZ.

Lets hope AC leaves the island, they are just trying to ruin the viability of it anyhow.

Calliopeflyer

Like YTZ, love Porter. Have only flown from there on Porter, though. Will choose Porter every time if it's an option (but I don't often go where they fly).

Shareholder

As I live in the city centre, YTZ is somewhat more convenient to me than YYZ, but the shuttle bus and ferry don't really make it all that more faster than getting to and through YYZ. However, if I am going to YUL then I will opt for an AC flight from YTZ (though on return I favour booking VIA1 since I can easily walk from Union Station home, and don't have to wait for the PW shuttle). PD's points expire too soon to make them a viable option since I only do two or three flights a year to YUL or YOW. Since I travel off peak hours/days my AC flights from YTZ have always been 2/3rds empty so it's obviously a money-losing route which is maintained as a foothold at YTZ. There's always been a fix in by the Port Commission to give PD carte blanche, and the $40m it won from the Feds let it build the new terminal as its own rather than having it built by the Port Authority as a common access facility.

I am ambivalent about the expansion. The CSs will actually be quieter than the Q400s -- have spent a couple of afternoons on the terrace at the Amsterdam Brewpub and found the rev up and down noise levels quite high -- but expansion will raise too many other problems.

AC can afford to keep its foothold, but if there's little possibility of doubling its slots to add YOW, then it doesn't make much sense.

Shareholder

AC/SkyService flies exactly the same Q400s. And since its planes have been delivered after PD's, they're the ones with the "newer equipment".

yyz-kin

Spent almost two years flying YTZ-YUL and it was usually AC on the way there and Porter on the way back. I now fly AC from YTZ-YUL-EWR and am enjoying that flight a lot. I am getting my segments in and make a point of stopping over in YUL for breakfast on the way there and dinner on my way back.

grumbler

I agree that flying out of YTZ, pax prefer Porter. The AC YUL service was never better than a "me too" on a head to head basis.

I don't think anyone believes that UP will kill off YTZ. There are a bunch of good reasons why people will continue to want to use that airport as long as Porter remains reasonably high quality. What it does do is somewhat reduce the attraction of YTZ (which has congestion problems that are not entirely within its control - getting to and from that airport at peak times can take longer than people think because of the access limitations).

The Lev

Except that the Q-400's operated by Sky Regional were not new - they were previously operated by Lynx Aviation. the Sky aircraft were built in 2007 and 2008.

Some Porter aircraft would be of that vintage, but most are newer.