Sebring

So what do the planes do the rest of the day. If most people want to fly at peak periods, they need a large fleet to offer two short-haul round trips a day. Fleet sits the rest of the day. Fleet must be used at least 10 hours a day to have a hope of being viable. If it were otherwise, every airline could make money all the time. It's making the offpeak viable that undermines many carriers. Airline Economics 101.

The Lev

The "wall" of ugly condos our short-sighted governments allowed to be built is more of a blight on the waterfront than the subsidized islanders ever will be.

ohcanada

Sigh. It's discouraging to find there are still people who will continue to hold opinions without bothering to have anything behind them. But of course that's no reason to bother responding to them.

Coffeebean

Making noise now about a short-haul launch in September?

Ridiculous.

Without any connection traffic to long haul destinations, and with summer in the way of launch, they'll be no advance bookings at all.

WJ started selling in early Feb of 96, with a launch on Feb 29th. Short haul routes don't need to be launched less than 60 days out. WJ regularly did it, (and on purpose), with 30 - 40 days.

Porter doesn't need to launch this a day before July 15th, and even then, the last thing a short haul business traveler is thinking about is travel plans after Labor Day.

There is no need to do this, unless the plan is to raise the sh*t storm, (thanks Mr Lahey), to a level that gets Deluce what he really wants.... out of this deal.

The abuse of monopoly position claim by AC does bring a tear to my eye, though. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black......

ohcanada

Agreed. The ads and interviews Deluce is doing have nothing to do with a launch of Porter and everything to do with the rumours out of Ottawa that the Tories are planning to ditch the Port Authority and hand the responsibility to Toronto and/or the province. If that happens, the sweetheart deal Porter has made with the TPA will likely die and YTZ along with it. Deluce is trying to make it appear that his phantom airline is the real deal so that if Ottawa pulls the plug he can get even more reimbursement from the public trough. Could end up being the most profitable unlaunched airline in history!

shuuy

I don't think its the condos that make the waterfront ugly, more over the old industrial buildings that haven't been changed, and how terribly organised Queen's Quay is.

Shareholder

There is nothing nicer than to wander along Lakeshore Blvd and having the smell the molases at the Redpath Sugar refinery waft into one's nose. The sterility and shame of the lake front comes from the modern slabs of concrete and glass thrown up, not the remaining older buildings like Queens Quay, the main LCBO warehouse and HQ building, or grain terminal elevators. These give the place character and the mixed form of commerce that a vibrant city core needs. At least lining the waterfront with condos gave people a chance to buy a view of the lake. In Sydney, the core waterfrontage around Circular Quay was given over to ultraexpensive hotels, a raised freeway and office towers...

As for PORTER, the early start up of promotion is not to sell seats but to keep the airline in the public's eye and mind over the summer months. It's purely free publicity and nothing more. If the airline actually gets into the air, and if it lasts until next Easter, that will be a miracle. This is just some more expenditure of Deluce's sweetheart deal/settlement with the city and the port authority giving the impression he is interested in making money from a new airline. He is making money from the myth of a new airline...nothing more.

tcook052

In today's installment of As the Porter Turns:

http://www.cbc.ca/toronto/story/tor_dash820060417.html

Some waterfront residents are raising questions about whether new aircraft scheduled to begin flying out of the Toronto Island Airport later this year are safe.

Community AIR, a group that has been fighting a plan by Porter Airlines to base Dash 8 turboprop aircraft at the downtown location, says the new, larger version of the plane is too big for the runway.

Simon

YOWkid

Further to Simon's comment...

Wow, this sounds like rocket science!!!

So a Dash 8 is not a regular passenger plane?

Bytepusher

Of course if you actually go to the manufacturers site it lists the take off runway needed for a full range flight and for 500nm. Since Porter's announced plans are all for <500nm routes which one should be used? Of course CommunityAir picked the full range one. You know I might have some sympathy for these folks if they didn't find it necessary to lie as much as they do.

jral

Deluce says Dash 8s have flown out of the island airport on occasion, and the aircraft is used regularly at airports around the world with considerably shorter runways than the one on the island.

I suspect this was a misquote by the CBC reporter, & that what was meant by the comment was that he was referring the new Dash-8 Q-400 has been in to YTZ. I highly doubt Bob Deluce would say something like that - he knows YTZ better than almost anyone.

tracon

I'd trust my life in a Q400 flown by a Porter pilot before I would get in a car on the QEW with any of these "waterfront residents."

Agincourt

tcook052

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...Story/Business

Flying the unfriendly skies
Even 1,600 feet above his critics, Robert Deluce -- the man behind Canada's newest and most controversial airline -- finds the going a bit rough