Porter is expanding
BRENT JANG, Report on Business, Globe and Mail
May 13, 2009
Porter Airlines Inc. has gradually become a force in the Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa corridor, overtaking WestJet Airlines Ltd. as the No. 2 player in the region, Versant Partners Inc. analyst Cameron Doerksen said yesterday. Depending on the route, Porter holds more than 20 per cent of seat capacity in the Eastern Triangle, ahead of WestJet's minimum of 14 per cent but well behind Air Canada, with at least 57 per cent, he estimates. Privately owned Porter, launched in 2006 at Toronto City Centre Airport, now has 12 planes, with eight more on order. "We believe Porter is attracting a meaningful share of Air Canada's higher-yielding business travellers on these routes," Mr. Doerksen said in a research note. He added that Porter's expansion has put a damper on WestJet's push into the Eastern Triangle, noting that "even though WestJet has been very aggressive with its fares in order to attract traffic, it has actually cut back on capacity relative to two years ago."
May 13, 2009
Porter Airlines Inc. has gradually become a force in the Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa corridor, overtaking WestJet Airlines Ltd. as the No. 2 player in the region, Versant Partners Inc. analyst Cameron Doerksen said yesterday. Depending on the route, Porter holds more than 20 per cent of seat capacity in the Eastern Triangle, ahead of WestJet's minimum of 14 per cent but well behind Air Canada, with at least 57 per cent, he estimates. Privately owned Porter, launched in 2006 at Toronto City Centre Airport, now has 12 planes, with eight more on order. "We believe Porter is attracting a meaningful share of Air Canada's higher-yielding business travellers on these routes," Mr. Doerksen said in a research note. He added that Porter's expansion has put a damper on WestJet's push into the Eastern Triangle, noting that "even though WestJet has been very aggressive with its fares in order to attract traffic, it has actually cut back on capacity relative to two years ago."
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