Porter airlines lands in North Bay.

PositionNEWS

Count Tom Palangio as being one North Bay businessman overjoyed at the arrival of Porter Airlines in the Gateway City this fall.

The president of WipWare, an industrial technology company, has been an admitted "thorn in the side" of Mayor Al McDonald and the local chamber of commerce in pestering them to bring the popular regional air carrier to town.

That will finally happen come Oct. 7 when Porter begins two daily flights between Toronto's Billy Bishop Airport and North Bay's Jack Garland Airport.

One flight will include service between North Bay and Timmins. Initial roundtrip prices are $238 for Toronto-North Bay service and $220 for the North Bay-Timmins leg.

Porter now services all the major Northern Ontario cities with Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay already in the fold.

With Porter's reputation for first-class service, comfortable turboprop aircraft, and affordable air fares, Palangio said having competition and choice to better service the business community is a good thing.

"It's wonderful that we're getting additional service," said Palangio, a past president of the local CIM chapter, who heard many complaints from local mining suppliers and his own customers about exorbitant air fares to North Bay.

Many times, he remembered, if the plane wasn't full, flights to North Bay would be abruptly cancelled; the...

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