Thunder Bay lands Porter: recruiting effort to attract business-class carrier.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: TRANSPORTATION

A new gold standard of business travel has landed in Thunder Bay.

Porter Airlines selected the Lakehead city as its first foray into Northern Ontario, beginning with direct flights between Thunder Bay International Airport and Toronto Island airport.

Starting June 26 until Labour Day, the upstart regional carrier will launch three flights daily during the work week, with two flights daily on the weekend.

A Porter spokesman hopes it paves the way toward year-round regular service to and from Thunder Bay.

"It's a key market for Northern Ontario," said Brad Cicero, "and it's a pretty important first step to get involved in the region. It made sense to look at Thunder Bay just based on the volume of traffic on the routes."

The airline is adding four new aircraft to their fleet this spring and Thunder Bay has always been on the company's original business plans once they added to their fleet and opened more U.S. routes.

Porter flies the highly fuel efficient 70-seat Bombardier Dash Q400 series.

"We're looking at (Thunder Bay) as a summer destination off the start, with every intention of making a good of it year-round," said Cicero. "All of the summer destinations we've introduced in the past (like Halifax) have been able to maintain some form of continuing service year-round."

The North has been on Porter's radar for some time since Porter president/CEO Robert Deluce, a former Northern Ontario bush pilot-turned-aviation executive, launched the airline in October 2005.

In an 2006 interview with Northern Ontario Business, Deluce talked openly about establishing direct service from Toronto to Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Timmins, once his northeast U.S. routes were firmly established and his fleet expanded.

Cicero said Porter will closely monitor passenger loads out of Thunder Bay this summer, but expects the traveller reaction will be enough to support regular service.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The upscale, regional airline is headquartered at Toronto's City Centre Airport, only minutes from the downtown financial district. Out of the island, Porter connects to other destinations including Ottawa, Montreal, New York and Chicago.

They expect a variety of Thunder Bay ridership from the business community, mining industry, government, and health care sectors, as well as leisure travel.

Cicero would not discuss anticipated load factors (considered highly sensitive information to air carriers), "but with 70-seat aircraft think it's a good...