Porter Airlines suspended operations on March 21st following the impact of the global health crisis. However, there has been some action this month as the Canadian regional carrier has restarted flights across three cities in the country.
Difficult climate
The carrier has been trying to restart service over the summer, but there have been a series of delays. Last month, it was reported that the airline would suspend operations until October 7th. However, in a statement earlier this month, the carrier announced that it is deferring its resumption of flights until November 12th amid the ongoing travel restrictions.
Some activity finally happening
However, even if scheduled operations do restart then, there has already been some activity for the outfit’s Dash 8 aircraft. According to tracking data on FlightRadar24.com, registration C-GKQG left Toronto’s Billy Bishop on September 25th at 15:29 and landed at Montréal Pierre Elliot Trudeau at 16:27.
From there, it headed to Mont-Joli at 19:12 and landed at 20:18. After that, it flew back to Toronto at 20:57 and arrived at 22:49. This operation appears to be a charter service.
Porter operates a fleet of exclusively De Havilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft. Altogether, it holds 29 units of the type. However, only one of these isn’t in storage at the moment. The carrier commenced operations in October 2003 and serves many airports across Canada. Along with its Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport hub, other focus airports are Halifax Stanfield International, Montréal–Trudeau International, and Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International.
It looks like charter operations such as this could be the only action for Porter until at least November. The airline is eager to serve passengers, but government restrictions are creating challenging conditions.
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Still some way to go
“We want to see our planes in the sky as soon as possible and are actively working to prepare for our resumption of service. However, the ongoing uncertainty presented by government travel restrictions, including border closures, is impacting our ability to operate flights,” the airline said in its statement.
“We are closely watching developments and know that Porter will be an important part of providing people with travel options as the economy recovers.”
Nonetheless, the airline will be glad that it is making use of part of its fleet. It undoubtedly will be ready once scheduled service begins again.
Simple Flying reached out to Porter Airlines about its flights but did not hear back before publication. We will update the article with any further announcements.
What are your thoughts about Porter Airlines’ resuming flights for the first time since March? Do you miss hitting the skies with the Canadian carrier? Let us know what you think of this update in the comment section.