Air Canada and Continental gets slots at Toronto downtown airport

[CathayPacific]

The two Star Alliance partners, AC and CO, have tentatively received 46 slots in total at Toronto severely slot restricted downtown airport. They still need to negotiate a lease for the premises to start operations. It is not sure how they will use the slots. I will presume they will code-share on each other's flights to maximize the utilities. Then AC will be able to focus its slots on YUL and YOW, and CO will focus on EWR. The ability to fly CO from Toronto downtown to EWR and then connect onto an international flight from there will be an attractive option.

http://www.thestar.com/article/827466--air-canada-continental-get-slots-at-island-airport

[C-FMWQ]

Air Canada is one of my favourite airlines, but this is just going to kill another airline in Canada I feel. Air Canada is just going to end up getting to go to YYZ and make Porter reduce their prices to the point where they won't be able to fly anymore, leaving yet another airline in Canada gone.

Nehal

[CathayPacific]

Air Canada is one of my favourite airlines, but this is just going to kill another airline in Canada I feel. Air Canada is just going to end up getting to go to YYZ and make Porter reduce their prices to the point where they won't be able to fly anymore, leaving yet another airline in Canada gone.

Nehal

A lot of my friends have flown Porter. I have not. But from what they told me, Porter is more than price and convenience of airport. The service, meals and lounge are all big plus against Air Canada. To compete with Porter for that group of passengers, Air Canada needs to match up on the service, and builds its own lounge at YTZ. But of course, there is another group of passengers that can be influenced by price, so that group will be the one that Air Canada can get by competing solely on price.

But I think CO will have better luck competing with Porter on the EWR service. First, CO has the newer Q400 readily available to match up with Porter. The convenience of onward connection at EWR will definitely be an advantage that Porter cannot match. And I think Porter's load on its USA routes are not that high to start with, so even losing a small number of existing passengers to CO will tip the balance.

[porter guy]

I don't think AC will kill Porter, POE has too many benefits that air canada can't afford. And besides if AC gobles up POE and then is able to push CO out of the airport then they are just going to f**k it up again and have 1 fight a day again and then they will loose their lease and they won't renew it until a new airline starts there. AC is the A**hole when it comes to the Canadian air industry. Because it has priority they will try all they can to ensure no new airline has a fighting chance. The only reason WJA survived is because AC wasn't the only national carrier for Canada (Canadian, Wardair etc.) Porter is easily the 3rd largest carrier in Canada after just 3 years and instead of trying to play nice AC will do anything to scare any new carrier out of business. I just hope AC goes bankrupt again, except this time I hope they never come out of it. then WJA and every other Canadian carrier can expand to fill all those little holes. New carriers can start up without having big brother breathing down their back. We Can dream though it's not likely

[EconomyClass]

"Downtown" here means out in the lake, right? I've spent quite a bit of time in downtown Toronto and never saw one plane.

[SAMRPICS]

Interesting to see whats happening over in Canada, have to wonder what aircraft Air Canada will base at Toronto as i am not sure which types are allowed to operate there. Is it similiar to London City Airport or does it have a much tighter regulated system banning all jets. If so that levels the playing field for Porter because unless AC can use jets i believe no type they have can operate routes as fast as the Q400 that Porter has. If i am wrong im sure i will be corrected. Continental should do really well though.

[C-FMWQ]

Interesting to see whats happening over in Canada, have to wonder what aircraft Air Canada will base at Toronto as i am not sure which types are allowed to operate there. Is it similiar to London City Airport or does it have a much tighter regulated system banning all jets. If so that levels the playing field for Porter because unless AC can use jets i believe no type they have can operate routes as fast as the Q400 that Porter has. If i am wrong im sure i will be corrected. Continental should do really well though.

The main reason that jets don't land at Billy Bishop airport is that the runway is only 4000'. Otherwise you can see Learjets and similar types land there.

Nehal

[CathayPacific]

I don't think AC will kill Porter, POE has too many benefits that air canada can't afford. And besides if AC gobles up POE and then is able to push CO out of the airport then they are just going to f**k it up again and have 1 fight a day again and then they will loose their lease and they won't renew it until a new airline starts there. AC is the A**hole when it comes to the Canadian air industry. Because it has priority they will try all they can to ensure no new airline has a fighting chance. The only reason WJA survived is because AC wasn't the only national carrier for Canada (Canadian, Wardair etc.) Porter is easily the 3rd largest carrier in Canada after just 3 years and instead of trying to play nice AC will do anything to scare any new carrier out of business. I just hope AC goes bankrupt again, except this time I hope they never come out of it. then WJA and every other Canadian carrier can expand to fill all those little holes. New carriers can start up without having big brother breathing down their back. We Can dream though it's not likely

AC is not going to push out CO (which will be UA soon). They have established a tight working relationship. The only highly profitable routes for AC from the island airport will be YUL, YOW and NYC, and that's where the Star Alliance carriers will focus on and work togehter on. As of Porter, it's a niche player in a very small market place with a small focus group of customers that it will never compete with AC and WJ in 99% of their market. AC will not be able to make Porter go away but it may put pressure on its profit margin, making it less profitable (but still profitable). WJ has no interest whatsoever with island airport. AC's bread and butter now probably comes from its alliance relationship with UA/CO/LH (and the cross-border and international routes). You have to admit that while AC lags far behind Asian carriers in their service quality, their service level on US/international flights are quite good compare to their US peers, and quite comparable to major European airlines. Whenever I book a flight to Asia, I would avoid AC and choose an Asian airlines unless AC's ticket is at least $1000 cheaper (which doesn't happen). But when I go to Europe, it doesn't really matter whether that's AC or BA or AF or LH. And when it comes to US, AC is definitely the choice.

AC doesn't really care about domestic routes as it enjoys its duopoly with WJ (but WJ is equally guilty for this and equally happy with this). It would be good to see WJ being more agressive flying cross-border and joining an alliance. That would provide some full-market competition with AC. Porter will just continue to go along with its Q400. Eventually, it will reach a point that there are no viable new routes to expand any more for Porter but no one else will be competing with it on those routes. AC will come in and harass it here and there, making the life of the CEO a bit more miserable from time to time. But no harm will be done. AC isn't going to go away, and so is Porter, but the room of expansion of both of them are limited, unless of course you see a Q400 flying to Vancouver from the island airport with 10 en-route stops.

[SAMRPICS]

The question for Porter is where is the nearest airport they could run a jet to longer destinations from. If you consider a quick transfer from a Q400 to a jet for flights to Vancouver or Seattle for example they could concievably fly longer routes that way but would that be any quicker than going to Toronto Pearson.