Porter Airlines to Fly NY

In what is surely the worst kept secret in commercial aviation history, Porter Airlines appears to be on the verge of finally announcing flights to New York City direct from their airport on Toronto Island. Porter ran an ad in a number of Toronto newspapers over the weekend with a very cryptic red apple along with the headline, "Some news is just too big to hide. A new destination coming soon."

Besides that little tidbit, Porter CEO Robert DeLuce told USA Today in December that they're "looking closely" at adding flights to several US cities, including NYC (and possibly Chicago). In fact, he said he'd prefer to see flights going to and from both New York's LaGuardia airport as well as Newark. Having just added a flight direct to Mont Tremblant, Porter appears to be on the up, but can they sustain their success south of the border?

Back in August last year during my last experience with Porter, I had nothing but good things to say about it. Getting to the airport was painless, as was going through security, checking bags, and the in-flight experience was a treat.

You can still get dirt-cheap rates with Porter starting at $79 to/from Montreal (coming to a total of around $250 after taxes and fees), and it will be interesting to see if they can compete with the big boys flying into the US. Air Canada and a number of other airlines currently charge about $400-$450 for a round-trip flight to LaGuardia.

Still to this day I've never been to New York City, disheartened either by the potential 8-hour drive, or by the prospect of having to brave through Pearson to get there. If Porter can offer a competitively-priced flight, this could be a huge win for them.