Porter Airlines is a Canadian regional airline that has begun expanding its presence deeper into the United States thanks to its purchase of Embraer 195 E2 aircraft.
The airline has historically flown the slower turboprop DeHavilland Dash-8 to U.S. destinations found locally near its base of operations in Toronto.
With the inclusion of the new jet aircraft, Porter is now stepping into the ring with other major Canadian airlines like Air Canada, and challenging them for some of their U.S market share.
In this article, we’ll take a look at all the routes that Porter Airlines currently flies between the United States and Canada. We’ll take a deeper dive into some of these upcoming routes to be flown by Porter’s Embraer 195 E2 aircraft.
Does Porter Airlines Offer Flights to and from the United States?
Porter Airlines has always offered flights to the United States but only recently has begun a mass push to expand its route network to more destinations in the neighboring country.
Porter Airlines DeHavilland Dash-8 turboprop was a Barrier to Porter’s Route Expansion
Porter Airlines operates like a regional type airline in Canada, flying to destinations near its hub airport in Toronto. This was largely due to the limitation provided by their aircraft fleet which at the time was comprised of the DeHavilland Dash-8 turboprop.
The problem with using the Dash-8 is that it’s a slower, less powerful, and less efficient aircraft compared to a normal commercial jet aircraft. The only benefit of using the Dash-8 is that it allows you to fly to smaller cities and their airports that might not be able to accommodate larger jet aircraft. That’s why this particular aircraft type is more popular with regional-type airlines.
Porter probably believed that offering regional routes to their client base was a way for the airline to compete with Canada’s flag carrier, Air Canada. However, Air Canada has smaller regional aircraft flying into these same smaller airports.
Porter’s purchase of the Embraer 195 E2 Broke The Mold
This led Porter Airlines to take a look into moving to jet aircraft, primarily the Embraer 195 E2. The E2 is a jet airplane that fits well with regional airlines.
Porter acquired this aircraft type and added them to their fleet in 2021. With a jet aircraft type in their aircraft fleet, Porter can now offer their customers flights across Canada and deeper into the United States.
Today, Porter Airlines still uses its Dash-8 planes for routes to and from the United States fairly close to Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. However, in August 2023, they announced an expansion to destinations in multiple Florida cities to be served by the Embraer 195 E2.
Porter Airline Flights Between the United States and Canada
Porter Airlines currently offers flights between nine destinations in the United States.
Boston
Porter Airlines has flights between Boston and Toronto & Ottawa in Canada. In Toronto, flights use Toronto’s Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport instead of the more popular Toronto Pearson International Airport.
The airline utilizes the larger Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport for the flight to Ottawa.
In Boston, flights are flown out of Boston-Logan International Airport. Passengers can find Porter’s check-in desk at Terminal E at Logan.
The distance between Boston and these two Canadian cities is roughly 500 miles apart. Flight time is about 2 hours which is slightly longer than expected. The reasoning is because of the slower Dash-8 that flies these routes. A normal regional jet aircraft will most likely get you between these two cities in less than an hour.
There is daily service between Toronto & Ottawa and Boston. However, the Toronto route seems to be more in demand because there are three daily flights compared to the one daily flight to Ottawa.
Newark
Just like the route between Canada and Boston, there are two flights offered between Newark to Ottawa and Toronto. This flight is expected to serve the New York Metropolitan Area.
Interestingly, Porter Airlines decided to use Newark Liberty International Airport instead of New York-LaGardia Airport.
Air Canada Express does offer a few flights from LaGuardia so it might be Porter’s bid to operate without competition at Newark. Also, getting landing slots at LaGuardia is a challenge within itself so properly opted for Newark with that in mind.
Passengers utilizing Newark Liberty International Airport for a Porter flight can find the check-in desk on the second floor of Terminal B.
Just like the flights from Boston, Porter uses their Dash-8s for the flights between Newark and Canada. The flight between these destinations takes about two hours.
Service to Newark is provided daily by Porter Airlines. However, more flights per day are flown to Toronto compared to Ottawa. Ottawa gets one flight per day service.
Washington D.C
Porter Airlines offers only one route to Washington D.C and that’s to Toronto Billy Bishop Airport. Porter uses Washington-Dulles International Airport found on the outskirts of the national capital.
Just like a similar situation as Newark & New York – LaGuardia, it is interesting that the airline didn’t choose to use Washington Reagan International Airport found in the middle of Washington D.C.
Air Canada Express has a presence at Reagan as well as Washington Dulles International Airport. It is most likely a landing slot situation that is preventing Porter from flying into Washington Reagon International Airport.
The flight between Washington D.C and Toronto takes about an hour. The distance between both of these cities is over 330 miles. The route offering is flown once daily with some days offering an additional flight added to the schedule.
Chicago
The last flight offered by Porter Airline between Canada and the United States using their De Havilland Dash 8 is between Toronto Billy Bishop Airport and Chicago-Midway International Airport.
This flight just like the others is relatively short, averaging around an hour and a half in duration. The flight between Chicago and Toronto is offered at least once a day by Porter Airlines.
It is interesting to note that Porter Airlines decided to fly into Midway International Airport instead of O’Hare International Airport but it makes complete sense from a regional airline’s thought process.
O’Hare is found a distance away from Chicago’s city center while Midway is found much closer. This must make Porter passengers happy because they can hop off the plane and be right in the middle of Chicago in minutes. Passengers from O’Hare have to rent a car or order an Uber which is another hassle they’ll need to account for.
New Embraer 195 E2 Routes Between the United States and Canada
Florida
Porter Airlines flies its brand new Embraer E195 E2 aircraft on the route between Toronto-Pearson International Airport & Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport and Florida.
These routes to Florida using the Embraer were first announced in August 2023. From the onset of the launch of the company, Porter has always used Toronto Billy Bishop Airport.
With this announcement, they decided to add Toronto Pearson International Airport as a supplemental airport of operations, primarily handling the Porter’s jet aircraft.
These flights will be nonstop and the first of these flights is slated to begin on November 1st, 2023.
See below for the routes slated to launch soon to Florida by Porter Airlines.
| Destination A | Destination B | Start Date | Aircraft |
| Toronto Pearson International Airport | Orlando International Airport | November 21st, 2023 | Embraer E195 E2 |
| Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport | Orlando International Airport | November 21st, 2023 | Embraer E195 E2 |
| Toronto Pearson International Airport | Tampa International Airport | November 1st, 2023 | Embraer E195 E2 |
| Toronto Pearson International Airport | Fort Myers | November 10th,2023 | Embraer E195 E2 |
| Toronto Pearson International Airport | Fort Lauderdale International Airport | November 10th, 2023 | Embraer E195 E2 |
| Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport | Fort Lauderdale International Airport | November 10th, 2023 | Embraer E195 E2 |
| Toronto Pearson International Airport | Miami International Airport | December 21st, 2023 | Embraer E195 E2 |
West Coast of United States
With the inclusion of the Embraer E195 E2 to their aircraft fleet, Porter Airlines also announced several transcontinental routes from Canada to the West Coast of the United States.
Starting in Q1 2024, Porter is going to begin offering flights from Toronto Pearson International Airport to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.
This is a pretty interesting move by Porter as now they are challenging Air Canada, WestJet, and other major Canadian airlines on pretty attractive routes.
Headwinds will be against Porter as these major aircraft have larger aircraft flying these routes capable of holding more passengers.
With Porter using a regional-type aircraft on this route, they’ll have to hope that the efficiency of operating the Embraer helps keep these routes profitable for the airline.
The only other airline in North America that comes to mind flying a transcontinental route with a regional-type aircraft is Breeze Airways and their Airbus A220s.
| Destination A | Destination B | Start Date | Aircraft |
| Toronto Pearson International Airport | Los Angeles International Airport | January 16th, 2024 | Embraer E195 E2 |
| Toronto Pearson International Airport | San Francisco International Airport | January 25th, 2024 | Embraer E195 E2 |
| Toronto Pearson International Airport | Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport | March 24th, 2024 | Embraer E195 E2 |
Update – In December 2023, Porter Airlines and Alaska Airlines announced a partnership that will allow Porter customers even more access to West Coast destinations via Alaska Airlines.
Sources
https://enjoy.flyporter.com/2023/new-routes/index.html
https://simpleflying.com/porter-airlines-adds-los-angeles-san-francisco-flights/
