Porter - This time round

[Squid]

all this plus an erosion to the yul market by skyregional. I can't wait to see how many aeroplan miles are offered up!

[LisaS]

Ouch Aileron. That's not good news at all. Guess that's why the racoons are starting to jump ship before she sinks.

[airliner]

It's funny listening to both, bitter people who haven't been hired by Porter, and a bunch of squatters living on an island. Truth be told our planes aren't full they are around the 62.4% mark. Sometimes we have 70 pax sometimes we have 40 pax. In all we are doing well and getting better all the time. You would have to actually come to the island and wait for the ferry...."Wait a minute this thing is full." Didn't they just buy a new larger ferry?

You never know I might be sucking D's in the poggie line with you after all, but I doubt it.

[airliner]

It isn't rat its Raccoons. We don't jump ship and we don't even like to swim, but we do eat garbage and like to poop.

[rudder]

L/F improvements are largely irrelevant if accompanied by depressed yields. In the end, unless RASM exceeds CASM then it is an unsustainable condition (unless the private equity sponsors remain generous and committed).

Typically, increased competition results in falling yields particularly if the market in question is oversaturated with capacity.

[aileron]

So... Squid, come on and take the bet; don't bury your stance with a bunch of statistics made up by an organisation whose sole purpose is to bolster their existance in their utopian world!!! The year isn't over yet; I made a fair counter offer to your bet, ie "If Porter does not excercise their 6 options" to match your claim that:

"...I'll bet a hot cup of tims that they won't be growing much if not downsizing over the next year."

Are you going to turn down $50 if I'm wrong and you're right?

[twinpratts]

but we do eat garbage and like to poop.

nice one!

[Valhalla]

CommunityAIR's Press Release, today:

Really??? C'mon Squid. You Westjetters can do better than quoting CommunityAir.

[Squid]

WS?

[COMETer]

WS?

WS stands for WestJet

Just like

AC = Air Canada

[Squid]

I realize that, it that Val thinks we all work for ws. Makes no difference anyway for what the point was. If I worked at porter I would still say the same stuff.

[Valhalla]

I realize that, it that Val thinks we all work for ws. Makes no difference anyway for what the point was. If I worked at porter I would still say the same stuff.

My appologies for the Westjet thing. That really didn't have anything to do with this thread.

However, I'm still dissapointed that you would validate the opinion of an anti-airport lobby group. Trust me, nobody that works at Porter believes anything CommunityAir has to say.

[Valhalla]

And in other news...


Air Canada has been ordered by a high court to pay almost $1 million each to rival Porter Airlines and the Toronto Port Authority in an ongoing battle to fly out of the downtown island airport.

The princely sum was awarded by Judge Robert Hughes of the Federal Court of Canada on Jan. 4 in a dispute that began in July 2010, when Air Canada was awarded 30 tarmac slots to fly out of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.

The airline filed a judicial review to challenge and increase the number of slots granted by the Toronto Port Authority (TPA) but that was dismissed by the high court, who ordered Air Canada last Tuesday to pay court costs of almost $900,000 to the TPA and $992,671 to Porter.

Access to the busy downtown airport — a hit with business travellers in particular — has been a point of contention between the two carriers.

“We are very pleased with the outcome,” said Greg Sheahan, of Ogilvy Renault LLP, who represented Porter. “The award granted by the court is to cover legal fees and out of pocket expenses.”

After flying out of Billy Bishop for 15 years, Air Canada was barred from the site in 2004 when the TPA allowed its terminal lease to expire.

Porter has enjoyed exclusive rights to the airport since 2006.

A TPA decision last year to open up additional room at the airport saw 44 time slots awarded to Porter, forcing Air Canada’s Jazz and Continental Airlines to split 30.

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said his airline plans to begin daily service from Billy Bishop this year.

“Air Canada looks forward to resuming service at the island airport promptly and serving our many customers who have been looking forward to that event,” Fitzpatrick said on Friday.

He said the airline is negotiating with the TPA to obtain gates and other airport space.

“Our customers want to fly out from this airport,” Fitzpatrick said. “It is something we hope to be doing sooner rather than later.”

Porter head Robert Deluce has said the case was an attempt to distract and derail his airline.

[aileron]

"... Makes no difference anyway for what the point was. If I worked at porter I would still say the same stuff."

Believe me, NOBODY at Porter is saying:

"...I'll bet a hot cup of tims that they won't be growing much if not downsizing over the next year."

LOL! I guess when you work for the underdog you expect those around you to predict your demise, but certainly not your peers and certainly not your own staff.

[Maurice]

Go to http://www.flyporter.com click on about porter, then news releases. Here you will find everything back to 2006, there you can look and see just how much the load factor has increased each year, month to month. The company is continually showing an increase in load factor as well as RPM. As of November the load factor YTD was 53.4% and they break even at %49. I don't see Porter ever having as high a load factor as WJ, but they don't need to have it that high because they bread even so much lower.

I think the correct way to say it is Porter broke even at 49%. I’d be extremely surprised if Porter’s breakeven load factor is less than 50% now. I’d love to see the numbers to back up the 49% that Robert likes to say in one breath while talking about the current load factor in the next. What would really be useful information would be CASM and RASM, load factor in isolation is relatively meaningless.

[justwork]

Looking through the porter website it seems like 2011 has had it's share of ups and downs!

January 2011:
Load factor 62.4%

February 2011:
Load factor increased over %7 to %52
Added routes: Windsor ON and Sault Ste. Marie ON

March 2011
Load factor %51
and increases service to Thunder Bay

April 2011
Load factor %54
Starts serving Starbucks coffee

May 2011
Load factor %59.5

June 2011
Load factor %65
Increases flights to Sudbury

July 2011
Highest load factor in the companies history at %67

August 2011
Load factor even higher at %68
Increases service to Boston

September 2011
Load factor %68
Awarded 16 more slots out of the island
Opens Halifax base
Fall service to Myrtle beach

October 2011
Load factor %68
Announces Burlington Vermont as a seasonal destination
Increases service to the Sault
Adds Timmins as a destination
Celebrates 5 years of service

November
Load Factor %66
Expands fleet with 2 brand new Q400's
Winter service to Myrtle beach
Adds 7th Boston flight

December... I'll be interested to see what happens.

Congrats to all the Porter folks.

[Deltawidget]

Porter had non-stop seats sales this year. For quite some time they had a 50% off fare sale, so I'm sure that contributed to the increase in load factor.

I'm not a Porter basher, just conveying my perspective on why the loads may have gone up.

I myself find load factors somewhat meaningless... You can probably get your load factor to 100% if you offered each seat for a buck.

Hopefully, yields along with loads are increasing. that would be great news for Porter

[Gino Under]

Load factors can deceive. A break even will depend on sector length and air fare charged for that sector. I'm sure each sector Porter flies has different air fares and therefore differing load factors and break evens.
So how does anyone, especially a pilot with no experience running an airline, determine whether or not these guys are making money hand over fist or standing on the escalator to bankruptcy?
I'd say so far so good.
I know they get far more kudos than the jazz players or sky guys.

(jus' sayin')

Gino Under