News
Porter on verge of ordering up to 30 Cseries jets
April 9, 2013, Toronto - The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Toronto-based Porter Airlines is preparing to announce an order for up to 30 CSeries jets from Bombardier Inc.
April 9, 2013 By The Canadian Press
The paper also said Porter — which currently uses only Bombardier turboprop planes in its fleet — signed a letter of intent with Montreal-based Bombardier in December.
Bombardier announced at the time that an unidentified customer in the Americas had expressed interest in a dozen, 110-seat CS100 jets with an option on 18 more. It valued the 30 planes at $2.08 billion before discounts.
Porter flies to roughly 20 cities in Eastern Canada and the United States and carried 2.45 million passengers last year.
It competes against the much larger Air Canada and WestJet Airlines Ltd. and has differentiated itself by using a small island airport near downtown Toronto and using only Bombardier Q400 turboprop planes.
Neither Bombardier nor Porter has commented publicly on the report, which cites two unidentified sources familiar with the deal.
On Monday, privately owned Porter announced a labour agreement between 44 unionized cleaning staff at Billy Bishop Airport, on one of the Toronto islands, and Porter FBO Ltd.
Porter said the workers, represented by the National Organized Workers (NOW) union, voted 88 per cent in favour of the new
contract.
Meanwhile, 22 employees who refuel planes for Porter Airlines were still on strike after talks broke down nearly three months ago.
The workers have been off the job since Jan. 10 after management and the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union couldn't agree on wages. The fuel workers have been trying to negotiate a first contract since organizing last August.
Porter has trained replacement workers to fill in during the labour disruption.
