Porter Airlines—The Little Airline That Could
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Porter Airlines—The Little Airline That Could Up until a few years ago, the Toronto Island Airport (TIA) was a desolate place. A few flights would leave and land at an airport in the shadows of the Bay Street office towers in downtown Toronto. No one would have guessed that this tiny airport would be the launching pad of something rather unheard of in Canada—an airline success story. But taking off from the short runways of TIA was Porter Airlines—Canada’s newest aviation venture. Rising from the ashes of other airlines’ attempts at competing with mighty Air Canada— Wardair, Canadian Airlines, Zip, and Jetsgo, to name only a few— Porter Airlines has succeeded by finding itself a niche, not only at the TIA, but in the market for Canadian air travellers looking for something different. Many say that to win at air travel in Canada, you have to fight on the battleground that is Toronto’s main airport—Pearson International. Pearson is where Canada’s flagship airline, Air Canada, resides. The airport is easily Canada’s busiest, with over 33 million passengers passing through in 2008; it is the 22nd largest airport in the world; and it was a winner for best global airport in 2006. But Pearson also has the world’s most expensive landing fees and is a one-hour drive from downtown Toronto. Even so, it seemed that any airline that wanted to make it big in Canada would have to do so on the mean runways of Pearson. Not at all, decided Robert Deluce. Mr Deluce is the CEO of Porter Airlines, and the mind behind the move to the Island. The harbour airport in Toronto was a place Mr. Deluce was already familiar with, having run small aviation operations from the TIA over the years. After a bid to land local air carriers run by Air Canada in 1999 failed, Deluce decided it was time to go in another direction. He brought together various investors, including some very powerful and influential business and political leaders, to start Porter Aviation Holdings. A main focus for Deluce was securing the TIA as a launching pad for the new venture. Deluce knew the harbour airport was losing millions every year, and came to the rescue by offering a revitalization plan for TIA. Porter Aviation Holdings decided to buy the harbour airport, and, in short order, became the sole occupant at TIA after kicking out Air Canada’s regional airline, Jazz, in 2006. Porter’s inaugural flight was from TIA to Ottawa in October 2006. Since that first flight, Porter has gone from obscurity to success story in the often-turbulent Canadian airline industry. Success has been attributed to many factors. Porter has communicated a clear vision: “keep travel smart, uncomplicated and dignified.” The airline has also made a focused attempt to return sophistication to airline travel, reviving strategies from earlier eras. For example, Porter flight attendants wear pillbox hats like those worn in the 1950s and 60s, providing a visual representation of a time when airline travel was an extravagance and not a nuisance. Porter keeps its operations uncomplicated by flying regionally in Eastern North America, mostly in Eastern Canada: the carrier’s destinations include Chicago, Quebec City, New York, Halifax, Boston and St. John’s. But Porter has found its greatest success in the crucial Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal triangle, recently becoming the second biggest player in this lucrative market—behind Air Canada and ahead of WestJet. Porter flies the technologically advanced Bombardier Q400—a propeller airplane that is great on fuel and made in Canada. The leather seats are spaced for greater legroom, and complimentary beer and wine is on offer every flight. The Porter lobby at the TIA is fully serviced, has broadband Internet access, free food and drink, and a business centre with workstations. All of these facilities are suited for Porter’s key client—the short-haul business traveler. With all of these amenities on offer, it might be expected that Porter would charge more for sophistication. In fact, Porter prices are comparable to other airlines for the routes travelled, and Porter is actually seen as offering more transparent pricing policies. There still exists a class system of tickets, though: more options and alterations are available with the purchase of the more expensive “Freedom” tickets compared to the more restrictive “Firm” class of tickets. Porter has brought in designers and branding experts to build sophistication into the airline’s image, and together, they have developed a consistent feel to their ads since launching in 2006 The “spokes-raccoon” on the majority of communications pieces is “Mr. Porter.” The news has not all been rosy for Porter, though. After the financial meltdown of 2008–2009, Porter’s New York market dried up. Lawyers and business people stopped travelling for a while, threatening Deluce’s growth strategy. Unfazed, Deluce and Porter now look to grow in two directions: south and west. Porter has until recently only flown to more practical business destinations, and currently ranks well behind Air Canada, WestJet, and even US carriers for international air travel from Canada. One of the airline’s first ventures south has Porter flying to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a vacation destination for leisure and sports enthusiasts in major metropolitan areas in eastern North America. While Porter has a good thing going at TIA, there are reasons for it to look elsewhere in the future. Air Canada has been consistently fighting to get back into TIA, filing court motions and lawsuits in order to reclaim its tarmac spots. In mid-2010, when additional time slots were given out at TIA, Air Canada was allotted 30 time slots, but these had to be shared between Air Canada’s Jazz airline and US - based Continental Airlines. While Porter received an additional 44 time slots, pressure is beginning to mount on the smaller airline to devise a new direction. The move westward could provide that new direction for Deluce, but it will likely be one that is taken slowly and methodically. Porter currently flies to Thunder Bay; the airline also plans to fly to Winnipeg and Regina, parts of the country often largely ignored by Canada’s two biggest airlines. But Porter’s sights are clearly set on more lucrative and populous Western Canadian markets. And this is where you come in. Given your burgeoning marketing acumen, you are asked to develop a marketing strategy for Porter to enter the Calgary market. Deluce wants to focus on the business market that has gotten his company to this point, but also wishes to explore the leisure markets yet to be tapped. Remember, Calgary is WestJet territory, and you will have to navigate your way carefully to find a series of viable alternatives to present to Mr. Deluce at a meeting in about one month. He wants to get moving on his westward strategy, so he needs you to come up with ideas that will fly, and soon. https://www.flyporter.com/Flight/Tickets?culture=en-CA http://www.thestar.com/living/article/461422 http://www.torontoairport.com/airport-info/toronto-island.php http://www.anna.aero/tag/porter-airlines/ .