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Porter Airlines resets tentative restart date to June 21

Passenger flights will resume as travel restrictions ease, says president
Porter Airlines plane in flight
Porter Airlines says it will resume passenger flights on June 21. (Supplied photo)

Porter Airlines is once again pushing back its operations restart date, this time to June 21.

The Toronto-based airline announced the decision in an April 12 news release.

Porter was previously set to start offering passenger flights again on May 19.

“In recent weeks, there has been open discussion by government officials about easing travel restrictions based on expectations that vaccination programs will be well advanced in the U.S. and Canada by early summer,” said Michael Deluce, president and CEO of Porter Airlines, in the release.

“We recognize that short-term public health measures have been enhanced recently in certain jurisdictions. At the same time, we are looking ahead to summer and preparing for the possibility of some travel restrictions unwinding. We will begin the process of rebuilding our operations as soon as conditions allow based on government decisions.”

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Porter suspended passenger flights on March 21, 2020, following the onset of COVID-19, and has rescheduled its restart date several times throughout the year.

 

Throughout the pandemic, the company has been faced with a number of challenges to the business, including a lack of customer demand due to increasing COVID cases, ongoing travel restrictions imposed by the federal government, and a closed U.S.-Canada border.

Based out of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, the airline offers flights to Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Halifax, St. John’s, Stephenville, N.L., Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Timmins, Windsor, New York (Newark), Chicago (Midway), Boston and Washington (Dulles), and has seasonal flights to Mt. Tremblant, Que., Muskoka, Ont., and Myrtle Beach, S.C.