Porter to buy as many as 80 Embraer jets for $5.82-billion in bid to expand North American network

The Globe and Mail – 12 July 2021

By Andrew Willis and Nicolas van Praet

“This is a huge jump for [Porter],” said Addison Schonland of boutique aerospace consultancy AirInsight Group, adding that expanding to Pearson will pit the company more squarely against rivals. Porter currently has 29 aircraft, compared with more than 100 at Westjet and 150 in the Air Canada fleet.

“Okay, you’re going to Pearson. That’s a big-boy airport with all the other big-boy competitors,” Mr. Schonland said. “How big is the Canadian market to enable Porter to survive against people like Flair, which is a low-cost operator, Air Canada, which is the giant in the room, and WestJet, which is a very clever operator?”

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