Controversies
Porter Airlines' launch was controversial, as it pitted Toronto residents seeking to close or stop the expansion of the airport against business interests and a government agency determined to make the airport self-sufficient. In 2002, the 'Toronto City Centre Airport', or 'Island Airport', operated by the Toronto Port Authority (TPA) (renamed in 2015 as "PortsToronto") was subsidized by CA$1 million per year. Only Air Canada flew flights from the airport as part of its Jazz service, operating daily flights to Ottawa after the closure of the regional airline City Express in 1991. In October 2002, the TPA announced a CA$35 million plan of improvements to the airport to expand its usage. The TPA planned to build a CA$15 million bridge and a CA$20 million airport terminal. A new regional airline would be launched at the airport, to be run by Robert Deluce, the former CEO of Air Ontario. Since its opening, the airport, located on Toronto Island, was accessible by passenger ferry only and the ferry-only access was seen as an obstacle to expansion. In a deal with the City of Toronto government, the TPA's plans were approved by Toronto City Council in November 2002.
The TPA's plans were opposed by neighbouring residents and community associations who together formed the Community Air special interest group to fight the expansion. The expansion became a primary issue in the 2003 Toronto municipal election. Mayoral candidates Barbara Hall and John Tory supported the bridge and David Miller opposed it. Miller and a slate of like-minded candidates for council ran on a common platform, the centrepiece of which was to stop the bridge. After Miller was elected mayor in November 2003, the new council voted to cancel the previous Council's decision, stopping the bridge project. Concerns raised include safety. The airport's main runway is 4,000 feet (1,200 m) long, 600 feet (180 m) shorter than Bombardier's specifications for a fully loaded Q400. Porter solved this problem by fitting the planes for 70 passengers, less than the maximum load of 78 passengers. There are several cautions to pilots flying into the airport, including boat masts, a nearby wind turbine, and no-fly areas. The flight path into the airport requires the airplanes to fly an approach offset from the runway centre-line to avoid nearby hazards such as tall chimneys and buildings.
After the bridge was cancelled, Deluce launched a CA$505 million lawsuit against the City of Toronto and later expanded it to the Government of Canada. After receiving an unspecified amount of compensation from the TPA to settle the suit, his company bought the airport building that Jazz was using at the airport and cancelled Jazz's lease on January 31, 2006. Two days later, on February 2, 2006, he announced that Porter Airlines, a regional airline operating locally built Bombardier turboprops would begin service in 2006, operating from the airport, initially on a Toronto-Ottawa route. In a show of political support, the Porter press conference was staged at the Bombardier plant in suburban Toronto, where the airplanes are built, with support from Canadian Auto Workers leader Buzz Hargrove, who said it would create new employment opportunities in the region.
Jazz filed a CA$11.5 million lawsuit against the TPA and later, Porter, in the Ontario Superior Court in February 2006, alleging that the TPA signed contracts forcing Jazz out of the airport, causing a monopoly at the airport, and were anti-competitive. Jazz later filed a suit in Federal Court. On October 20, 2009, Jazz formally dropped its suit in Ontario Court, but continued its lawsuit against Porter and the TPA in Federal Court. According to the announcement, Jazz dropped the matter in provincial court as the TPA is a federal agency, and the airport is a federal facility. Damages in the federal case were not specified. Porter filed a counter-claim to Jazz' lawsuit citing damages of CA$850 million, based on Jazz' agreement with Air Canada.
The airline's maiden flight took place on October 23, 2006, to Ottawa. When flights began, airline passengers were at first blocked by protesters at the ferry dock, urging a boycott of the service.
The TPA confirmed at its annual meeting of September 12, 2008, that Porter was fined for breaking noise curfews in its operations following complaints from local residents. The TPA commissioned a study to reduce noise from Porter's takeoffs and landings.
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In January 2009, the TPA announced plans to purchase a new, larger passenger ferry to support Porter's expansion plans. The ferry was financed out of an improvement fee to be charged to passengers. The ferry had been proposed by Porter's Deluce to the TPA's Board of Directors over the period of March – June 2008. The decision to approve the CA$5 million ferry precipitated a conflict-of-interest investigation of TPA director Colin Watson, who is a self-described friend of Deluce, and who voted in a 5–4 decision to approve the ferry. Watson was cleared of the charge by the federal ethics commissioner Mary Dawson in June 2009.
At the September 2009 annual meeting of the TPA, it was disclosed that Porter has broken its 11 p.m. curfew for landing at the airport three times in 2009, each time incurring a CA$5,000 fine. On one occasion, a Porter plane landed at the airport after-hours even after being advised by controllers to land at Pearson. According to Deluce, "You know hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of flights come and go on a daily basis, so there are very, very few occasions where it happens. And there are also particular circumstances — and the circumstances are rare — to operate outside these normal times." According to the TPA, they are powerless to stop Porter other than imposing fines, and that planes landing at the airport when no controllers are present is not a safety risk. TPA director Mark McQueen requested that the NAV Canada personnel stay on-site until the last flight has landed, but NAV Canada refused to do so.
On February 9, 2012, Transport Canada advised Porter it had received an Access to Information request for what are called "Notices of Suspension issues to Porter." Such notices are departmental warnings with strict deadlines to deal with problems that could be safety related, but could also be demands to replace key personnel, like pilots, who have left the company. Transport Canada told Porter it was considering releasing some information and wanted a written response from the company detailing why any records should be withheld. Based on Porter's response, the department decided to release a censored version of the material in question. Porter went to court to prevent that from happening. On July 11, 2013, the federal court ruled in Porter's favour and the Confidentiality Order dated September 14, 2012 would remain in effect. A technical issue with Transport Canada's handling of the matter was cited as the reason for the ruling.
On January 10, 2013, 22 Porter ground crew members went on strike in Toronto. This was the airline's first labour dispute since it began business. In April 2013, Porter filed a libel lawsuit against the Canadian Office and Professional Employees union representing the 22 striking workers. Porter suit was for CA$4 million in damages for alleged defamatory statements made by the union using its Twitter account. The strike was settled in June 2013, and Porter's lawsuit was dropped.
In June 2017, it was announced on Twitter that Porter Airlines had "blacklisted" the conservative Canadian media website "The Rebel Media", and had directly tweeted to Ezra Levant notifying him in person that they had removed their advertisements from Rebel Media's advertising space. Levant reacted by calling for a boycott of the airline. Porter Airlines subsequently apologized for the use of the word "blacklist".
2013 Toronto–Billy Bishop airport expansion and jets proposal
In April 2013, Porter announced expansion plans to serve new destinations in Western Canada, California and Florida. To support the expansion, Porter reached a provisional agreement to purchase 12 107-seat Bombardier CS100 jets, with a future option to purchase up to 18 more. Porter's plans required regulatory and facility changes to its Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport hub. Porter asked for modifications to the operating agreement of the airport to allow jets and extensions to the runway to support the new aircraft, which Deluce claimed are quieter than its Q400s. The TPA stated that it had no position on the expansion and would await a decision from Toronto City Council.
Then-Toronto Mayor Rob Ford had indicated his support for the proposal while some councillors expressed their opposition with others urging further study. Porter CEO Robert Deluce was already a supporter of Mayor Ford, having contributed the maximum CA$2,500 to Ford's mayoral campaign while other Deluce family members donated an additional $5,000 to Ford's campaign. Deluce privately sought Ford's support on the proposal before its public announcement but the meetings between Ford and Deluce raised controversy as Deluce had not registered with the city as a lobbyist.
When announcing the proposal, Porter Airlines claimed in advertisements that 2/3 of Torontonians polled supported the expansion. However, the result was disputed by pollster Warren Kinsella who considered the survey's trustworthiness tainted as it was done by Nick Kouvalis, Ford's 2010 campaign manager, and the questions were 'directing' the result. The No Jets TO group filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Council of Canada, calling the ads "patently false".
Toronto City Council held public consultations on the proposal during the fall of 2013, leading to a city staff report addressing the proposal. At the same time, Porter mounted a public relations campaign, based around the porterplans.com web site. Porter customers were telephoned and e-mailed and radio and newspaper advertisements were bought by Porter asking for the public to register their support with Toronto Council. After the consultation, and study of consultant reports, City staff recommended in a report to delay acting on the proposal until 2015. Concerns about the required infrastructure, public health concerns and the lack of an airport master plan were cited by staff. The TPA was also seeking an extension of the airport management agreement as a condition of the proposal. City Council's executive committee on December 5 voted to delay consideration of the proposal until 2014.
Another public hearing at Council was announced for January 27, 2014. At that time, Toronto City Council announced it could not support the proposal without further studies from the TPA, leading the body to initiate a series of investigation and viability analyses. In November 2015, federal Minister of Transport Marc Garneau announced he would not support the proposal and in December 2015, the TPA (rebranded as PortsToronto 11 months before) announced that it had "halted work on an environmental assessment and two studies" it had commissioned concerning the expansion.
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