Porter Airlines expansion plans could be delayed until 2015

TORONTO – The decision to allow Porter Airlines to fly jets out of Toronto’s island airport may be delayed until 2015, according to a report released by the city on Thursday.

The report recommends that a council vote on the Billy Bishop Airport expansion be pushed back due to unanswered questions over the project.

City councillors have had mixed opinions on whether or not to allow growth on the island airport. Adam Vaughan, city councillor for the area around Billy Bishop, said there is not enough information to move forward at this time.

“This is a very complex and a very, very expensive proposition,” said Vaughan. “We’re trying to build Ottawa international airport with 4 million passengers a year on a piece of land a third of that size of that airport with none of the other infrastructure and no way of paying for it.”

Earlier this year, Porter Airlines announced the purchase of 12 CS100 Bombardier jets with the goal of reaching new destinations such as Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, California, Florida and the Caribbean.

Vaughan said he does not consider the debate on jets to be the biggest issue, but is concerned with how a project of this magnitude is going to be funded.

“It’s not a question of jets or no jets, it’s a question of whether or not we have hundreds, and hundreds of millions of dollars lying around the city, simply to get people from a taxi to an airport,” said the Vaughan.

On the other hand, both Mayor Rob Ford and Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly have made public their support for the motion to expand Billy Bishop. Kelly said putting off a decision could set the development back for an extensive period of time.

“Any postponement of a decision on the island airport, one of the major assets of the city, would probably be postponed for at least a decade,” said Kelly. “I’d like to approach it in a way that gives the asset an opportunity to grow now, rather than put it off until 2015 and maybe put it off for the next decade, depending on what the next administration might be comprised of.”

Robert Deluce, Porter’s chief executive, said enough research has already been done to move this motion to council. He said they have already received tests gauging noise levels from the new jets as well as reports on expanding runways. He added that while infrastructure will be needed to help support the project, the job creation that would come from it would add “1000 new incremental jobs for Torontonians.”

“There’s a significant amount of information now available for council to make a decision based on the benefits it brings to Torontonians and the travelling public,” said Deluce.

He said this might just be a stall tactic by those that have opposed the airport all along.

“(There) isn’t a lot of point in sort of delaying. You have to put it in perspective and there are certain councillors who didn’t ever want to study the issue in the first place, so the same councillors who would like to delay it,” he said. “So no amount of – there’s no time or information will ever satisfy those councillors.”

In order to land the new jets, the company wants to lengthen the runway by 200 metres on each end.

READ MORE: Poll suggests majority of Torontonians support Porter expansion plans

But before they can accomplish that, the airline needs to convince Toronto city council to amend an airport agreement between the municipality, the federal government and the Toronto Harbour Commission which states no jets are to operate or land at the airport.

Residents and city officials have argued the plan will raise the noise level in the downtown waterfront where the island airport is situated.

Earlier this fall, the city launched a public consultation process to get input from citizens about the airport expansion.

The final report looking into the plan was scheduled to be brought forward at the December 5 meeting of the Executive Committee.

If they determine that the matter should be referred to full council, it will move forward on Dec. 16.