As posted, the president of Porter Airlines, Don Deluce, announced today that he has ordered up to 30 Bombardier CSeries. Mr. Deluce said he wants to fly the jets out of Billy Bishop (Island) Airport on routes across Canada and to the U.S. by 2016. He stressed that he is proceeding “respectfully” in the face of what will be seen as daunting business, jurisdictional and political concerns related to such a dream. For starters, he has to get the city to agree to lengthen the runway at the island airport, and get permission to fly jets from the island, something that is now forbidden. That task will seem a big one, given the anxiety felt on the issue by city council. And that does not deal with the federal government and the the established airlines which are not looking for competition. An anchor on the Business News Network said Porter was painting itself into a corner with government.
