Porter Airlines to unveil growth plans that will include the Bombardier CSeries

(Photo: Bombardier)

TORONTO -- Porter Airlines says it will announce expansion plans Wednesday that a report says will involve an order for up to 30 CSeries jets from Bombardier.

"Porter Airlines to spread its wings," the airline said as it announced a news conference to outline its plans at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.

The event comes as the Wall Street Journal, citing two people familiar with the deal, reported Tuesday that Porter signed a letter of intent with Montreal-based Bombardier in December for the CSeries jets.

The addition of the CSeries jets would be a major shift for Porter, which currently uses only the smaller Bombardier Q400 turboprop planes in its fleet.

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Bombardier announced in December that an unidentified customer in the Americas had expressed interest in a dozen, 110- to 125-seat CS100 jets with an option on 18 more.

It valued the 30 planes at US$2.08 billion before discounts.

Bombardier spokesman Marc Duchesne wouldn't confirm the report Tuesday and said it's up to customers to announce orders.

Porter competes with Air Canada and WestJet Airlines Ltd. and has differentiated itself by using a small island airport near downtown Toronto as its main base.

Analyst Walter Spracklin of RBC Capital Markets said the aircraft's ability to use runways of around 4,500 feet and low noise output make the CSeries "an ideal aircraft" for Billy Bishop Airport, on one of the Toronto islands.

"However, we believe that significant rework at Billy Bishop, which currently has a runway of 4,000 feet, will have to be completed before the CS100 is able to fly out of the island airport," he wrote in a report.

Bombardier says the smaller of the two CSeries aircraft can take off at a minimum of 4,000 feet and land at 4,400 feet.

Spracklin said Porter could also be looking to deploy the CSeries from alternate airports, including Montreal, to expand its destinations in the United States.

"Should this order be confirmed, Bombardier is well on its way in securing close to 200 firm CSeries orders," he added.

Porter flies to about a dozen cities in Eastern Canada and the United States and carried 2.45 million passengers last year.

On Monday, the privately owned airline announced a labour agreement between 44 unionized cleaning staff at Billy Bishop Airport and Porter FBO Ltd.

Porter said the workers, represented by the National Organized Workers (NOW) union, voted 88 per cent in favour of the new contract.

Meanwhile, 22 employees who refuel planes for Porter Airlines were still on strike after talks broke down nearly three months ago.

The workers have been off the job since Jan. 10 after management and the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union couldn't agree on wages. The fuel workers have been trying to negotiate a first contract since organizing last August.

Porter has trained replacement workers to fill in during the labour disruption.

On the Toronto Stock Exchange, Bombardier's shares increased six cents at $4.06 in Tuesday morning trading.