Air Transat (TS, Montréal Trudeau) and Porter Airlines (P3, Toronto Billy Bishop City Centre) have announced they will deepen their existing codeshare agreement by creating a fully-fledged joint venture. Porter will effectively feed Air Transat's medium- and long-haul leisure-focused routes.
"This historic agreement constitutes a significant step forward in executing Transat's strategic plan and an important milestone in developing a more sustainable competitive network," declared Annick Guérard, president and chief executive of Air Transat.
"Porter is in the midst of disrupting the North American market through a significant continental expansion that will only be amplified by this alliance. The flow of passengers on both carriers means that Porter will be able to develop a more robust network by increasing flight frequency on key domestic and transborder routes and entering into new markets with less point-to-point traffic," commented Michael Deluce, president and CEO of Porter Airlines.
The carriers expect to implement the JV in 2024. They have had a codeshare agreement in place since 2022.
Air Transat does not operate any regional aircraft and has no domestic network. The ch-aviation fleets module shows that its fleet comprises eight A321-200s, fifteen A321-200NX(LR)s, eleven A330-200s, and two A330-300s. It focuses on leisure markets in the Caribbean, the United States, Central America, and Europe, with individual destinations in North Africa (Marrakech) and South America (Lima International and Cartagena Rafael Núñez International). The carrier flies mainly out of Montréal Trudeau with a secondary base at Toronto Pearson.
In turn, Porter Airlines focuses on the domestic and US markets, operating twenty-nine DHC-8-Q400s and twenty-three E195-E2s (the latter via the Porter Airlines Canada technical AOC). It has 100 E195-E2s on order in total. The airline's largest bases are at Toronto Pearson and Toronto Billy Bishop City Centre, although it also has 99 weekly scheduled departures from Montréal.
