Porter Airlines (P3, Toronto Billy Bishop City Centre) is reportedly close to finalizing a CAD750million (USD633million) deal with InstarAGF Asset Management Inc., a joint venture between AGF Management Ltd. and Instar Group Inc. specializing in infrastructural projects, concerning the former's sale of its passenger terminal at Toronto Billy Bishop City Centre.
Bloomberg news quotes sources close to the negotiations as stating that an agreement could be reached as early as this month with the carrier to then lease back the terminal once the transaction is complete. Last year, Porter Airline management said the disposal of the asset would allow them to focus on their core airline business.
Located on an island in Toronto Harbour, just offshore from the city's downtown business and tourism districts, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport has seen strong investment from Porter which, in 2010, built the 14,000 sqm passenger terminal capable of handling 1.2 million per annum. The carrier has proposed extending the airport's 1'200m-long runway 08/26 to allow for the operation of its incoming fleet of A220-100s; part of its longterm expansion plans which could see it opening the airfield up to jet-operated flights to Western Canada, California and Florida.
Meanwhile, Air Canada (AC, Montréal Trudeau), has announced that excessive charges levied by Toronto City Centre operator, Porter Holdings, are forcing it to reconsider its presence there, despite numbers being posted.
"While Air Canada’s traffic and load factor at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport increased in 2014 over the previous year, as part of its continuing cost transformation initiatives, Air Canada is assessing the viability of Billy Bishop operations based on current imposed terminal rates and terms," it said.
Air Canada currently serves Montréal Trudeau on an hourly basis from the downtown Toronto airport via its Sky Regional Airlines (Montréal Trudeau) affiliate's Dash 8-400 fleet.
