Porter Airlines estimates its planes will take to the skies once again on March 29.
The Toronto-based airline announced its tentative restart date in a news release on Jan. 11.
“With the introduction of vaccines, we are more optimistic about determining a date in the near term to reintroduce flights than at any point since the pandemic began,” Michael Deluce, Porter’s president and CEO, said in the release.
“More time is needed to assess the vaccine’s influence on current travel restrictions and when it is appropriate to begin operations again. We expect to establish a timeline for this to happen in the first part of 2021.”
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By the time Porter planes are in service again, it will be more than a year since the airline has been fully operational.
It halted operations on March 21, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Porter has shifted its restart date multiple times since then; most recently, the airline had targetted February for its restart.
Lack of customer demand due to increasing COVID-19 cases and ongoing travel restrictions are among its reasons for deferring service.
The company said it would provide an update this winter “based on the status of the pandemic and the evolution of government measures that may promote greater freedom to travel.”
Based out of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, the airline offers flights to Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Halifax, St. John’s, Stephenville, N.L., Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Timmins, Windsor, New York (Newark), Chicago (Midway), Boston and Washington (Dulles), and has seasonal flights to Mt. Tremblant, Que., Muskoka, Ont., and Myrtle Beach, S.C.
