Porter Airlines Tentatively Expects to Resume Operations in March

After suspending operations in March 2020 because of the impact of COVID-19, Toronto’s Porter Airlines today said that it expects to start flying again on March 29.

That date, which Porter made sure to say is only a tentative restart date, would mark more than a year since its original suspension.

“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,” Porter CEO and president Michael Deluce said in a statement.

“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 a timeline for this to happen in the first quarter of 2021.”

At the time of its original suspension, Porter said it was suspending operations to help “keep everyone healthy, and ultimately to end this fast-spreading pandemic.” Almost 10 months later, Porter believes that the regional carrier would be able to safely restart sometime before Q2, though it is still keeping a keen eye on Canada’s travel restrictions, including the additional of some that “may promote greater freedom to travel.”