Porter Airlines Will Now Restart on June 21

Canadian short-haul carrier Porter Airlines will now aim to restart operations on June 21.

The carrier has not flown since March 21, 2020, and the announcement on Monday is the third time it has pushed back its restart date. Porter had targeted March 2021 to restart, but pushed that date back to May citing “more restrictive travel rules by governments.”

Now the carrier is again delaying its restart to June 21, citing those same travel restrictions, while also saying it is optimistic about a summer restart.

“In recent weeks, there has been open discussion by government officials about easing travel restrictions based on expectations that vaccination programs will be well advanced in the U.S. and Canada by early summer,” said Michael Deluce, president and CEO of Porter Airlines.

“We recognize that short-term public health measures have been enhanced recently in certain jurisdictions. At the same time, we are looking ahead to summer and preparing for the possibility of some travel restrictions unwinding. We will begin the process of rebuilding our operations as soon as conditions allow based on government decisions.”

Prior to the pandemic, Porter served 16 domestic destinations from Toronto, in addition to 5 cities in the U.S..