Written by Will Novosedlik
On Feb. 1, Porter airlines’ new fleet of Embraer E195-E2 jet aircraft took to the air from Pearson International with flights bound for Montreal and Ottawa. It’s currently flying five of the new aircraft, with another 25 on the way by the end of the year, expanding Porter from a regional to a long-haul carrier. It has ordered 50 of the E195-E2’s in total, with purchase rights on another 50.
Porter’s growth strategy was put on ice seven years ago when the airline lost its bid to fly jets out of Billy Bishop airport, due to the facility’s proximity to Toronto’s densely populated downtown core. So in September 2020, CEO and founder Michael Deluce hatched a new plan: keep using Billy Bishop for regional turboprop flights while securing slots on the tarmac at Pearson International for a new fleet of jets with the capability of reaching more distant locations.
Competing for business at the country’s busiest airport will be a lot different than operating out of Billy Bishop, where Porter has long enjoyed exclusive status. As Eric Atkins put it in a recent article in the Globe and Mail, by operating out of Pearson, Porter is now “just one of several discount carriers offering cheap seats in an attempt to gain a toehold in the domestic market.”
Porter’s chief commercial officer Kevin Jackson would like to disagree with that. “I would not put Porter in the category of discount carrier. I think consumers put ultra-low-cost carriers in that bucket. We, on the other hand, offer an economy experience to our passengers that is far superior to that of any other carrier in North America,” says Jackson.
When Porter entered the market 17 years ago, it designed its business model to elevate the economy experience beyond what the legacy carriers could deliver at the same price. The strategy paid off, earning it a consistently high net promoter score of around 60, and an 85% customer satisfaction score. Jackson adds that if you look at the market share of Air Canada, WestJet and Porter within Porter’s markets, Porter is number two in every one of them.
Numbers like that make Jackson confident that the move to Pearson is going to be a success. We asked if being so strongly associated with Billy Bishop will make it hard to gain a toehold on the much more crowded tarmac at Canada’s busiest airport. “As we embark on our expansion, which includes Pearson, you’re also going to see us expanding out of other markets such as Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax” says Jackson.
“These are markets today where some of our flights never touch Billy Bishop, yet we continue to run the highest net promoter and customer satisfaction scores in aviation. We’re well known for what we created at Billy Bishop, but our reputation runs beyond just one airport. As we expand across these multiple markets in eastern Canada, we have a great headstart because our customers trust the experience we’re going to create for them.”
In a recent demo flight on the new E192-E2 planes, Jackson asked passengers if this new aircraft “felt like Porter.” The responses were unanimous: from the two-by-two seating (no middle seats) to the design aesthetic, and the flight crew and how they interact with passengers, it was all very much on brand.
Porter offers two fare levels: Porter Reserve and Porter Classic, which, to the untrained ear, sounds like just another way of saying premium and economy class. Jackson claims otherwise: “We’ve taken a very different approach. We’re not saying that Porter Reserve is a premium service, because passengers who fly Porter Reserve don’t get better food, or better service, or better wine. They get all of the same products as our Porter Classic passengers, and access to the same level of quality service: free beer and wine, free wi-fi, same quality food and beverage. The only difference is that in Porter Reserve, everything is included in the fare. With Porter Classic, you select some of those elements a la carte.”
The culinary experience is rich with offerings from premium suppliers such as Beau’s Brewing Co., Balzac’s Coffee Roasters, Sloane Fine Tea Merchants, Toronto’s Cheese Boutique and Nadège.
Even the loyalty program, VIPorter, is different from the legacy carriers. For every dollar of spend, you earn a minimum of five points, regardless of whether you’re flying Reserve or Classic. On the legacy carriers, you don’t get the full value of your points until you are at a certain fare level.
To get the message out, Porter is entirely dependent on an in-house team of comms and creatives. It has retained the Mr. Porter mascot and the look and feel originally created for the brand by Winkreative back in 2006. While it relied entirely on traditional channels 17 years ago, today it has leaned heavily into the social channels. Jackson says, “We’ve got incredibly high brand advocacy from our passengers. Activating our loyal fan base on social media lets our passengers endorse the product, which has a lot more credibility than just advertising.”
