First Porter Airlines flight from Toronto lands in North Bay!

The inaugural Porter Airlines flight from Toronto arrived in North Bay early Wednesday afternoon.

The first direct flight from the Toronto Island Airport to the North Bay Airport happened at 12:40 in the afternoon.

Porter Airlines President Robert Deluce says it’s only the beginning.

He says once a day a flight will leave Toronto for North Bay stop for passengers who are going to Timmins and then return in a couple of hours before leaving for a non stop flight from North Bay-Toronto.

Deluce says their flights will be affordable at 159 dollars if you book by October 14th and travel by February 11th of next year.

He says fares have been outrageously high here for a number of years and they were influenced by that when deciding to come to North Bay.

Deluce says past experience shows when there’s competition prices go down by as much as 60 per cent in some cases.

He also says they offer on board drinks, complimentary snacks, leather seats, extra leg room on the 74 seat Bombardier Q400 a and lounges in Toronto.

Another plus is closer proximity to Toronto’s downtown as they fly in to the Billy Bishop Airport and not Pearson.

Meantime, Canadore president George Burton is on the Airport board.

He was asked what having Porter here will mean for the airport and he says there’s more choice now and he expects the cost of air fares will decrease.

Burton says another plus is there will be greater access to North Bay from other markets and vice versa.

To book go on line at www.flyporter.com

Porter also offers flight and hotel packages through www.porterescapes.com