Porter Airlines Turns 20 and Plans to Keep Growing About 25% a Year

October 24, 2026 — Porter Airlines turned 20 on Friday, October 23, two decades after its first Dash 8 flight from Toronto’s island airport to Ottawa. The carrier marked the anniversary by saying it plans to keep growing about 25% a year.

From one route to Canada’s No. 3 airline

Porter’s first flight, Toronto Billy Bishop to Ottawa, left on October 23, 2006. The airline celebrated the evening before at the Radisson Blu overlooking Billy Bishop, and CTV News Ottawa covered a celebration at Ottawa International Airport.

Porter at 20	Figure
Passengers carried since 2006	More than 49 million
Employees	Over 4,400 (about 100 at launch)
Fleet	85 aircraft: 56 Embraer E195-E2s and 29 Dash 8-400s (29 aircraft before the E2 arrived in 2023)
E195-E2 orders	Up to 100
Network	33 destinations, 131 routes; more than 90 routes added in three years
Growth plan	About 25% this year and another 25% next year

What’s next

More secondary-airport flying: Hamilton grows to 13 routes, and London, Ontario adds four sun routes this winter and five domestic routes next April.
Montréal Metropolitan Airport is being added; start date TBA.
More links between Western Canada and sun destinations are being studied.
Porter has a joint venture with Air Transat and expanded ties with American Airlines and British Airways.

Chief commercial officer Eddy Eldebs said people “underestimated how much people wanted a better experience.”

What it means for travelers

More seats in Canada. Growth of about 25% a year adds seats on domestic and sun routes, which means more choice, especially on new secondary-airport flights out of Hamilton and London.
Enthusiasts: the Dash 8-400 is still a large part of the fleet at 29 aircraft, so the original Porter experience out of Billy Bishop is still available.