Porter pulls out of expanding St. John's airport for winter

If you had a flight booked with Porter Airlines this winter, you're out of luck the company will no longer service St. John's from Jan. 4 to April11.

Citing the economic downturn, Porterconfirmed the service disruption in an email on Monday afternoon, hours after the St. John's Airport Authority announced the completion of another phase of its $250-million, 10-year expansion.

• $40M being invested this year in St. John's International Airport upgrades
• Porter to start seasonal Stephenville-Halifax service

"We are moving to a seasonal schedule in St. John's, operating for nine months during the busier seasons from April through December," saidBrad Cicero, Porter's director of communications and public affairs, in an email.

"The winter season is the weakest demand period, so the local economic downturn hasn't helped that situation."

Cicero said there were relatively few bookings for those winter months but everyonereceived a refund afterthe flight schedulewas updated a month ago.

Not a sign of the times

"We're talking to other airlines about replacing this flight,"saidMarie Manning, director of marketing and business development at St. John's International AirportAuthority.

"This is a unique situation to Porter."

"They advised us that the reason they were not offering the one daily flight this year was due to winter costs and servicing of the aircraft," said Manning.

She said traveller numbers were up 5 per cent between January to August this year, and up 10 per cent over their "busiest summer ever."

She saidairport expansion plans are on track to meet demand.

St. John's Board of Trade CEO Nancy Healeysaid Porter's winter service cancellationis disappointing, but those months are one of the slower points of the year.

"Despite some of the economicheadwindsthat we have right now, we don't see this as entirely a sign of the times but more about Porter's business model," said Healey.

She said "the prospects are quite bright,"pointingto strong tourism numbersand expansions with hotels,the St. John's Convention Centreand the airport.

As for Porter, spokespersonBrad Cicero saidthe company would not be releasing passenger traffic information, but they did look at other options before cutting all service for those winter months.

Porter had been offering just one flight a day to St. John's during that time period, andCicero said the company will be ready to continue service as usual in April.