On Location: “A new growth engine” for Porter in Montreal

Journalists, aviation industry members, Porter executives and flight crew gathered about 15 kilometres outside Montreal, in Longueuil, this week (Mar. 24) for the official launch of Montreal Metropolitan Airport (MET, YHU), the city’s second airport.

Set to open to the public on June 15, the terminal will host Porter Airlines and Pascan Aviation operations, with flights connecting destinations across Canada and additional carriers expected over time. 

For Porter, however, the launch is also about something bigger: significantly expanding its Montreal presence.

“This is probably the single largest expansion of air traffic, and launch of a new airport that this country has seen in decades. The MET and Porter are going to provide an exceptional option for travellers in Montreal’s marketplace,” said Michael Deluce, CEO of Porter Airlines.

“Now more than half of Montreal has a shorter drive time to this airport than [Dorval] and we’ve done the drive time studies to prove it.”

Porter will continue to operate out of Montreal-Trudeau (YUL), with Deluce noting that the two airports will serve distinct catchment areas. 

Maintaining the airline’s partnership with Air Transat at YUL also remains a priority.

Porter’s Montreal play

Three years ago, Porter placed an order for up to 100 Embraer E195-E2 aircraft, in addition to its Dash 8 fleet, with Montreal identified as a core part of that growth. 

The goal was to expand the airline’s network across the country, with a focus on Eastern Canada. MET now provides a platform to accelerate that strategy.

“You’ve seen that growth out of YUL but now as of June 15th, 138 weekly flights will more than double our Montreal network overnight, with six of those 12 destinations new to Porter,” said Deluce. 

That compares with roughly 100 weekly domestic flights currently operating from Trudeau.

“This is going to be the new airport for Montreal.”

One of the key questions is how pricing at MET will compare.

“Passengers will be able to book either airport on our site,” said Deluce. 

“Whether that’s through agencies, Expedia, or other venues, and they’ll be able to compare fares. And we’ll certainly have promotional fares in the early days.”

A national marketing campaign is also expected to roll out at the end of March.

Porter is a 50 per cent owner of the airport, alongside Macquarie Asset Management, which has investments in airports including London City, Bristol and Birmingham.

A Billy Bishop-style model — scaled up

For Deluce, MET is also a chance to apply lessons from Toronto.

“[Dorval] is out of capacity. It’s a real challenge for travellers. Alternative airport is something that will be the talk of the town over the months as we launch, much like at Billy Bishop,” he said.

“We started much smaller at Billy Bishop, we kept hitting capacity constraints because the airport was so popular. But we expect to fill this 4 million capacity airport within the coming years. We’ve taken the Billy Bishop model and enhanced it significantly.”

The terminal, designed by Scott & Associates, covers 21,000 square metres and includes nine boarding bridges and a 900-seat waiting lounge. 

Its compact layout is intended to help travellers move quickly through the airport.

An express shuttle will connect the terminal to the Longueuil–Université-de-Sherbrooke metro station, while a 500-metre drop-off zone and three traffic lanes are designed to improve vehicle flow.

“We are not simply building an airport terminal; we’re redefining the way people travel in Montreal,” said Charles Roberge, president and CEO of YHU Terminal.

“This project is the result of close collaboration with MET – and every detail has been designed to offer passengers a seamless, efficient and human experience that meets the expectations of today’s travellers.”

The terminal’s retail lineup will be entirely Quebec-based, including a Bâton Rouge restaurant, a Café Dépôt and a convenience and travel goods store still to be finalized.

Growth beyond the U.S.

Shifting demand is also influencing Porter’s network strategy.

“The US market has had some overall macro pressure on it. They’re off about 15 per cent when it comes to traffic between the US and Canada while our traffic continues to grow," said Deluce. 

"We’re growing significantly year over year in February, March and April. It’s certainly a headwind on overall US traffic and continues to be a high growth story,”

As demand between Canada and the U.S. softens, the airline is leaning more heavily into sun destinations. 

Porter launched service to the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America in winter 2026 and plans to continue expanding in those markets.

“We can’t count on US traffic as a growth driver anymore. Expanding in this direction was always part of the plan. We just advanced it.”

For Porter, Deluce said, MET is expected to become a major new source of growth.

“Today’s launch is going to create a new growth engine as we deploy a significant launch of service here at the MET on June 15th.”

Porter's new routes at MET

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