More aircraft are flying between Toronto's City Centre Airport (TCCA) and Montreal as Porter Airlines increased service on the route to nine round-trips each weekday.
On Dec. 11, 2006 the airline started flying into Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. Initially they offered four round-trip weekday flights plus weekend service.
Even as the first Montreal-bound flight was getting ready to go, the upstart airline announced its intention to increase the daily flights to nine.
Porter took flight on Oct. 23 with 10 weekday round-trips between Toronto and Ottawa. The long-term plan is to offer flights to as many as 17 destinations in Canada and the U.S. which are within 500 nautical miles of Toronto's tiny downtown airport.
The airline has been at the centre of controversy even before it took to the air for the first time.
During the 2003 municipal election campaign, the future of the TCCA, better known as the Toronto Island Airport was a key plank in David Miller's bid to be mayor. He won on the strength of a promise to scrap a planned bridge to the island which would allow the airport to grow.
Miller said at the time that a busy downtown airport was not suitable for Toronto's waterfront. He continued to say that even as Porter launched daily service just before the 2006 municipal elections.
Porter's inaugural flight was greeted by protesters.
About two dozen people staged a rally opposing the flights.
The group Community Air cited pollution and safety concerns for their resistance to an expanded airport. They also expressed concern that the airport might derail waterfront redevelopment plans.
With files from The Canadian Press
