Starting this week, San Diego has a new nonstop flight to Canada’s largest city.
Porter Airlines began nonstop flights to and from Toronto on Monday, ing Air Canada, which also offers a nonstop flight. Porter Airlines, a Toronto-based airline formed in 2006, is new to San Diego International Airport and getting a lot of attention among travel experts for its lack of middle seats.
The addition of Porter Airlines will give local travelers more options to get to Toronto, as well as Canadians looking to escape the cold with a trip to San Diego. Porter is starting with four weekly flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
Porter is sometimes referred to as a “comfort airline” because of its elimination of middle seats, real glassware for drinks, and free beer and wine.
Lesley Keyter, CEO of Calgary-based travel agency The Travel Lady, said the airline has been a big hit with customers, largely because of the lack of a middle seat, but also because of the peculiar use of glass over plastic.
“Anybody who ends up on a middle seat on a routine basis hates middle seats,” she said. “It’s wonderful they don’t have that. Also, can you believe in this day and age you get your drinks in a real glass? It appeals to people because it makes you feel like you are in business class. Makes you feel special.”
An early look at Porter’s offerings shows it slightly less expensive than competitors. A one-way, nonstop flight on Porter for next Monday from San Diego to Toronto was running for $242, compared to $279 on Air Canada. Air Canada has been running its nonstop flight seven days a week for about 15 years.
Porter uses an Embraer E195-E2 aircraft, with a 2-2 seating configuration, which is why it has no middle seat. The E195-E2 can hold up 120 to 146 engers, said aircraft research group AviationFile, and is known for its fuel efficiency. It was launched in 2019 by Embraer, a Brazilian aerospace corporation.
Other Porter benefits include snacks and free wireless internet, which are fairly common on American flights but new for many Canadian airliners.
Kimberly Becker, president of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, said in a statement the airport was looking forward “to providing San Diegans more nonstop service to this international, cosmopolitan city known for business, finance, arts, sports, and culture, while giving Torontonians expanded service to our key business sectors and fabulous beaches.”
Edmond Eldebs, senior vice president of Porter Airlines, said in a statement that it was happy to add San Diego service this week, as well as Palm Springs. It already operated a nonstop to Los Angeles.
“Expanding into more destinations in Southern California is part of our commitment to provide more options to our engers,” he wrote. “We are proud to offer engers the convenience of non-stop connections and the comfort of Porter’s elevated economy experience.”
Porter Airlines was named the 57th best airline in the world in the annual Skytrax Awards this summer. The 25-year-old awards competition is highly watched by airline professionals, which has seen Qatar Airlines top the list for eight years. The United Kingdom-based Skytrax does surveys of more than 21 million customers across roughly 100 nations and 350 airlines.
Porter was up from No.99 the previous year and, at No. 57, outranks other airlines flying out of San Diego International Airport, including Alaska Airlines (No. 60), WestJet (No. 64), American Airlines (No. 78), Southwest Airline (No. 93) and Hawaiian Airlines (No.99).
The top ranked airline flying out of San Diego was Japan Airlines, which Skytrax ranked as sixth best in the world. Air Canada might have middle seats but choosing it to fly to Toronto is still potentially better than most American airlines — Skytrax ranks it No. 29 in the world.
