Air Canada have confirmed they don't want the competition and are battling hard to put a rival out of business. The mammoth Air Canada are pushing hard against Porter Airlines plans for a jet service from Toronto's Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.
The arch rivals have fought over the airport before — Air Canada sued Porter after Jazz, Air Canada's regional partner, was evicted from its Billy Bishop terminal by a company owned by Porter's CEO and president Robert Deluce in 2006. Porter was the only airline allowed to operate for the airport at the time. Air Canada regained access in 2010.
Porter Airlines has a powerful and high reputation and is currently lobbying Toronto's city council to amend rules to allow jets at Billy Bishop. Among other things, allowing jets to use the airport would require extending the runway at both ends by filling in parts of Lake Ontario. The proposed C Series jet aircraft Porter Airlines seeks to use on the route are quieter than the current Bombardier Q400's.
"We do not support jets at Billy Bishop — we prefer to see a growing downtown airport focused on short-haul passengers using modern turboprop aircraft, which would be more consistent with the spirit and intent of the original tripartite agreement at Billy Bishop," Air Canada said in a statement.
Air Canada representatives were recently dispatched to Billy Bishop Airport to try and lure Porter passengers away with cheap and in some cases free tickets and are believed to be behind attempts to hack into Porters computerized reservations and check - in systems.