Returning to Porter Airlines today after over a year with this flight to Beantown from the airline’s original home in the Toronto Islands. Porter Airlines got its start in 2006 at Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport, flying Bombardier (now De Havilland Canada) DHC-8-400 turboprops to cities throughout Ontario and the Northeast United States. While Porter has been expanding southward and westward with its Embraer E195-E2s, the trusty Dash 8s continue to be an integral part of the fleet, serving destinations such as Halifax, Moncton, Ottawa, Montréal, Quebec City, Chicago, Newark, Thunder Bay, Washington D.C., and soon Nashville with the 78-seaters.
Server: Solo
Airline: Porter Airlines
Aircraft: De Havilland Canada DHC-8-400
Origin: Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Toronto Islands, Canada (YTZ)
Destination: General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts (BOS)
Flight Number: PD2945
Route: CYTZ-KBOS
Seat: 17D (Main Cabin)
Time En Route: 1 Hour 43 Minutes
Standing in front of our aircraft before boarding at Billy Bishop. The airport, one of the smallest commercial ones in Canada, is named for Air Marshal William Avery “Billy” Bishop, a World War One flying ace officially credited with 72 air-to-air victories, and is the home of Porter Airlines.
Pushing back from Gate 6 as one of the Pratt and Whitney Canada PW150s hums to life. The cabin, while admittedly spartan, is bright and clean, and our seat is fairly comfortable, in contrast to the image that “small turboprop airliner” tends to conjure in the minds of the public. Also, the cheatlines on the engine nacelles are a nice touch.
Taxiing by YTZ’s stubby ATC tower on our way to the runway. Most of the traffic these guys control are Porter flights, but they also get Air Canada Express Dash 8s and Propair Beechcraft 1900Ds, as well as light general aviation traffic.
Buzzing airborne from Runway 08. Most of the rest of the Toronto Islands, upon which the airport sits, are visible out the window. Looks like a good day to fly!
Climbing over Lake Ontario. We’re going to sit back, relax, and listen to the turboprops humming away on our roughly 100-minute flight to Boston.
Cruising under the clouds over Rochester, New York. We’re served a light, complimentary snack of kettle-cooked potato chips and a coffee to perk us up. These are pretty tasty, although spare, owing to the short duration of the flight.
In our initial descent over western Massachusetts. Looks like the cloud cover is starting to thicken up ahead of an approaching blizzard. Fortunately, we hopefully won’t get stuck in Boston longer than we planned due to it.
Arriving in Boston on Runway 22R with what appears to be a JetBlue A321neo lined up on 15R. The propellers have shifted into beta pitch, acting like thrust reversers to slow us down before exiting the runway.
Taxiing clear of the runway after coming out of beta. That JetBlue A21N has just rotated and will be getting airborne a couple seconds later.
Deplaned at Gate E7 between a Lufthansa A330-300 and an Emirates 777-300ER. The crew has closed the integral airstair and are getting the aircraft ready to go back to Toronto before the storm hits. Overall, flying with Porter on the Dash 8 was a pleasant experience, if not particularly luxurious, and we’re excited to fly with them again when they come to Nashville.