Porter Airlines won't fly before Feb. 11

TORONTO – Porter Airlines won’t be back in the air before Christmas.

The Toronto-based airline, which stopped all flight operations on March 21 because of restrictions in place due to COVID-19, on Monday said they won’t start flying again until at least Feb. 11.

The company had most recently set Dec. 15 as a possible restart date.

It’s not ideal, said Michael Deluce, president of Porter Airlines. But he said they were left with little or no choice.

“Deferring service until 2021 is not a decision we anticipated having to make as COVID-19 emerged early this year,” Deluce said in a release. “Every delay to restarting flights has the greatest effect on our team members, who are eager to do their part to help serve customers under safe conditions.

“Unfortunately, the continued and cumulative effects of restrictive travel advisories, border closures and quarantines have suffocated travel demand to the point that a return to sustainable levels of passenger traffic is highly unlikely in 2020.”

The airline said the delay also gives more time for the development of rapid testing solutions, which could lead to the lifting or lessening of restrictions on international travelers entering or returning to Canada.

At present anyone entering the country must self-isolate for 14 days.