Alaska Airlines has entered into a codeshare agreement with Canadian carrier Porter Airlines.
Initially, the agreement will apply to bookings that combine Porter flights from Toronto Pearson to Los Angeles and San Francisco with Alaska flights to 18 destinations across the west. Connections from Canadian airports are expected to be added into the partnership early in 2024, Porter said.
The agreement also includes a mileage partnership. Alaska Mileage Plan members will now earn frequent flyer miles and elite qualifying miles at 100% of the Alaska rate when booking Porter flights on the Alaska website. The mileage partnership will be extended next year, with both Mileage Plan and VIPorter members able to earn miles no matter where a flight is booked. The partners also will have reciprocal mileage redemption.
Porter is expanding, with plans to grow its fleet from approximately 50 to 79 aircraft by 2025. Especially significant is that Porter has been augmenting its fleet of 78-seat Bombardier Q400 propeller planes with 132-seat Embraer E195 E2 aircraft. Porter has thus far taken delivery of 24 E195s and has 51 more on firm order. E195s have a range of approximately 3,000 miles, more than twice the range of the Q400.
On its E195 routes, Porter is operating out of Toronto Pearson, the city’s primary airport, instead of Toronto’s smaller but more centrally located Billy Bishop Airport, which the carrier continues to use for Q400 operations.
Buoyed by its larger and longer-range jets, Porter has launched seven daily seasonal U.S. routes since November. Those include Ottawa service to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando and Toronto Pearson to Orlando, Miami, Fort Myers, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.
Porter’s daily, year-round flights from Toronto to Los Angeles and San Francisco are scheduled to begin Jan. 16 and Jan. 25, respectively. Porter is also scheduled to launch daily Toronto-Las Vegas service on March 5.
In late November, Porter announced plans to establish a joint venture with fellow Canadian carrier Air Transaat, combining Air Transaat’s transatlantic, Caribbean and South American networks with Porter’s domestic and U.S.-Canada networks.
Porter Airlines is Alaska’s 30th airline partner.
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