Air Canada Jazz postpones resumption of flights from YTZ
TORONTO (Dow Jones Newswires) 8 August
Jazz Air may not revive its commuter service out of Toronto Island Airport before its fledgling competition after all.
The regional airline, a division of ACE Aviation Holdings Inc., said Tuesday it would have to delay its scheduled start of service due to an ongoing dispute with the Toronto Port Authority.
Spokeswoman Debra Williams said there was no date for when flights might resume, noting that Jazz is in a legal battle with the Toronto Port Authority regarding its right to operate from the airport.
That may give the upstart Porter Airlines a fighting chance. The new airline, headed by aviation veteran Robert Deluce, announced earlier this year that it would launch a new commuter service from the island airport.
While it hasn't set a startup date, Porter has chosen livery, hired crews, established a reservation system and agreed to purchase 10 Bombardier turboprop aircraft. It plans daily weekday flights to Ottawa and Montreal.
Halifax, N.S.-based Jazz, which has operated daily flights to Ottawa from the airport, was forced to suspend flying out of the island-based airport in March when it was evicted by City Centre Aviation, which manages the airport. City Centre Aviation is owned by Robert Deluce. In July, Jazz said it would resume service from the island airport after securing hangar and terminal facilities through an agreement with Stolport Corp. At the time, it said it planned to more than double the number of flights it operates out of the island airport when it resumed services on Aug. 28, essentially matching the proposed services from Porter. But on Tuesday it announced the Toronto Port Authority had refused to approve the sublease between Jazz and Stolport. Jazz said it had been asked to agree to a commercially restrictive commercial carrier operating agreement, although that isn't a regulatory requirement for airline operations.
Williams said the dispute is now in federal court.