The popularity of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport was recently validated when IBM's supercomputer Watson evoked it as part of a response on "Jeopardy!"
While it turned out Toronto only had one airport with a name related to the Second World War, not two — and the fact the clue was in the category "U.S. Cities" — Billy Bishop's primary passenger carrier Porter Airlines responded to the attention by adding two destinations to its route map.
But, really, it's all about sticking it to Air Canada.
Flights to Ontario cities Sault Ste. Marie and Windsor will begin later this spring, announced Porter president and CEO Robert Deluce, who will soon share the downtown Toronto Island runways with the competition, albeit against his corporate will.
Air Canada, along with Continental Airlines, were granted a request for landing slots alongside the higher-styled and lower-priced Porter, which launched its regional service in the under-used airport in 2006. A previously announced February 2011 debut of Air Canada flights at Billy Bishop has been delayed, pending an agreement with Deluce, who also owns the terminal's operator.
Relations between the companies have been adversarial, to say the least, after Deluce evicted Air Canada from the island terminal five years ago as part of his start-up plan.
As part of the settlement that allowed for its return, Air Canada was ordered to pay $1 million each to Porter and airport owner the Toronto Port Authority, to cover legal costs.
The addition of the two smaller Ontario cities to Porter's list of mostly major destinations could be seen as a preemptive strike against plans for the forthcoming Air Canada Express.
Deluce, who sold his family's previous small airline to Air Canada in 1986 in a deal that included two unlimited first-class tickets for life, recently sued the flag carrier for $5 million after the passes were revoked.
Now, at least his future vacations to Sault Ste. Marie and Windsor will be covered.
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