Ottawa’s Winter Escape Menu Just Grew by More Than 80 Percent

Porter Airlines is giving Ottawa travellers four new ways out of the cold this winter. According to Aviation Week’s rolling routes update, the Canadian carrier will launch Ottawa to Aruba, Montego Bay in Jamaica, Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos, and Los Cabos in Mexico, and says the additions lift its flying from Ottawa to Mexico, the Caribbean and Costa Rica by more than 80 percent.

The launches are staggered across the next six weeks. Aruba starts first, on November 7, with three flights a week. Montego Bay follows on November 25 with two weekly flights. Providenciales begins on December 17 and Los Cabos on December 18, each also twice weekly. That timing puts the last two routes just ahead of the Christmas holiday rush.

All four routes will be flown with Porter’s 132-seat Embraer 195-E2 jets. That is a smaller aircraft than the narrowbodies many sun-route carriers use, which means fewer seats per flight and, on twice-weekly routes, a limited number of departure days to choose from.

For travellers, the lesson is to book flexibly. With only two or three flights a week on each route, a missed connection or a change of plans can cost days rather than hours, so it is worth checking exactly which weekdays each flight operates before you lock in hotel nights. The same update also lists several new Porter routes from Edmonton for the winter.

Sources: Aviation Week