I flew on Porter’s inaugural Embraer E2 flight!
This short hop from Toronto to Ottawa is Porter’s ever first commercial flight with a jet,
and it’s also the very first commercial E2 flight in all of North America!
That said, this will be taking place out of Toronto’s Pearson Airport, rather than Billy
Bishop Airport on Toronto Island, which Porter has called home since their launch in 2006.
From then on, Porter has capitalized on the
convenience of Billy Bishop’s proximity to downtown Toronto,
using a fleet of exclusively Dash 8-400s and offering a “refined” onboard service. In 2013,
they even placed a conditional order for some Bombardier CS100s (as they were known back then).
With the runway at Billy Bishop being only 4,000 feet long though and a proposed
extension quashed in 2015, Porter cancelled that CS100 order and was forced to expand elsewhere.
Long story short, that culminated in a 2021 order for the Embraer E195-E2,
of which Porter already has 6 of in the fleet as of posting this.
So, when they opened bookings for their first E2 routes back in December,
I knew I had to see for myself what Porter’s new planes were like!
This historic day for Porter started bright and early… Okay,
maybe just early, at Toronto-Pearson’s Terminal 3.
In the past, Porter has had a single class of service on their planes,
since the Dash 8-400s are all-Economy.
However, with the E2s, Porter has introduced another class of service known as PorterReserve.
This new premium fare has its own dedicated check-in, priority boarding,
free meals on flights longer than two hours, and a couple other perks. In the interest of
getting the most out of today’s special flight, that’s also where I’m sitting!
Porter has made no secret that regular Economy, or “PorterClassic” travellers will be treated
well though. One of the big points they’ve made is that these aircraft offer a way for travellers to
“actually enjoy economy”. It certainly helps that the E2s don’t have any middle seats, and Porter
will be one of few airlines out there without any middle seats across their entire fleet.
I will say, the very presence of Porter someplace other than Billy Bishop is
going to take some getting used to, but this expansion finally gives them the ability to
serve Western Canada, and I cannot wait to see them at home in Calgary. It’s worth
mentioning that the existing operation at Billy Bishop is still staying as-is.
Porter has two flights going out this morning, one to Ottawa, and one to Montreal,
although the Ottawa one leaves half an hour earlier so it’s still technically the first
commercial one. Quite fittingly though, they were both leaving from gates right next to each other.
Waiting at our gate was the star of today’s flight,
a brand new Embraer E195-E2 registered as Charlie Golf Kilo Quebec Mike. This plane
was one of the first few E2s delivered to Porter at the end of December. Since then,
it, along with the rest of the E2s, have been quite busy with training flights.
Compared to the original E-Jets, the E2 has mostly the same fuselage,
at least on the surface. The wing and landing gear, however, have had a substantial redesign
in order to accommodate those huge Pratt and Whitney Geared Turbofans!
That makes the E2 quite the good looking plane in my opinion, though you really get a sense of
how big those engines are compared to the fuselage looking at them head-on!
Also at the gate, Porter had a small event set up, with free coffee, cupcakes and some prizes.
Interestingly though, there were no speeches at the gate which I thought was kinda surprising
given the magnitude of the day. Maybe the 6:55AM departure time didn’t help!
Pretty soon, it was time for boarding, so let’s go see what Porter has to offer on their Embraer E2!
Porter has 132 seats on their E195-E2s, with the first four
rows being PorterReserve seats. My seat for today is 4A in the last of those.
PorterReserve offers a commendable 36” inches of pitch, putting these seats
pretty close to regular Business Class ones in terms of space.
4A also has this excellent wing view too, and I can’t help but think of this plane as a mini 777!
This flight is a pretty short one for a jet,
so I think I’ll take advantage of that early boarding and show you around the seat.
Starting at the top of the seat,
there’s this card with information about connecting to the onboard wifi,
A handy coat hook on the side of the seat,
This tray table that flips open and slides out,
And this note welcoming PorterReserve passengers! What a nice touch!
In the seatback pocket as well was Porter’s in-flight magazine,
An air sickness bag,
And a crisp new safety card for the E2s.
Below that is a decent amount of storage for bags, as well as these two universal power outlets.
Each headrest is adjustable, too.
Porter also has these air vents above each seat, which I’m glad they installed
since a couple airlines seem to be eliminating them from their newer planes.
Also, as we were boarding, each passenger was given this envelope
which included a $150 voucher for future flights with Porter as a thank you for
flying this inaugural flight! We also got this commemorative keychain too.
With that, we were on our way a few minutes behind schedule,
and here’s our departure from Pearson, off of runway 23.
As we climbed away from the GTA into that spectacular sunrise,
it really can’t be overstated what a special day this is for Porter.
Toronto to Ottawa is a pretty short and well-traveled route,
connecting Canada’s largest city with its capital.
For Porter though, it’s the very route that they first launched flights with back in 2006,
so it’s pretty fitting that this is the first E2 flight.
Even so, it is unfortunately a bit too short for the free meal
that PorterReserve seats would supposedly get.
For today’s flight though, PorterReserve passengers had a selection from this snack
basket, plus the usual complimentary drinks. It turns out though that those Porter glasses
are just for alcoholic beverages on the E2s whereas they were used for all beverages on
the Dash 8s. Seeing as it is still 7:30 in the morning, I just had a cup of Coke.
The length of the flight also turned out to be a bit stressful for the cabin crew. Even though they
sprang into action right away with the service and handed out snacks to everyone, they were only able
to give out drinks to the first third of the cabin before they had to stop to prepare for landing.
One big thing that I haven’t mentioned yet is the fact that Porter offers free wifi on their
E2s for all of their passengers. I think that has to be a first for any Canadian airline,
and is an excellent way to elevate Porter over the competition. There are two ways
of accessing it - one requires logging into your Porter frequent flyer account,
and the other just makes you watch an ad every 30 minutes to keep using the wifi.
It’s worth mentioning too that the wifi is decently quick,
for something that everyone on the whole plane was no doubt trying out at the same time.
It even worked while we were still on the ground too!
There’s also some streaming-based in-flight entertainment included.
The selection here is impressive as well, and includes plenty of movies and TV shows.
I was surprised that there wasn’t a moving map,
although with free wifi you may as well track yourself.
Like I said before, Porter has 132 seats on their E195-E2s, with 16 up front in PorterReserve.
Behind those four rows are another 116 in regular Economy. or as Porter now calls it, PorterClassic.
20 of those seats are called “PorterClassic Stretch” seats,
which have 34” of pitch. Those include the two emergency exit rows over the wings,
and the first three rows behind PorterReserve. The rest of the cabin though is a bit tighter with 30”
of pitch all the way down the back. Obviously, I don’t exactly make these look roomy in the least,
but for anyone over 6 feet, the lack of legroom in these normal seats might be noticeable.
The rest of the cabin is super sleek and, honestly, matches Porter’s image perfectly.
There are two lavatories on board the E2, with one in the front,
and one in the back. This one in the front was bright, clean, and surprisingly spacious.
One possible downside though is that some rows do have mis-aligned windows,
but that’s just an Embraer thing and outside Porter’s control.
Still, I’ve always enjoyed flying on Embraer’s E-Jets,
since they still have the regional jet feel, but with a cabin that you can actually stand
up in! That “regional jet feel” may get old after the 3rd or 4th hour on board though,
so it’s gonna be interesting to try this on those Western Canadian flights.
The 2-2 configuration is standard across all E-jets, and when you think about it that way,
it does sound preferable to an A320 or 737. The only catch is that the overhead
bin space is also regional jet sized, so don’t expect to fit a ton up there.
All of that aside, it’s still really nice to have another non-ULCC option for flying across Canada,
not to mention another new airplane type to see that’s not another 737.
I’m certainly looking forward to seeing more of Porter in the months ahead!
After just half an hour or so in the air,
we were already starting our descent, and this inaugural flight came to a close.
Here’s the arrival into Ottawa, landing on runway 07.
Well, that was the inaugural flight of Porter’s Embraer E2, and almost a year after I flew with
them for the first time, I can say it was almost everything I hoped it would be.
The passenger experience on the E2 is a very comfortable one,
and that coupled with the Porter onboard service,
especially having free wifi for everyone, makes this a game-changer for Economy travel in Canada.
Although the seats aren’t necessarily as wide as on an A220, they are wider than those on the 737,
and that’s definitely going to be noticeable on their longer flights.
Given the lack of a meal on these shorter flights though, I would probably just stick with a
standard seat next time. On a longer flight though, for the right price, I’d definitely
consider booking PorterReserve again. Besides, I have to try out those meals at some point!
Now, Canadians have a lot of choices when it comes to airlines these days, and so, one has to ask -
does Porter have a bit of an uphill battle ahead of them? Potentially, yes, but they also have a
solid customer base as an already-established carrier, and in theory, what’s worked well for
them over the years within the range of the Dash 8-400, should work with these great new planes.
I wish everyone at Porter the very best with this new expansion,
and I’ll definitely be flying their E2 again on a longer flight sometime soon!
Thank you very much for watching this special day with Porter, and I will see you next time!