Porter Airlines win surprisingly shuts Air Canada out of downtown Toronto airport slots award

A somewhat surprising awarding of the final 16 slots at Toronto City Island Billy Bishop Airport to incumbent Porter Airlines, which now holds 172 of the 202 available slots at the convenient downtown airport, comes with Porter's decision to once again shelve plans for an initial public offering (IPO) after failing in April 2010 to develop any interest in the CAD120 million (USD116 million) offer. An analysis of the slot issue tells the story of why Porter, which says it is profitable, was awarded the slots. Porter also shelved plans to raise private funding, adding that market conditions were little different than when it originally advanced its first IPO attempt.