Deer Lake Airport CEO believes new route to Ottawa is due to community support and airline confidence

    Monday, 23 February 2026 06:00

    By Tonya Organ

    Tammy Priddle says this opens the window of opportunity for Western NL passengers to connect to a number of destinations from Ottawa, like Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary and Kelowna, then onwards.

    A new Porter Airlines route between Deer Lake and Ottawa taking off this summer is due to how well the community has supported the Porter brand; that’s according to the President and CEO of the Deer Lake Regional Airport, Tammy Priddle. Porter will launch the five-times-weekly flights starting June 10th. Priddle says this opens the window of opportunity for Western NL passengers to connect to a number of destinations from Ottawa, like Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary and Kelowna, then onwards. Priddle says their social media is showing a lot of positive response to last week’s announcement by Porter, and people are excited about it. Adding to their Halifax and Toronto service, Priddle says this shows the confidence people have in Porter and the company’s confidence in the community.

    Porter Airlines Vice-President Andrew Pierce says they liked the “performance” at Deer Lake and it comes from the now year round service of Deer Lake to Halifax. Pierce says over the winter they’ve invested heavily into “sun markets” with more to come, including Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Bahamas. Last week, Porter Airlines also announced a new destination in Austin, Texas and an updated presence in Chicago.

     

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