Air Canada says it’s evaluating future at Toronto’s Billy Bishop island airport

MONTREAL — Air Canada (TSX:AC) says it’s evaluating the viability of flying from the Billy Bishop airport, located on one of Toronto’s lakeshore islands.

The Montreal-based airline’s main Toronto hub is at Pearson International Airport to the west of Toronto but it has also flown from the smaller airport closer to the city centre for several years.

Billy Bishop is the main base for rival Porter Airlines, which competes with Air Canada and WestJet (TSX:WJA) on a regional basis.

Air Canada says its traffic at Biilly Bishop increased in 2014 over the previous year but it’s assessing the operation based on terminal rates and terms.

The company also released its overall passenger traffic statistics for December, the fourth quarter and all of 2014 on Tuesday.

Passenger traffc was up 8.5 per cent last year compared with 2013, largely as a result of the addition of Air Canada Rouge flights last year. Air Canada’s 2014 load factor was 83.4 per cent, up 0.6 points from 82.8 per cent in 2013.