In a move to elevate the passenger experience across North America, Porter Airlines added the Embraer E195-E2 aircraft to its fleet in 2023. The E2 is the quietest and most fuel-efficient single-aisle aircraft in the world.

Porter planned to expand operations across North America using the E195-E2s, including substantially increasing service from Ottawa Macdonald Cartier International Airport (OMCIA), which already operated a full schedule using the De Havilland Dash 8-400s. To support growth plans, the company needed a new maintenance hangar for both the E195-E2 and Dash 8s, creating business urgency with a non-negotiable deadline of December 15, 2023, for project turnover. Porter tendered the opportunity to the market and based upon a deep portfolio of complex aviation projects, selected PCL in the role of trusted construction manager.  It was not lost on Porter that PCL has been a partner in the OMCIA’s growth since 2014. Through a multi-year open order agreement, PCL’s Special Projects team has successfully delivered close to 50 construction management projects at the airport in the past decade.

A key for the client was the solution provider mindset PCL brought to the project. Not satisfied with the initial geotechnical report provided to our team, we had a secondary assessment done on the site. Based on the second report, the preconstruction team, in collaboration with our partners, was able to offer solutions that improved the schedule and saved the client a significant amount of money.

Engaged early in preconstruction, PCL focused on design, schedule and budget optimization, and by collaborating closely with consultants, trades and the client, our pre-con experts helped reshape plans for the maintenance hangar. Originally the client envisioned one hangar and to future proof the structure for future expansion. Our team was able to demonstrate the flexibility of a phased handover, as well as the cost benefits of proceeding with a double hangar delivery from day one.  While the second hangar did increase the overall project schedule, the team was still able to deliver on the business-critical 16-month schedule for the first hangar.

With the schedule being a driver on this project, the critical path to completion was based on the erection of the centre support of steel structure with a tandem-crane lift.  In total, there were four critical lifts required to hoist the main trusses. Each span was 280 feet – about the length of a standard American football field! The steel specialists were instrumental in getting the 140,000-square-foot structure and roof up quickly so that PCL and its preferred trades could fast-track the work inside the shell. 

The team delivered the first half of the hangar as scheduled, which allowed Porter to begin parking its new jets inside the maintenance hangar while the second half was completed. To comply with security protocols, and complete the work on the second hangar, the crew needed to create a perimeter security line within the massive structure to provide a physical barrier between the recently completed first hangar, which was airside, and the second hangar, which was considered landside. In airport terms, "airside" refers to the restricted areas accessible only to airline staff, airport personnel, and passengers who have passed security, while "landside" encompasses areas open to the public like the terminal, check-in counters, and car parks. Understanding efficient project planning and delivery in high-security, mission-critical operational spaces is critical to project delivery in the aviation sector and an area in which PCL excels.

The team built a reinforced and secure dividing wall. Through a combination of plywood and shrink wrap, the 65-foot-tall divider (which is equivalent to a six or seven story building) acted as a heat barrier and helped contain dust from the active construction site. The team delivered the second hangar on schedule just four months after the first hangar, with zero operational impacts to the active maintenance hangar. 

The successful execution of this project helped secure another contract with Porter Aviation Holdings. We were awarded the contract to build a new terminal for Porter at Montreal Metropolitan Airport (YHU). The terminal will have nine bridged aircraft gates and is expected to be able to serve more than four million passengers annually.