The chief executive officer of Canada's privately held Porter Airlines said on Wednesday he would consider taking the carrier public in the medium term, as a strategy to support the company's broader growth plans.
"I think an IPO is something that probably makes sense in the mid-term," said Porter CEO Robert Deluce, who did not specify an exact number of years.
"Even thought we don't require additional funding now, in the future ... it would be an additional opportunity for us to consider our growth path."
Deluce said Porter has no debt, was profitable last year and is on track to be profitable this year.
Porter, which operates short-haul flights out of Toronto's city airport using a fleet of Bombardier Inc. Q400 turboprops, considered an IPO six years ago, but held back from taking the company public because of weak market conditions.
"In 2010 we were set to go. The market sort of took a bit of a negative turn," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Insight Canadian Airline Investment Forum in Toronto. "Ultimately we pulled it. It was probably the best move we could have made."
Deluce said Porter will announce some of its growth plans by year's end and said it is looking at the Montreal, Halifax and Ottawa markets.