Three days into my new job the company was flying its underwriters from the Calgary and Toronto offices to Montreal for an annual conference with their corporate staff and underwriters from Quebec. We flew out from Toronto Island Airport downtown.

This is a small private airport mostly used by amateur pilots. However over the last ten or so years has developed into a commercial airport with commuter flights from Air Canada and Porter Airlines.

I used to live walking and biking distance from this in my last condos and could see the short runway and planes taxiing before they built a glut of condos along the lakeshore blocking my view.

In 2006 I did book a flight to Montreal from the Island airport on Air Canada. However at the time Porter Airlines was starting and negotiated exclusive use, kicking Air Canada out so I had to goto Pearson Toronto's main international airport.

Air Canada fought back and now has limited flights from the island airport to challenge the dominance of the popular new airline. Porter started flying to Ottawa, Montreal, New York and now has about a dozen routes with plans for more. Our flight was not to be on Porter but on Air Canada.

We had to take a short ferry across as the foot tunnel has not yet been completed. A permanent bridge to the airport has been highly controversial and fought by residents and politicians fearing major commercial development on the island parkland.

Porter has spent extensively to develop the small shed of a terminal into a modern passenger terminal. It has all the amenities of a major airport but the relaxed feel of a much smaller airport.

The lower floor departures lounge is a relaxing area with table lamps and free computer use. Food and drinks are complementary ranging from bottled water and pop, tea and coffee, peanuts and cookies. No this is not a business class lounge but free for everybody in economy class.

Porter is really giving Air Canada a run for its money which has cut all perks and even charges for meals/drinks on domestic flights. However because they are in direct competition with Porter at the Island airport they are matching all the frills Porter offers.

For the short 45 min flight we were offered free muffins, cookies, chocolate bars, and bags of chips. If Air Canada can offer this service due to competition from Porter, why cant they do it on all their flights?

I was most interested in seeing the view of the city on take off and landing, from a unique downtown perspective. The ascent is rather quick so you almost miss it all after a few snaps.

Landing in Montreal we were at Trudeau formerly Dorval Airport which is the city's main international airport. You have a different feel with the RCMP Mounties policing the airport and more French usage.

I practiced some French with the cab driver to get us to the hotel which was very rusty after three years of studying Korean. We were across from a shopping mall but it was -10 degrees and we were busy the whole time with the conference, dinners, and lunches.

Our return flight was scheduled for an evening but we were able to go early and switch to an afternoon for a better view and to arrive earlier in daylight. The flight was almost empty and we had our pick of seats so not sure why Air Canada charged us an $80 change fee per person?

Downtown descent in Toronto was again a quick blink of the main skyline, due to the airports close proximity. It was nice to have finally flown from the island and I would much prefer to fly out from here than the busy crowded larger Pearson International Airport.