Toronto-based Porter Airlines will run flights between Winnipeg and southern Ontario later this spring to gauge possible future service to the Manitoba capital.

The flights will bookend the Liberal Party of Canada convention in Winnipeg late next month.

There will be one round trip between Winnipeg and Toronto and Winnipeg and Ottawa on May 26 and two inbound flights from Toronto, with one outbound flight to each of Toronto and Ottawa, on May 29.

Brad Cicero, a Porter spokesman, says the company’s first-ever flights into Winnipeg are a one-off for now, but they’ll provide an opportunity to check customers’ response.

The Winnipeg Airports Authority says the city can support more flights to southern Ontario because it saw passenger growth of three per cent both last year and during the first quarter of 2016.

Porter Airlines operates a fleet of mid-sized planes out of Billy Bishop Airport on Toronto Island and offers regular flights to Montreal, Ottawa, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and Windsor.