Budget airline Flair launches 2 new routes out of St. John's

Budget carrier Flair Airlines has introduced two new routes from St. John's International Airport — one to Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., and the other to Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

Ahead of Monday's inaugural flight from St. John's to Kitchener-Waterloo, Garth Lund, Flair's chief commercial officer, said the airline seeks to make travel more affordable for Canadians.

"We can bring something to people with our low fares that they're perhaps not able to access right now," said Lund. 

In February, budget airline Lynx abruptly ceased operations after filing for creditor protection due to rising operation costs.

Lund said he was sad to see the airline leave the market.

"Competition makes us all stronger."

Unpaid taxes

Flair Airlines has had its own financial issues. Earlier this year, court documents showed that Flair owed the federal government $67.3 million in unpaid taxes, prompting the Canada Revenue Agency to obtain an order for seizure and sale of Flair's property.

The debt relates to import duties on Flair's 20 Boeing 737 Max jetliners, which make up the airline's fleet. 

In January, Flair's CEO Stephen Jones said the court order has had no impact on operations and the company had agreed to a payment plan to settle the debt. 

Travel almost back to pre-pandemic levels

Lisa Bragg, the director of business development and marketing for St. John's International Airport, hopes the introduction of a new airline will inspire people to travel more. 

Travel is also starting to return to pre-pandemic levels. According to Bragg, before the pandemic, the airport saw 1.5 million passengers annually. They ended last year with about 1.3 million.

She also said the pandemic has changed traveller behaviour. For example, she said, some people are combining travel for business with leisure by bringing family along on a business trip and perhaps staying longer. 

"We're not trying to change those trends, we're trying to work with it," said Bragg. 

Financial considerations

The provincial government's 2024 budget includes up to $3.75 million in funding for the development and expansion of air travel in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

Bragg says financial incentives are important but not the sole factor in the decision to add the new routes. She said deciding to add a new airline route involves a long process. 

"It's really important to make sure any kind of route is going to be viable," said Bragg. "We don't want flash-in-the-pan routes that don't service the public." 

Hope for expansion

Later this month the airline will also launch service from Deer Lake to Pearson, joining its Deer Lake-to-Kitchener-Waterloo flight to total four routes out of Newfoundland this summer. 

Lund said the airline hopes to increase the number of flights in existing markets.

"We'd love to make those daily in the future," he said, "and we'll also look at new markets to serve in future years as well." 

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