The next airline it hopes could pose a threat to the country’s Air Canada-WestJet duo is scheduled to make its maiden flight on Thursday.
Canada Jetlines, a new airline startup with headquarters in Mississauga, Ont., is expected to begin service with twice-weekly flights from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport to the International Airport. Calgary.
The airline said it will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark its first flight to Calgary on Thursday morning.
Canada Jetlines describes itself as “Canada’s value-focused leisure carrier.” Although Toronto-Calgary is the airline’s only scheduled route right now, the company’s director of commercial supply, Duncan Bureau, said the airline plans to serve the leisure market both domestically and internationally. border with flights to the Caribbean and the Americas.
The airline currently has one Airbus A320 and the second will join in December, with plans to expand its fleet to 15 Airbus A320s by 2025 at a rate of five per year, the bureau said.
Canada Jetlines is the latest, but not the first, Canadian airline to emerge from the pandemic.
Edmonton-based Flair has aggressively expanded over the past year and a half, and now serves 36 airports with 85 routes and a fleet of 18 aircraft.
Calgary-based Lynx, formerly known as Enerjet, launched last spring and said at the time that it hoped to operate nearly 90 flights a week on nine routes by June, all both within Canada.
WestJet also operates its own low-cost airline Swoop, which launched in 2018 and offers service to destinations in Canada, the US, Mexico and the Caribbean.
While these competitors operate on a low-cost, no-frills model, Canada Jetlines aims to differentiate itself with service to the high-end entertainment market, Bureau said.
He added that he criticized the business model being used by low-cost carriers like Flair and Lynx.
“If you’re charging a fare that’s less than your parking fee at the airport, the economics won’t work and it’s not sustainable,” the bureau said.
Canada Jetlines plans to provide a premium customer experience including departure times that match consumer preferences compared to pilots and 174 seats in lieu of the standard 180 for greater comfort, Department said.
On its website, Canada Jetlines is advertising introductory fares starting at $99 for one-way trips between Calgary and Toronto for a limited time.
By comparison, Flair offers one way flights from Calgary to Toronto for $49, the same route starts at $99 on Lynx and you can fly from Edmonton to Toronto for $59 with Swoop , according to the company’s website.
Rick Erickson, an independent aviation analyst based in Calgary, said the pandemic’s devastation to the mainstream aviation industry is making it possible for start-up airlines to buy parked planes. and doesn’t work for a good price.
Such is the case with Canada Jetlines, as the pandemic paved the way for the airline to hire available talent and buy planes at low cost.
“I think the survivors will be the ones with the deepest pockets. It usually takes 18 to 24 months for the new airlines to start turning a profit, so with all these new players coming in. market participants, Erikson said.
The office said Canada Jetlines plans to offer service in the US within the next three months, though any service and official dates have yet to be announced.
Canada Jetlines is an independent airline that is publicly traded on the NEO Exchange.
This report by the Canadian Press was first published on September 22, 2022.
