Flair Airlines CEO says carrier back on a growth trajectory ‘Our focus is on doing one thing and doing it well, and that’s low-cost leisure travel’ By: Martin Cash Posted: 6:58 PM CDT Wednesday, Jul. 12, 2023 Last Modified: 8:05 PM CDT Wednesday, Jul. 12, 2023 Updates

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This article was published 12/07/2023 (792 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Flair Airlines has taken its share of lumps through the frantic post-pandemic travel surge, but the Edmonton-based airline’s CEO, Stephen Jones, said the ultra-low-cost (ULC) carrier is back on a growth trajectory.

In a brief media appearance in Winnipeg on Wednesday touting the airline’s economic impact in Winnipeg, Jones said the seizure of four of its leased Boeing 737’s in March is “well and truly in the rear view mirror.”

In fact, it just added two brand new Boeing 737 Max aircrafts, bringing its fleet up to 21.

Although the airline has been in operation in one form or another since 2005 when it was just a charter company — it launched as an ULC carrier as NewLeaf out of Winnipeg in 2016 — it was ground virtually to a halt during and immediately after the pandemic.

In April 2021 it was only flying one plane. It’s now up to 21 and Jones is out there trying to show the market it is back with a renewed commitment to operational excellence.

Among other things it’s established what it believes is the industry-leading level of transparency, releasing monthly performance metrics including on-time performance, which for June was at the credible levels of 77.4 per cent (on-time within 15 minutes of scheduled times) and load factors which were at 89 per cent meaning Flair is filling up its planes.

But it’s certainly not been smooth sailing.

In the first quarter of this year, the airline received the most complaints to the Canadian Transport Agency per 100 flights of all airlines in the country.

“The best way to avoid complaints is to run an efficient airline.”–Stephen Jones

Jones discounted that noting it was during the hectic post-pandemic travel rush and also the sheer number of complaints about Flair, 239, was far fewer than the more than 3,200 at both Air Canada and WestJet.

But he did acknowledge that the company has invested in more robust customer service teams and with more boots on the ground in the 38 destinations it currently services.

“The best way to avoid complaints is to run an efficient airline,” he said.

It’s also invested in some research that shows its economic impact in the markets it operates in.

Flying to nine destinations from Winnipeg this summer — it added London, Ont., Kelowna and Victoria earlier this year — its new research indicates that it has caused $12.8 million in employment income in Winnipeg in 2022 and tourism and visitor spending generated $67.2 million in direct economic output here.

Jones also believes Flair is having an important impact on lowering air fares.

In a comparison of Edmonton to Winnipeg air travel (not counting Air Canada) from April 2021 (when Flair was not flying out of Winnipeg) and April 2023, fares have gone down by 24 per cent and passenger counts have increased by 86 per cent.

With the recent announcement that WestJet plans to fold Swoop and Sunwing into its mainline airline, the competitive intensity will lessen.

While Jones acknowledges that some competition has departed, he was clearly not very impressed with the role Swoop played in the market.

“Swoop was not there to promote competition, it was designed to quell competition as part of WestJet,” he said. “Flair is designed to promote competition and that is what we are doing.”

“Flair is designed to promote competition and that is what we are doing.”–Stephen Jones

Jones, who was formerly a senior executive with the European ULC carrier, Wizz Air, said Flair intends to stick to its “lane” and do it well.

“Our focus is on doing one thing and doing it well, and that’s low-cost leisure travel,” he said.

Anshul Singh, the Ottawa-based founder of travel and loyalty-program website Points, Miles and Bling, said the ULC model in Canada is hard to execute because of the concentrations of population in just a few cities in the country.

“I don’t think the future looks good for the ultra-low-cost carriers in Canada,” he said. “Just look at the recent history of consolidations.”

He said the ULC model — which has been around for more than 25 years elsewhere in the world — does very well when those airlines serve local connections very strongly.

“Given the concentration of population in Canada we have not quite moved beyond the big hubs of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver,” Singh said. “Those airports are very saturated and it puts pressure on new airlines to come up with more innovative ways to serve the tertiary hubs.”

“I don’t think the future looks good for the ultra-low-cost carriers in Canada.”–Anshul Singh

Jones believes Flair is up for the challenge. And while he did say route expansion may be in the offing, he also said Flair will be diligent in staying in its lane and won’t get distracted by creating new routes to popular international destinations.

He quoted an airline investor named Bill Frankey, who is sometimes referred to as the godfather of the ULC carrier business, who said, “Strategic drift is the pathway to hell.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca