Flair Airlines says it has leased two new aircraft, bolstering its fleet after four were repossessed for late payments.
The Edmonton-based discount airline said it took delivery of one new Boeing 737 on June 13 and the second will land later in the summer, bringing its fleet to 21. The two aircraft are rented from SMBC Aviation Capital, a Dublin-based, Japanese-owned aircraft leasing company.
“The leases from SMBC are proof that Flair is seen as a solid credit-worthy company that they can place these high-value assets into,” Stephen Jones, Flair chief executive officer, said during a press conference at Vancouver International Airport on Wednesday.
Flair has boosted the size of its 2023 schedule by 35 per cent this year over the previous summer, when its fleet had 18 aircraft.
Like most airlines, Flair is expanding its schedule to capture pent-up demand more than three years after the pandemic halted most air travel. Although sales of business fares remain low, leisure travel sales are strong. Flair, which employs 1,250, said it flew 436,000 people in May to destinations that include Toronto; Abbotsford, B.C.; and Los Cabos, Mexico.
Flair, Lynx Air and other discount airlines follow a no-frills model in which the airfare covers the seat and everything else is extra, from using the call centre to carry-on luggage. Employees are paid less and the planes are used more heavily than at traditional carriers. U.K.-based consultancy OAG says discount airlines have increased in global market share to 32 per cent of all seats available, up from 29 per cent in 2019 and 25 per cent in 2015.
However, the discount airlines have fewer backup planes, which can lead to more cancellations if there are delays.
In the first three months of 2023, Flair had more customer complaints than other Canadian airlines, measured per 100 flights, the Canadian Transportation Agency said.
The regulator received 21 complaints for every 100 Flair flights, compared with 17 at Sunwing Airlines, 16 at WestJet’s Swoop and 5.8 at Air Canada.
Some of those complaints could be owing to the cancellations Flair made after the four Flair Boeing 737s were seized in March for non-payment of leases. The lease manager, Airborne Capital of Dublin, said Flair “regularly” missed payments dating back several months, and the seizures were a last resort.
Mr. Jones said the airline has created a team dedicated to dealing with customer complaints and he is focused on improving on-time performance and flight completion. “The period is now history but it included a lot of difficult times related to the whole industry,” he said.
Before the seizures, Airborne and another leasing company, BOCA, were offering a total of 11 Flair planes for lease to other airlines, The Globe and Mail has reported.
The four seized aircraft have been put on the leasing market by Airborne, and spent several weeks parked at Lake Simcoe Regional Airport, a tiny airfield 90 minutes north of Toronto.
Ownership of the planes – three 737 Maxes and one older 737NG – in April was registered to World Wide Aircraft Ferrying Ltd., a Mississauga-based aircraft delivery company, according to a federal government database.
Eric Atkins