With Canada gradually reopening for travel over the past few days, the Canadian Low-Cost Carrier Flair Airlines (F8, FLE) has announced a boost in operations for Spring 2022, with four new planes and 14 new routes, which represents a 33% schedule growth. A press release came out yesterday (October 19 2021) with all the details of the new operations.
What is Flair?
Flair Airlines (you can find its official website to this link) is a privately owned Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) from Canada, with headquarters in Edmonton, Alberta. Founded in 2005 as a regional airline focusing mostly on charter, cargo and ad-hoc flights, between 2018 and 2019, after a huge rebranding and reorganisation, the airline switched to an LCC business model, serving destinations across Canada and United States.
A look into the expansion
During Spring 2022, with the delivery of four Boeing 737MAX 8 ordered in January 2021, the airline will deploy 16 aircraft on its network. Two of them will be based in Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ), bringing the total number of planes based to five. Edmonton and Vancouver will each get one more plane based, bringing the number of planes based to respectively two and three. Flair estimates that the new aircraft deliveries will generate 150 new job positions among cabin crew, pilots and operational staff.
The airline’s goal is to contribute to the restart of travel and tourism with this expansion, providing affordable fares to fly within Canada and to the US. Stephen Jones, President and CEO, stated: “whether you’re looking for a weekend break on Vancouver Island or hiking in the Rockies, Flair will get you there affordably.”
A look into the new routes
With the help of the four new Boeing 737MAX 8, Flair Airlines will be able to open a number of new services.
Four new airports are added to Flair’s network, including Comox (British Columbia, Canada) and three American destinations: Nashville (BNA), Denver (DEN) and San Francisco (SFO).
Here is the complete list of the new routes, all starting between March and May 2022.
From YYZ base
• Toronto – Nashville (YYZ–BNA) – 2x weekly starting April 14, 2022
• Toronto – Denver (YYZ–DEN) – 3x weekly starting April 15, 2022
• Toronto – Victoria (YYZ–YYJ) – 1x weekly starting May 7, 2022
From YEG base
• Edmonton – Nashville (YEG–BNA) – 2 weekly flights starting April 14, 2022
• Edmonton – San Francisco (YEG–SFO) – 2 weekly flights starting April 14, 2022
• Edmonton – Comox (YEG–YQQ) – 3 weekly flights starting March 29, 2022
• Edmonton – Regina (YEG–YQR) – 2 weekly flights starting April 14, 2022
• Edmonton – Montreal (YEG–YUL) – 3 weekly flights starting April 15, 2022
• Edmonton – Winnipeg (YEG–YWG) – 3 weekly flights starting April 15, 2022
• Edmonton – Saskatoon (YEG–YXE) – 3 weekly flights starting April 15, 2022
From YVR base
• Vancouver – San Francisco (YVR–SFO) – 3 weekly flights starting May 17, 2022
• Vancouver – Kelowna (YVR–YLW) – 3 weekly flights starting May 16, 2022
From other airports
• Calgary – Comox (YYC–YQQ) – 3 weekly flights starting March 29, 2022
• Kelowna – Victoria (YLW–YYJ) – 3 weekly flights starting May 16, 2022
You can visualize in the map below the significant expansion of the airline. All the routes are already available for sale, with fares starting from 49CAD (£28,76) for domestic flights and 99CAD (£58,10) for US destinations.
Did you know about Flair Airlines? Would you consider them for your next trip to Canada? Let us know in the comments.
