Lessor re-markets aircraft seized from Canada's Flair

Canada's Flair Airlines opens new base at Calgary

Flair Airlines (F8, Kelowna) has announced it is establishing a new base at Calgary comprising three aircraft, a maintenance facility and hangar, and jobs for about 150 people by July 2023.

The ultra-low-cost carrier will also add four new routes from Calgary, upping its seats from the city by 46% in 2023 compared to 2022, with 15 routes on sale. New routes include:

• London, ON, Ontario (Canada), launching in July; and
• Las Vegas Harry Reid, Nevada (US);
• Phoenix Sky Harbor, Arizona (US); and
• Puerto Vallarta (Mexico), each launching this autumn.

The airline, in a statement, said it has plans for continued expansion but did not elaborate.

Calgary is the home base for WestJet (WS, Calgary), which holds nearly 60% of weekly airline seat capacity at the airport, with Air Canada (AC, Montréal Trudeau) holding another 19% of the market share, compared to Flair Airlines' more modest 7.6% current share of the pie, ch-aviation capacities data reveals.

As reported,...

Australia's Bonza loses B737-8 to Flair Airlines

A B737-8 earmarked for Australian startup Bonza (AB, Sunshine Coast) is instead going to Flair Airlines (F8, Kelowna) to plug a capacity gap there after Airborne Capital recently repossessed four aircraft from the carrier. Private equity entity 777 Partners owns both airlines.

VH-UDV (msn 43973) was to be Bonza's fifth aircraft and serve as a spare, however, the aircraft was recently re-registered as C-FLBG and is now flagged to go to the Canadian budget airline. Bonza says the non-delivery won't impact its rollout, which continues apace and this week included the start of the Melbourne Tullamarine - Rockhampton and Paraparaumu - Sunshine Coast routes. "It’s not uncommon for this to happen as part of fleet planning," a Bonza spokesperson said.

Bonza began flying in February 2023 and says it expects to have eight 777 Partners-supplied aircraft in its fleet within the first 12 months. According to ch-aviation fleets advanced data, 777 Partners has 67 aircraft either placed across five airlines, in storage, or unassigned. Included in...

Canada's Flair Airlines wet-leases A320

Flair sues lessors for C$51mn, calls out alleged plotters

Flair Airlines (F8, Kelowna) is suing several lessors led by Airborne Capital for CAD51 million Canadian dollars (USD37 million) in damages and has named a third party it alleges offered a secret deal for the four aircraft that were seized at the weekend. Airborne declined to comment on the lawsuit but referred to a previous statement in which it strongly rejected Flair's allegations.

According to the docket, the aircraft involved are now confirmed to be one B737-800, C-FFLA (msn 36548) and three B737-8s: C-FLKI (msn 64944), C-FLKD (msn 61806) and C-FLRS (msn 61808). Each lease agreement designated Airborne Capital as the agent to act on behalf of the lessors.

Flair has lodged its claim of CAD50 million (USD36.3 million) plus CAD1 million (USD726,758) in punitive damages at Ontario Superior Court against affiliated lessors Columba Lights Aviation Limited, Corvus Lights Aviation Limited, MAM Aircraft Leasing 4 (Ireland), Airborne Capital, and ABC Corporation - the third party it alleges offered a better lease deal which led to the cancellation of Flair's contracts....