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, in March 2023, Flair Airlines filed a lawsuit against Airborne Capital, which seized four of its B737-8s over alleged payment arrears. The airline's fleet numbers sixteen B737-8s and two B737-800s, according to the ch-aviation fleets module.
