Canada’s Flair Airlines has announced the next round of its major fleet expansion. The airline plans to lease an additional 14 new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft for delivery in 2023, more than doubling its fleet compared to where it stands today. The primary motive behind the fleet growth is expansion, with plans to continue adding new points to its network.
Flair Airlines will take another 14 MAX jets
Flair Airlines has announced its intention to lease 14 additional Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The carrier already has 12 aircraft in service and will have 20 in service by summer 2022. The additional MAX jets are expected to arrive in 2023, bringing the airline’s fleet to 30 aircraft by mid-2023 and on track to reach 50 aircraft by 2025.
Flair, which brands itself as “Canada’s everyday low-fare airline,” is following the trend of various ultra-low-cost carriers worldwide by sticking with a single fleet type. In this case, the Boeing 737 family of aircraft is Flair’s aircraft of choice.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 is part of the airline’s trajectory to continue growing while staying disciplined from a cost and sustainability aspect. The airline’s 737 MAX 8s have room for 189 passengers onboard in a single-class configuration. Flair advertises that the 737 MAX 8 offers a 14% improvement in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions than predecessor Boeing 737 models.
Where Flair goes from here
Flair Airlines has already been on a healthy round of expansion this year. The airline has been rapidly growing with expansions throughout Canada and recently the United States and Mexico. The airline is looking to become a sizable low-cost carrier in the Canadian market traditionally dominated by Air Canada and WestJet.
Flair Airlines plans on using the aircraft for a variety of purposes. Some of them will be used to expand frequencies on existing routes, though one of the bigger, overarching goals with the fleet is to continue connecting dots on existing points in the airline’s route map and expand its market presence. Speaking to media, Flair outlined room for growth abroad in markets like the United States and Mexico, though it highlighted the Caribbean as a new area of interest for the MAX aircraft. More details will be available from early 2022, according to the airline.
As part of this latest commitment, the airline is getting to 30 aircraft, but getting to 50 is the overall goal by 2025. There are other planes that the airline is considering. CEO Stephen Jones stated the following on other aircraft models:
“I think the 8-200, what’s known as I guess the game changer. The Ryanair variant is a fabulous aircraft and I would love to introduce it into our fleet and I believe that by the time we get to 50 aircraft, we will have a reasonable proportion of our fleet be the 8-200 variant. But under this order, they’re all still in the MAX 8 aircraft.”
The MAX 8 200 pushes the capacity of the aircraft up from 189 seats to nearly 200. Ryanair’s planes seat 197 passengers. The added seating capacity helps bring down unit costs on operating the aircraft but comes at the expense of room inside the jet for passengers, though not necessarily to lower standards than other low-cost carriers. Ryanair has indicated success from its MAX 8 200s. Flair Airlines could utilize the fleet to expand its presence and offer even more low-cost travel thanks to the aircraft’s operating economics.
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Limits on where Flair wants to use the aircraft
There are limits to what Flair would like to do with the aircraft. When asked if the airline would be seeking ETOPS certification for conduct longer-haul, overwater flights, Mr. Jones stated the following:
“So at this stage, no we’re not going to be seeking ETOPS for these aircraft. I mean that is process obviously to go through and there’s some physical things that need to be done and obviously a fair bit of proving out but we see a lot of markets in the range that can be achieved without ETOPS. We certainly won’t be going to Europe. Hawaii eventually looks like a great market, but we’ve got plenty to do in the range that that we can achieve with existing aircraft technology.”
While Flair does not plan to challenge WestJet or Air Canada to Europe, the MAX 8 offers a compelling range that could push the airline into markets that both WestJet and Air Canada dominate. In short, Flair Airlines is in an excellent position to continue growing and challenging the traditionally full-service dominated Canadian marketplace.
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