No-frills carrier could be landing at Hamilton airport
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Travellers looking for deals offered by no-frills carriers like Spirit Airlines or Allegiant Air could see a Canadian version operating out of the Hamilton airport by this summer.
NewLeaf Travel Company Inc., which plans to offer unbundled services including air, hotel and car rentals, announced Monday that it has picked Winnipeg for its headquarters, but plans to have bases in Hamilton and Kelowna.
"We will be announcing our route plans for domestic Canada at the end of this month," said chief commercial officer Bob Jones in an interview.
Hamilton's airport is keen to land ultra-low-cost carriers, given its location, with 2 million people living within an hour's drive. The airport, which can operate around the clock, only handled 330,000 passengers last year.
"We're excited to see NewLeaf identify Hamilton as a market to serve and operate from, and look forward to welcoming them to Hamilton International," airport spokeswoman Lauren Yaksich said in an email.
Jones declined to offer specific launch dates but said NewLeaf would fly domestic routes by the end of the summer.
"Before the end of the year, we'll be doing some cross-border activity down south," he said, referring to U.S. sun destinations such as Florida, California and Las Vegas. "We may pepper that with some Mexico flights, and the Caribbean will be later down the road."
The airline is partnering with Kelowna-based Flair Airlines, which owns and operates five Boeing 737-400 aircraft and will provide the crews.
"The traffic we are trying to get is people out of their cars and off the buses. It is not those people who are flying Air Canada or WestJet," Jones said.
"The idea is to get low fares into the hands of leisure travellers," he said, estimating that 70 per cent of people don't fly because of high prices. "It will be point-to-point, multiple times a week."
Even though the Canadian tarmac is littered with no-frills carriers that couldn't make a go of it —from Roots Air and Greyhound Air to Jetsgo and Canada 3000 — NewLeaf isn't the only carrier trying to launch right now.
Canada Jetlines, based in Vancouver, and Enerjet, based in Calgary, are also looking to start ultra-low-cost carriers.
In fact, NewLeaf president Jim Young and Jones both worked for Canada Jetlines at one point.
"We saw a faster route to get airborne, so we went our different ways," Jones said.
David Solloway, president of Canada Jetlines, says his company still aims to do an initial public offering in September to raise $50 million in capital, with a launch six months later.
"NewLeaf isn't really an airline. It's a tour company," Solloway said. "It's hard to do because there's a double mark-up. The airline flying aircraft has to make money, and so does the tour company.
"We looked at the model, but we couldn't make the model work," he said, adding it is hard to control service delivery when the check-in and in-flight crew are employed by a third party.
"You want it to be smooth, working like a Swiss watch," he said, adding that given the size of Canada, the airline will need to depend on return customers, so service will be key.
"We wish them (NewLeaf) all the best, but we are starting an airline. It's totally different," he said.
Canada Jetlines would launch with three leased planes, with one serving as a spare, followed by eight planes by month 14, and 16 planes by month 30.
Jetlines announced last week that Stan Gadek, a top executive with several U.S. airlines including Sun Country and AirTran, which was sold to Southwest Airlines, has joined the board as chairman. Former Ontario premier Mike Harris also became a new Jetlines director, with another director announcement expected shortly.
Jetlines plans to start operations in Vancouver, then move eastward to bases in Winnipeg and Hamilton. "We start off in the west, but we'll be in the east very quickly," Solloway said.
Darcy Morgan, chief commercial officer at Enerjet, which has floated the name Jet Naked as a placeholder, says his company won't pre-announce any plans.
"In the Canadian aviation industry, in the last year, there have been more announcements than on a PA system in a bus station," Morgan said.
"When we are committed and ready, we'll let the world know," he said, adding Enerjet continually looks at the market for opportunities, including scheduled service.