After a brief foray in Windsor, Flair Airlines has paused trips to and from Windsor International Airport as they needed to reallocate planes to busier routes, according to the company’s vice president of revenue management and network planning, Eric Tanner.
“Unfortunately, during our first forays into Windsor, the market just didn’t really perform that well,” Tanner said.
Flair stopped flights in Windsor at the beginning of March, after the winter travel season ended. While the airline has no concrete plans to return to the city, Tanner said he’s sure the budget airline will bring flights back to the community at some point.
While seats were fairly full on Flair planes to and from Windsor, Tanner says other routes managed to be more in-demand, prompting the airline’s move.
“At some point, you know, Windsor will be that next best opportunity and we’ll be excited to return because it’s a wonderful airport, it’s a wonderful community, and it’s one that deserves more affordable airfare,” Tanner said.
He adds that Windsor isn’t alone, either: Flair will also be halting service to Ottawa at the end of October.
In the past, Flair had offered flights from Windsor to destinations like Cancun, Mexico, Orlando, Fla.,, Tucson, Ariz.,Vancouver, B.C., and Halifax.
Mark Galvin, Windsor International Airport’s president and CEO, hopes Flair might come back to the area next year
“We’re in constant communication with Flair. I think it’s only a matter of time when they return to Windsor,” Galvin said.
The more passengers flying through the airport, the better for business — so Galvin says servicing flights from Flair in the past has been good for the local airport’s bottom line.
Galvin says there’s been aircraft and staffing shortages across the industry recently — another challenge as the air travel sector tries to bounce back from pandemic closures that hurt their business.
“Everyone’s feeling that sort of pain and we’re just going to have to get through,” Galvin said.
Flair Airlines is offering $1 northbound flights to Canada starting this winter. The ultra-discount carrier says it’s a permanent deal for customers to fill empty planes, while some experts say it’s a gimmick.
With a higher capacity of flights possible across the border in Detroit, Galvin says stateside competition can be “difficult to compete with” for Windsor on some routes. But he says Canadian routes and international connections do well at the Windsor International Airport.
But John Gradek, an air travel industry expert, says he’s not so sure about Flair’s comeback.
“If I was Windsor, I would not hold my breath for a reappearance of Flair,” said Gradek. The earliest he predicts the airline might come back to Windsor is next summer.
Flair has done well financially this summer, according to Gradek, but he says they have debts to the Canadian Revenue Agency and at times a poor reputation when it comes to passenger complaints, meaning nothing about the airline’s future is certain.
“They made some money this summer. The question now is how long can that money last?” Gradek said.