NewLeaf Travel Sets New Launch Date For Low-Fare Service In Canada

An aircraft flown by Flair Airlines.

NewLeaf Travel Co., the start-up that wants to bring ultra-low-fare air service to Canada, is once again accepting bookings and plans a July 25 launch. 

The company began taking bookings for a brief period in January for an anticipated Feb. 12 launch but had to put its plans on hold due to a legal challenge. 

At a press conference in Winnepeg, NewLeaf’s president and chief executive officer Jim Young announced that Ben Baldanza, former CEO of Spirit Airlines, will serve as the chairman of NewLeaf Travel’s board of directors. 

He also said NewLeaf has expanded its route map from 7 to 12 Canadian cities: Halifax, Moncton, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Kelowna, Kamloops, Fort St. John, Abbotsford and Victoria. Young said Hamilton-Halifax was the only route with nonstop competition. 

Young said that serving secondary airports will enable the company to pass on significant savings to consumers. He noted that many Canadians drive three hours to cross the U.S. border to take advantage of lower fares.  

NewLeaf’s introductory fares, available for travel through Oct. 2, range from CAD79 to CAD119.   

“We think there are a lot of Canadians who just don’t fly because they can’t afford it,” Young said. “Our fares are similar to a restaurant bill.” 

Flights will operate two to three times a week, targeting leisure travelers who want to take short breaks or weeklong vacations. The flights will operate on 737 aircraft flown by Flair Airlines, a 10-year-old Canadian charter carrier, or by Flair’s subcontractor, Enerjet. NewLeaf is acting as a reseller of Flair’s flights, not as an airline. 

That distinction was at the root of a challenge by Gabor Lukacs, a self-styled “consumer advocate” who questioned whether the arrangement was legal because NewLeaf does not have its own license to operate an airline. 

The Canadian Transportation Agency conducted a review of its licensing rules and in March determined that resellers—companies that purchase seats from an air carrier and resell them to the public—are not required to hold an air license as long as they do not hold themselves out to the public as being an airline that is operating an air service. 

Lukacs, who has targeted both Canadian and U.S. airlines over the years, is appealing the decision.  

Asked why NewLeaf chose to proceed with the launch before the outcome of the appeal is known, Young said he is confident that NewLeaf will prevail, although he acknowledged that the company has a backup plan.  

“We have one individual who claims to have the moral authority to represent all Canadians,” Young said. “We can’t sit around and wait for someone to make a decision for us. We have a business to run.” 

He also noted that an unfavorable decision would affect the 15 other air travel resellers in Canada, predominantly in the far North, causing great inconvenience to residents in those regions.