UPDATE June 1, 2022: The CTA has issued its ruling on Flair. Read about the decision HERE.
The deadline has arrived for one of Canada's largest budget airlines to inform ticket-holders if they will need to rethink their travel plans.
On Wednesday, June 1, Flair Airlines will hold a press conference that will outline the decision reached with the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) on whether it may continue to fly in Canada.
In mid-April, news broke that the airline may be forced to cease its operations because it did not meet the conditions to qualify as "Canadian owned" — at least 51 per cent of a company's voting interests must be owned and controlled by Canadians and no more than 25 per cent of the voting interests may be by any single non-Canadian entity or individual.
Until now, however, Flair Airlines has maintained that it will not halt operations. President and CEO Stephen Jones told V.I.A. in a phone interview on April 18 that customers should "absolutely be comfortable" in keeping the flights they've booked.
"I want to be really clear. We will not be grounded as a consequence of this review," he explained, adding that Flair has been working with the CTA to address the situation.
Is Flair Airlines safe?
On May 3, the CTA announced that it will issue its final determination on June 1. If the agency determines it is not Canadian, Flair's licences will be suspended.
Jones will host an in-person and virtual press conference in Edmonton Wednesday to provide details of the CTA decision and Flair's next steps.
The low-cost carrier recently announced two new routes to Puerto Vallarta. The new routes will provide service between the Mexican sun destination and Vancouver and Edmonton.
On Nov. 5, once-weekly flights on Saturdays from Vancouver will begin starting at $99 CAD including all taxes and fees.
Numerous Metro Vancouverites previously stated they aren't convinced the airline won't be grounded following the CTA deadline. Many of them are still awaiting refunds, while others say they were unable to reach a customer service representative who could help them.
