(Vancouver) Flair Airlines is looking for partners to inject new capital into the low-cost carrier to “restructure” its finances and grow its fleet.
Eric Tanner, vice president of revenue management and network planning, said the company hopes to have partners buy stakes in the business to help pay down debt from the pandemic and allow Flair to acquire jets to add to the 20 it currently operates.
“What we’re really looking for is to reignite our growth ambitions and find strategic capital partners that will help us get to that level,” Tanner said in an interview.
“Work is underway with investors to restructure the balance sheet,” he said.
He quickly added that the hunt for investors was not an “urgent need” and that the company itself was not restructuring, having made profits in July and August.
“The company is frankly in the best shape it’s ever been, performance-wise,” he said.
Mr. Tanner attributed the improvement in part to a decrease in competition over the past year.
Low-cost carrier Lynx Air collapsed in February and filed for creditor protection, while WestJet’s ultra-low-cost subsidiary Swoop shut down in October last year.
Flair has faced its share of financial turbulence since taking off on its maiden flight in 2017.
Last November, the Edmonton-based carrier owed the federal government $67.2 million in unpaid taxes related to import duties on the 20 Boeing jets that make up its fleet.
Then-CEO Stephen Jones told The Canadian Press in January that he was putting expansion plans on hold as Flair struggled with aircraft delivery delays and large debts.
Last year, Flair saw four of its planes seized after a leasing manager claimed the company regularly missed millions of dollars in lease payments. Three of those Boeing 737s now fly for Ethiopian Airlines, while a fourth is in the hands of Johannesburg-based FlySafair.
“On the balance sheet, there are legacy items from the last four years, where Flair grew very rapidly and received no government support during the pandemic,” Tanner said.
“Frankly, we just need to get this all sorted out so we can move on,” he said.
The airline would favour Canadian financial partners, he said. Federal law limits foreign ownership of a Canadian airline to 49 per cent.