Flair Airlines’ CEO Stephen Jones talks The Flair Effect and what to expect in 2024

Flair Airlines’ CEO Stephen Jones recently provided a ‘state of the union’ style briefing on the ultra-low-cost carrier’s performance in 2023; its achievements in the area of sustainability; its economic impact and community investment; and a look at how the airline has grown and what its plans are for 2024. 

Simply put, Jones talked about what he described as ‘The Flair Effect,’’ observing that “it’s not just about the flights we have… it’s actually about the impact on your wallet and the wallets of the everyday Canadian.”

Flair’s boss continued: “We’ve put real money back where it belongs, which is into the pockets of everyday Canadians. $415 million in the past year and more than $700 million since 2021 – that’s savings that have gone into the pockets of Canadians.”

Jones said that’s because “Flair is consistently cheaper than ‘Big Air’ [and] … has continuously kept prices low across the board.”

As examples of how Flair is making air travel more affordable, Jones pointed out that the carrier’s fares are 36% less on its Vancouver to LA flight; 52% less on a Toronto to Punta Cana flight; 48% less on an Ottawa to Halifax; and 44% less on Edmonton to Vancouver.

Said Jones: “Look at those prices and [you’ll] see the impact that Flair is having every day on bringing prices [down].”

Performance metrics 

In reviewing Flair’s performance, Jones noted that the carrier came into the Canadian market in ‘a really big way’ from 2021 “as we started to add the MAX aircraft into our fleet and grow the business as Canada’s true ULCC.”

He continued: “I think it’s a real tribute to the team that in 2023, really only 2 years into our growth, we were the most reliable airline in Canada, with a 98.2% completion rate – that’s the number of flights that we actually flew relative to those that were scheduled – and we were the second most on-time airline in the same period in 2023, with 68.8% of our flights arriving within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time.”

Said Jones: “Those are two of the big metrics that you’ll see internationally that airlines compare themselves on and that’s a really great start. We did that with extremely high load factors, so 86% of the seats that we had for sale in 2023 were sold. And we flew more than 4.5 million passengers, so that’s 1.5 million more than we flew in the year prior.”

Sustainability achievements 

“What we’re doing is beautifully linked to sustainability because by definition Flair is going to be the lowest emissions per passenger mile flown of any carrier in North America, certainly in Canada and that’s because we have the most efficient aircraft to start with,” said Jones.

He explained that “for a given flight distance we will use the least amount of fuel [and] on top of that, we have the most seats available in the aircraft and we fill those seats up. So, we’re not flying around with a lot of empty seats, wasting fuel and creating emissions and damaging the environment.” 

Jones continued: We’re at 30% less emissions than our competitors in 2023, I think that’s a statistic we can be really proud of and I love the fact that that’s equivalent to 2,400 loads of laundry per flight. In terms of the CO2 avoidance, 6 million kilograms of CO2 avoided by Flair through fleet operational efficiencies and CO2 reduction initiatives, which is equivalent to 300,000 trees carbon capture.”

And he added: “Flair has moved to recyclable and compostable cups and cutlery on board, so, that’s a really great start on sustainability.”

But Flair’s boss also pointed out that “sustainability is not just about the environment. Sustainability is about the impact that we have on the world around us.”

While he noted that “environment is, obviously, a big part of that, there is a social impact on the community – the economic impact we have. So, I think Flair could really be proud of the impact we’re having on the communities that we operate in.’

In this respect, he pointed out that: “We’ve supported more than 8,000 jobs – we’ve got 1,200 employees directly – and indirectly up to 8,000 jobs have been supported creating $1.2 billion in economic impact output [and] $407 million in labour income. So, that’s wages and salaries paid to our employees and over half a billion dollars in GDP impact – that’s Flair.”

Investing in communities 

In terms of its investment in the communities it serves, Jones said that “one of the most important things about low cost travel is that it is for everyone.”

He observed: “This is not a product for the rich and elite that it used to be in Canada. You know, Canada was an extremely expensive place to fly and travel before Flair came along. We’ve changed that. We’ve put affordable travel in the hands of all Canadians and in doing that we’ve reached out through the communities we operate in.”

Currently, Flair works with Canada Basketball as well as the Kitchener Rangers and on a number of other initiatives, leading Jones to observe: “We’re not only providing impact through individuals’ wallets, but also into the communities that we operate in and we’ve created some innovative partnerships.”

Plans for the future 

In looking ahead to 2024 and the airline’s plans for growth, Jones said that: “It’s worth taking a minute to think about the way that Flair has changed the way that Canadians think about travel.”

He observed that: “Now, travel is not something that you have to save up for and once a year, go on a trip and go and spend 10 days or two weeks visiting someone on the other side of the country. Now, it’s something that people can do much more spontaneously.”

Jones continued: “We’re seeing that in the data. We’re seeing people are travelling more often. We’re seeing that people are booking much closer in to the date of travel so there’s that element of spontaneity. And they’re doing it twice, three times a year. So, the spontaneity of travel and the frequency of travel is really increasing as a consequence of the way that we have made travel affordable for everyone.”

In 2023, Jones said that Flair grew its business, pointing to the fact that it added two new planes to its fleet; added five new destination points to its network; 13 more route additions (new city pairs); and it operated over 5,500 more flights in 2023 than it did in 2022.

As for Flair’s ongoing mission, Jones said that “it is not an easy path that Flair has chosen. In fact, it’s a very difficult one, but we do it because we’re here for a purpose and that purpose is to make travel affordable for all Canadians and that’s what we’re doing.”

Said Jones: “We’ve set new standards for reliability by being Canada’s most reliable airline in 2023 and that’s something we’re incredibly proud of and we’re working really hard to maintain that position. We’re redefining the way people think about travel and we’re 100% committed to the sustainability of our business in a broader community context.”

As for growth in 2024, Jones said that Flair is “constantly looking at new flights and new destinations … and as our schedule builds we’ll unfold a whole lot more.”

Jones explained: “It’s part of the nature of the beast with an ultra-low cost carrier that we will take risks on destinations. We’ll experiment. We’ll innovate. And we’ll try things that don’t have to be driven through the hubs of the big network carriers, but we can actually join the dots on places, giving people direct access in ways that were previously not available.”

“So, you’ll see us come in and out of markets because if they don’t work we’ll cut them quickly and if they do work, we’ll increase their frequencies. We’ll move seasons and not just the big IATA seasons, but we’ll take sort of micro seasons on different markets because the seasons of travel don’t necessarily line up perfectly with the way the airline industry likes to define the seasons. So, we’ll be in and out of markets as we see opportunities and as they reward us, we’ll reward them.”

Stay tuned, there’s lots more to come from Flair Airlines…