Lynx takes off on inaugural flight to Los Angeles and plans more growth out of Toronto
ANN RUPPENSTEIN
Merren McArthur, Chief Executive Officer of Lynx Air, is on a mission to change perceptions about low cost carriers.
“Were differentiating ourselves from — or redefining the expectation of low cost carriers here in Canada — because we know that there’s been historically an assumption that they operate crammed, old, unreliable aircraft and leave their passengers stranded by canceling flights at the last minute,” McArthur tells Travel Courier. “And so we have made it our mission to redefine that expectation and one of the primary pieces of our focus has been on ensuring that we get our passengers to their destination safely. For the first year of our operations, we had the lowest cancellation rate in Canada, which we’re very proud of, and that’s come through with the lowest complaint rate as well to Canadian Transport Authority — that’s across all Canadian airlines.”
Lynx Air continues to expand its network as its inaugural flight form Toronto to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) took off on Aug. 24.
“We [launched] a brand new route — Toronto to Los Angeles — connecting those two very vibrant and exciting hubs for the first time with an ultra low cost carrier,” she says. “We’re the only low cost carrier on this route. It’s great to be bringing ultra affordable fares.”
Since launching in April 2022, McArthur says the airline has grown exponentially from one aircraft to nine Boeing 737s.
“We operate to 16 destinations across North America, by December that’ll be 18, flying 240 flights a week,” she reveals. “And Toronto is our fastest growing and biggest hub by a long way because we’ve seen that it’s relatively underserved by low cost carriers in Toronto. And so we’re bringing our ultra affordable fares where they needed most to bring the fares down and inspire more people to travel.”
In the coming months, Toronto will see even more routes launching.
“We’ve got Toronto-Phoenix, Toronto-Tampa Bay, and Toronto-Fort Myers,” she says. “So they’ll all be coming online in the lead up to Christmas and then next year, there will be another exciting international destination, but that is still on that on the down low right now.”
Notably, McArthur says Toronto is the fastest growing base for Lynx.
“By December we will have grown 260% compared to December 2022, in terms of our flights out of Toronto,” she says. “We’ve just established a pilot and cabin crew base here in Toronto as well with over 100 new people joining our business from this space. So I think for all the people in Toronto and Ontario, they should keep an eye out for more growth from from Lynx and right now we’ve got a sale on as well, 25% off all our Toronto – Los Angeles flights.”
McArthur, who will be stepping down from her role on Sept. 29, says although Lynx is not on the GDS, the airline’s Chief Commercial Officer Vijay Bathija finds creative ways to partner with the trade.
“Vijay is very creative about finding ways to sell tickets and he does do partnerships regularly in terms of promo codes and discounts and special deals with the travel trade,” she says. “He’s always open and he’s always got a promo code in hand.”
