As Air Canada and WestJet continue to reduce routes and layoff staff, Flair Airlines is swooping in to do just the opposite.
The discount airline is adding eight new domestic routes this spring and summer, including service to the Victoria International Airport.
On May 1, service will be added to Ottawa, Ont., Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., Halifax, N.S. and Saint John, N.B.. In June, Thunder Bay, Ont. and Charlottetown, P.E.I. will be added. Victoria will be added in July and Abbotsford, will be added in August.
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The airline will include 18 Canadian destinations, but routes aren’t necessarily available between all of them. Flights out of Victoria this summer are only listed to go to Calgary and Edmonton, Alta. and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont. They are also limited to certain days and times.
While flights are significantly cheaper than at non-discount airlines, Flair Airlines charges more for checked and carry-on baggage. A one-way ticket between Victoria and Calgary Alta. in August is set at $49.01, but a checked bag is an additional $40.95 and a checked bag and carry-on costs $61.95.
| One-way flight from Victoria to Calgary, Alta. with baggage options. (Screenshot/Flair Airlines) |
President and CEO Stephen Jones said the airline strongly supports the need to restrict non-essential travel as Canada works to reduce the number of COVID-19 cases, but that it anticipates a return to travel and tourism this spring and summer. The airline is also offering free flight changes and travel credit while pandemic restrictions remain in place, so long as they are made at least two days in advance.
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