(YEG) Edmonton International Airport Part 4 (October 2023)

[EdmTrekker]

Originally Posted by Rocket252

^ I agree.

the door is open for Flair to become the dominant low cost airline in Canada.

It is the only LCC.

[LO 044]

Originally Posted by Rocket252

^ I agree.

the door is open for Flair to become the dominant low cost airline in Canada.

Why is the door open all of a sudden? Because of Lynx's demise? Lynx is/was so small that removing them from the market won't help Flair's financial situation. Flair owes more to creditors than Lynx. Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if airports, fueling companies, de-icing companies etc. ask Flair for up front payments soon based on them losing money on unpaid debts from Lynx.

[Rocket252]

It's an opportunity for Flair to take advantage of one less competitor.

I did not say it was going to be easy.

[Harrison]

Originally Posted by Rocket252

It's an opportunity for Flair to take advantage of one less competitor.

I did not say it was going to be easy.

Well, now with Swoop and Lynx gone they don't really have any competition in the ULCC space, which is good for them. Let's see if they can capitalize on that.

[ace.yyc]

Per aircraft, Flair is burning money at a faster rate than Lynx was.

[hehehe]

Originally Posted by ace.yyc

Per aircraft, Flair is burning money at a faster rate than Lynx was.

I wonder how much longer they'll last for. Now with 777 partners having their own troubles I doubt they'll last for very long without their support.

[EdmTrekker]

Originally Posted by hehehe

I wonder how much longer they'll last for. Now with 777 partners having their own troubles I doubt they'll last for very long without their support.

I may be wrong, but I had thought 777 have a 25% ownership stake the maximum under Canadian law. Flair is the only LCC now. I would be surprised if there was not a Canadian or Canadian company that did not buy out the creditors of 777 out of its stake in Flair - and at a much reduced cost or the Government increases the threshold from 25% to 50% for foreign ownership. One way or the other there will be a backroom struggle to keep Flair viable. Assuming they do survive they will need to get some new leadership at Flair to survive and any new investors will no doubt expect just that.

[LO 044]

^Who would want to buy an airline that's in debt, burns money quickly (as per Acey), owns no aircraft, has no proper business plan, can't compete on majority of the routes it has tried, runs a supposed low cost carrier in a country that makes it difficult to do so. What exactly would you be buying Flair for? It's not like Flair has some kind of loyal base of travelers that have been supportive for years. Why not just start a brand new airline instead.

[Zmonkey]

Originally Posted by EdmTrekker

I may be wrong, but I had thought 777 have a 25% ownership stake the maximum under Canadian law. Flair is the only LCC now. I would be surprised if there was not a Canadian or Canadian company that did not buy out the creditors of 777 out of its stake in Flair - and at a much reduced cost or the Government increases the threshold from 25% to 50% for foreign ownership. One way or the other there will be a backroom struggle to keep Flair viable. Assuming they do survive they will need to get some new leadership at Flair to survive and any new investors will no doubt expect just that.

49% ownership, 25% voting rights.

[Coldrsx]

https://www.disruptionmagazine.ca/

[ace.yyc]

Lynx's finances are now completely public. Flair's are not... but there is an incredible amount of information to be gathered here. We know that Flair is already in trouble, we know that Flair and Lynx lease the same type of plane at what are very likely similar rates. We know that Flair and Lynx are generating roughly the same yield per seat as they have similar fares and costs for carry-ons, checked bags or whatever. In the very best case scenario, Flair is in a world of hurt.

[taras]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

https://www.disruptionmagazine.ca/

That's nice, too bad hydrogen isn't really a sustainable source of energy though. Why not have a giant solar farm on all the empty airport land?

[Base]

Better growth in February propelled by transborder, international, & fbo ops. Growing pax again with less aircraft movements year over year means larger/fuller aircraft.​

February 2024​

Terminal​

Terminal Traffic: 502,008 passengers (Year-to-date 1,001,254 passengers) 4.1% (Year-to-date 2.6%)
Domestic 356,912 passengers (Year-to-date 717,043 passengers) 0.1% (Year-to-date -1.6%)
Transborder 71,446 passengers (Year-to-date 133,796 passengers) 9.5% (Year-to-date 6.3%)
International 73,650 passengers (Year-to-date 150,415 passengers) 22.3% (Year-to-date 23.8%)

Fixed Base Operators (FBO)​

51,020 passengers (Year-to-date 105,370 passengers) 17.0% (Year-to-date 18.6%)

Total passengers (Terminal and FBO)​

553,028 passengers (Year-to-date 1,106,624 passengers) 5.2% (Year-to-date 3.9%)

[YegFan]

^Even with an extra day in Feb this year, only managed 4.1% growth. Seems like growth is coming to an end here.

[Archyron]

Originally Posted by taras

That's nice, too bad hydrogen isn't really a sustainable source of energy though. Why not have a giant solar farm on all the empty airport land?

I've always viewed hydrogen as an energy store rather than an energy source. If the electrolysis process is powered via sustainable energy sources (e.g solar farm), hydrogen can have useful properties like a higher energy density and better cold weather performance when compared to current battery technology. I have very little confidence, however, that the hydrogen will be produced sustainably in Alberta. Without that, this is just a bunch of green washing

[EdmTrekker]

Originally Posted by Archyron

I've always viewed hydrogen as an energy store rather than an energy source. If the electrolysis process is powered via sustainable energy sources (e.g solar farm), hydrogen can have useful properties like a higher energy density and better cold weather performance when compared to current battery technology. I have very little confidence, however, that the hydrogen will be produced sustainably in Alberta. Without that, this is just a bunch of green washing

Exactly. Global markets looking for "clean" sustainable produced hydrogen will not be buying from Alberta.

[Rocket252]

Flair Summer 2024 changes.

A lot of shuffling going on - seems like reduced capacity for YEG.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/240326-f8ns24

[JakeLRS]

Originally Posted by Rocket252

Flair Summer 2024 changes.

A lot of shuffling going on - seems like reduced capacity for YEG.

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/240326-f8ns24

I mean, can't really blame them. Can't really compete with WS on smaller routes like Nashville. Not really any loss of service in general, just less of Flair.

The only YEG route flair has no competition on is YEG-YKF.

Also general note, Flair airfares are significantly more expensive this summer compared to last. Maybe they are focusing on trying to make some money this go around.

[LO 044]

Flair has as many destinations out of YYC as YEG. They have more destinations out of YVR and YYZ than YEG or YYC. Now I don't know how that relates to total flights or seats available but it appears that this "Edmonton based" airline is based in Edmonton in name only.

Also in terms of raising their fares, I'm curious how their load factors will be affected this summer. No frills, no frequent flyer program, no entertainment on board, extras for almost everything probably equates to similar fares to WS or AC. A properly run airline is also an issue although most passengers may not know about Flair switching payment providers for example. Still I wouldn't chance it flying with them. I don't know where the upside is of booking with them besides cost and it looks like that difference is slowly going away.

[Altaflyer]

If they can’t ramp things up for summer and have both passengers and higher yields then they are done after summer, if not before. Westjet has Swoopdified YEG-YYZ with some days all flights on Swoop planes, others 3/4 but charges mainline prices. Porter offers additional capacity and does serve to moderate fares but they are trending higher than last year for sure.