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Flair Airlines is set to hit the skies above the Queen City again.
The ultra-low-cost airline operated between August and the end of December in 2020 but then pulled back flights across Canada.
Flights began again in Regina, taking people to either Vancouver or Toronto.
“What (Flair is) seeing right now is some really good opportunity. Obviously, the pandemic and the health restrictions that we’ve got even currently in place have really discouraged travel. Even though we’re operating at very low passenger levels, what this tells me is they’re seeing an opportunity to take a little bit of risk. As these restrictions hopefully start reducing, they can look at gaining some market share,” said Regina Airport Authority CEO James Bogusz.
While public health measures have made things difficult for people to travel, Bogusz said there will come a time when those measures will be loosened and travel will be encouraged once again.
“We want to make sure our community is in a position to rebound as quickly as we can and to be able to get an airline to deploy a large 737 800 series aircraft with almost 200 passengers per flight as a potential, it’s incredible,” Bogusz said. “Let’s just hope that over the summer we can start seeing things start relaxing so we can start enjoying even exploring our own country.”
Regina’s airport is still seeing only about 10 per cent of its pre-pandemic customers.
There is hope things could return to normal once more vaccinations are administered. Bogusz said states in the U.S. have around 50 to 60 per cent of their pre-pandemic customer base back.
“Let’s hope it all picks up when those vaccines all roll out and people are given an opportunity to access those and hopefully that will translate to more confidence and more travel,” Bogusz said.
“Let’s just hope that we can see continued progress in (vaccinations) so these new flights from Flair, or the flights coming up from WestJet and Air Canada to new destinations like Montreal and Kelowna that will be offered for the first time ever in our city, they need to be successful by having people use them.”
Bogusz said the financial situation of the airport hasn’t improved, with the airport reaching far into its line of credit, but he hopes more Regina customers will return in the fall.
