Airline launch pushed back

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This article was published 03/09/2015 (3157 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada’s newest airline has started hiring, but it has moved back its launch date.

NewLeaf Travel Company, the Winnipeg ultra-low-cost carrier, has hired nine people for its head office and is working on the next six, CEO Jim Young said.

It has hired two pilots and 24 flight attendants, but they will be based out of Hamilton and Kelowna, B.C.

“This is our startup squad. Once we get operating, we’ll continually grow,” Young said.

“They’re not factory workers. You grow based on how demand builds.”

The company had planned to have its first plane in the air before the end of the summer but has had to delay the launch a couple of months due to the complexities of getting an airline off the ground.

“We had to make a decision where we said, ‘Do we rush in the summer and not necessarily bring out the product that we really want or wait and deliver the product that we really want?’

“You only get one chance to make a first impression,” he said.

The first plane to be based out of Winnipeg is expected to be operational early next year. Each plane used by NewLeaf results in the hiring of 36 employees.

Within the next 15 to 18 months, Young said the plan is to have eight planes and their 288 employees based here.

When NewLeaf announced its entry into the market in June, it said its long-term goal was to hire 750 people, including pilots, flight attendants, executives as well as people in finance, marketing, information technology, sales and distributions and maintenance.

NewLeaf has partnered with Flair Airlines, a charter company based in Kelowna with a quintet of 737-400 aircraft, to fly its schedule.

NewLeaf plans to lease more planes shortly after the launch with a goal of having a fleet of 15 in a couple of years. Flair does the hiring of the crews.

Young said until the Canadian Transportation Agency has given full regulatory approval, he doesn’t want to release specific destinations but he said states such as California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida are on his radar for the winter.

“Our approach is to fly where others aren’t and focus on secondary markets and airports with really low fares,” he said.

Young said this week’s decision by CanJet Airlines to suspend its operations will have no bearing on NewLeaf’s plans as the Halifax-based carrier’s business plan was different.

CanJet offered charter flights on behalf of Transat Tours from a number of Canadian cities to sun destinations, but the long-term contract wasn’t renewed in April 2014.

Since then, it had been operating as a tour operator.

“CanJet used to be a scheduled carrier, but then they were flying planes for others and they attempted a tour business. That doesn’t concern us. (Their decision) doesn’t mean a downturn in the market,” he said.

NewLeaf makes no bones about the fact its target market includes Manitobans who drive to North Dakota to fly with Allegiant Air out of Grand Forks or Fargo.

The goal of carriers in the ultra-low-cost space is to eliminate or reduce as many expenses as possible. That means no meals, complimentary snacks or entertainment and likely walking or busing out to the plane on the tarmac.

At its bare bones, customers get a seat and a seatbelt.

Customers who request some of these or other services, such as a rental car or a hotel room at their destination, will be able to get them through NewLeaf at extra cost.

NewLeaf is preparing to renovate the former rental car facility at the Richardson International Airport and will use 7,000 square feet of space.

 

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca