Canadians have another airline to fly with.
Canada Jetlines, which calls itself an “all-Canadian, value-focused leisure carrier,” will fly today from Toronto to Calgary for its first commercial flight.
The website Open Jaw says Jetlines is initially offering twice-weekly flights from Toronto to Alberta on Thursdays and Sundays. The flight from Toronto departs at 7:55 a.m. Easter Time and arrives at 10:10 a.m. Mountain Time. The return flight leaves Calgary at 11:40 a.m. local time and arrives in Toronto at 5:20 p.m.
The airline hopes to move to three flights per week in the fall.
Canada Jetlines will operate out of Toronto Pearson with a fleet of airbus family aircraft, starting with the A320. Canada Jetlines will operate to international destinations throughout the U.S., Mexico, Caribbean, and domestic cities in Canada.
Canadian Press reports that Edmonton-based Flair Airlines has been aggressively expanding in the last year and a half, and now serves 36 airports with 85 routes and a fleet of 18 aircraft. Lynx Air, which is based in Calgary, launched last spring and said at the time it hoped to operate nearly 90 flights a week on nine routes by June, all within Canada, CP said.
WestJet also has a low-cost subsidiary, called Swoop, while Air Canada operates Air Canada Rouge as a leisure carrier.
Porter Airlines, meanwhile, has orders for dozens of long-range jets and said it intends to fly to the west coast, Mexico and the Caribbean using Toronto Pearson Airport as a base.
It’s an increasingly crowded air space, and it’s hard to know how it will all shake out in the long run. But, for now, it means more choice for Canadians. And that’s always a good thing.
