A vice-president at Flair Airlines says they want to keep expanding their operations at the Saint John Airport.
The ultra-low-cost carrier began offering a weekly sunshine flight to the Orlando Sanford International Airport last week.
In addition, the airline’s summer service to Toronto is expanding to add even more weekly trips this year.
Eric Tanner, the vice-president of revenue management and network planning, said the community has embraced their low-fare model.
“It’s truly a testament to the partnership that we’ve developed with the entire community of Saint John because we don’t get to expand service if people aren’t taking the flights,” Tanner said in an interview.
The Saint John-to-Toronto route, which started with two weekly flights in 2022, is expanding to four times weekly this summer.
Tanner said they would love to add more weekly frequencies during the summer and make it a year-round service, but other issues need to be dealt with first.
“There is a lot of constraint in the Toronto airport, in particular. It’s not operating at its full capacity right now. We really need it to,” he said.
“We need to continue pushing all of the stakeholders in air travel to make sure the country’s largest airport can operate at full capacity.
Tanner said it is also important to make sure there is demand for the service in order for it to be viable.
As for the potential of future routes, the vice-president said they want to give the community what it is looking for.
“We don’t fly the routes that we want to fly, we fly the routes that people in Saint John want to fly,” said Tanner.
“Tell us where you want to fly. Give feedback to the airport. We want to hear from you.”
