Flair Airlines will hold a press conference Tuesday morning, three days after four of its leased planes were seized in what the company called a commercial dispute.
The planes were seized in Toronto, Edmonton, and Waterloo.
In a written statement, the Edmonton-based airline called the move by the leasing company “extreme and unusual.”
The Canadian Press reported that payments for the seized planes were a few days behind.
“Roughly a million dollars in slightly overdue lease payments,” Flair CEO Stephen Jones told CTV News Atlantic. “We really want to find a conceptual solution with the lessor on this because we think that the dispute is minor and the actions were unwarranted.”
Several flights were cancelled as a result of the seizure, leaving as many as 1,300 passengers stranded, including many travelling for March break.
Flair said it would work to rebook the customers, or reimburse them.
“We are very sorry to our passengers who were impacted. We know unforeseen interruptions to travel are stressful, and we are doing everything we can to get our customers to their destinations as soon as possible,” the airline said in a tweet.
John Gradeck, a lecturer at McGill University’s school of aviation management, spoke about the seizure on CTV’s Your Morning on Monday.
“This is like your mortgage being picked up by your bank and basically they change the lock on the front door,” he said.
He called the seizure a “black eye” for Flair, but hoped the company would be able to bounce back given the need for low-cost airlines.
Flair launched in 2004 as a charter airline, and began offering regularly scheduled service in 2018.
The airline has made a number of announcements about route and fleet expansions in recent years, including one just days before the seizure.
In 2022, Flair was investigated by the Canadian Transportation Agency over concerns the company did not have a majority Canadian ownership.
In June 2022, the CTA ruled that Flair was Canadian and could keep its licence.
CTV News Edmonton will carry the press conference live on our website at 11:20 a.m. MT.
With files from The Canadian Press, CTV News Atlantic’s Hafsa Arif, and CTVNews.ca’s Michael Lee.
