Lynx Air, a Calgary-based airline that launched less than two years ago with a promise to make air travel more affordable for Canadians, says it will cease operations on Monday.
The news came as the low-cost airline announced it had sought and obtained an initial order for creditor protection from the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta.
“Over the past year, Lynx Air has faced a number of significant headwinds including rising operating costs, high fuel prices, exchange rates, increasing airport charges and a difficult economic and regulatory environment,” said the company in a news release.
“Despite substantial growth in the business, ongoing operational improvements, cost reductions and efforts to explore a sale or merger, the challenges facing the company’s business have become too significant to overcome.”
A screenshot of the Lynx Air website landing page on Thursday evening. (Lynx Air)
The airline said it will cease operations at 12:01 a.m. MT on Monday, “with flights continuing to operate until that time.”
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP are acting as legal advisers to Lynx Air. FTI Consulting Canada Inc. was appointed as the monitor under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.
In an email statement to CBC News, a spokesperson with the airline said that “growing financial pressures have made it impossible” to continue operations.
“We are focused on working with passengers currently in transit to find alternative arrangements to reach their destination,” the statement reads.
The company said passengers with existing bookings are advised to contact their credit card company to secure refunds for pre-booked travel. It also directed customers to its website.
Flight cancelled, passengers scrambling
But Lynx Air customer, Kara Brereton-Cooke, says her flight home to Winnipeg, which was scheduled for Saturday, has already been cancelled.
Brereton-Cooke said she received an email from Lynx Thursday evening following the announcement, advising that her flight from Vancouver to Winnipeg was cancelled. She and a group of seven friends have been left scrambling to find a way home.
“Seeing this email, we’re now all just frantic.”
The friends travelled to Vancouver for a bachelorette party, and were originally slated to fly home Friday. Brereton-Cooke says Lynx Air then rescheduled the original return flight to depart at 11 a.m. on Saturday, but then cancelled it entirely.
Kara Brereton-Cooke, a Lynx Air customer, received this email notifying her that her Saturday flight had been cancelled. Above is a screenshot of the email Brereton-Cooke received. It directs customers to request a refund through their credit card companies. (Supplied by Kara Brereton-Cooke)
The group booked an extra night of hotel accommodations for Friday night after their flight was rescheduled. Now, they’ve booked last-minute flights through Air Canada for Saturday. The trip has become more expensive than anyone expected, she told CBC News.
“We just want our compensation back from them,” Brereton-Cooke said. “We shouldn’t have to go through our credit card companies to get a refund.”
CBC News contacted Lynx Air for a comment on the Saturday flight cancellation but have not yet received a response.
WestJet — another Calgary-based airline — has since responded to the news of Lynx Air’s halt to operations.
WestJet offers discounts
“We recognize the immediate impact this information has on passengers and employees of Lynx, and we are committed to assisting where we can through a number of actions,” reads the statement posted to their website on Thursday night.
The airline is offering deals to those impacted by Lynx’s announcement, namely a 25 per cent discount for all economy fares between Feb. 22 and Oct. 26 on WestJet routes which were previously served by Lynx Air.
Lynx Air’s flight attendants had just joined the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) earlier this month.
“We’re devastated for our members at Lynx Air and all employees who lost their jobs today,” Lou Arab, communications representative for CUPE, told CBC News.
“We will represent them and defend their rights in these times and we’ll fight to ensure that employees get everything they’re legally entitled to.
“The company was clear that it’s losing investors and doesn’t have the capital to support continued operations.”
Airline industry is ‘notoriously difficult’
Deborah Yedlin, president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, said she suspects airport charges played a major role in Lynx’s decision.
“I think the airport fees as they’re structured makes it hard for discount airlines to be successful in Canada long term,” she said.
“There’s been a confluence of events that’s really put a lot of downward pressure on the airline business… So when you’re a discount player and your margins are even tighter, you’re going to feel the economic headwinds that much more acutely.”
Lynx Air’s inaugural flight was in April of 2022, jetting from Calgary to Vancouver. (Submitted by Taylor Michelson)
Yedlin calls the industry “notoriously difficult,” citing various post-pandemic challenges such as labour shortages and increased fuel costs.
She says Lynx Air’s announcement is unfortunate for Calgarian consumers hoping to save on travel costs.
“I think the question is, what do we need to do in Canada to ensure the viability of discount airlines?”
Ultra-affordable services promised
Privately-owned Lynx Air, which was formerly Enerjet, launched in April 2022, with a promise to bring ultra-affordable services to travellers. Lynx Air’s inaugural flight was in April, 2022, jetting from Calgary to Vancouver.
When it announced its plans in 2021, the company’s CEO at the time said the goal was to link Canadians to people and places.
“Airfares have traditionally been high here in Canada, and we at Lynx believe in meeting Canadians’ needs who can’t afford to travel or can’t afford to travel as often as they’d like,” said Merren McArthur, who stepped down last year for personal reasons.
When the company announced its launch, it said it had leased 46 new Boeing 737 aircraft. Last June, McArthur told the Calgary Herald it employed about 420 people.
Lynx began flying to several Canadian cities in 2022, including Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.
Later that year, it announced a major expansion into the United States and followed that with the launch of a series of international flights in 2023, including Montreal to Las Vegas, and Toronto to Los Angeles, among others.
Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez addressed the news via social media on Thursday evening.
In a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, Rodriguez said he is following the announcement closely.
“For any travellers that had a return flight booked with Lynx, I expect Lynx to help you get back home as soon as possible. I expect Lynx to fully refund you if your fare won’t be honoured,” the statement reads.
“My office has been in touch with Lynx, we will continue to communicate with all parties, and we’ve convened calls with other airlines to see how they can help, to ensure that passengers are put first.”
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
NEW YORK (AP) — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.
It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.
While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.
Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.
The 54-year-old Democrat said she’s most bothered when she hears people on the news telling her that something she saw with her own eyes — like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — didn’t really happen.
“I feel like I’m being gaslit. That’s the way to put it,” she said.
Sometimes it feels like ‘a bombardment’
Caleb Pack, 23, a Republican from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who works in IT, tries to keep informed through the news feeds on his phone, which is stocked with a variety of sources, including CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Yet sometimes, Pack says, it seems like a bombardment.
“It’s good to know what’s going on, but both sides are pulling a little bit extreme,” he said. “It just feels like it’s a conversation piece everywhere, and it’s hard to escape it.”
Media fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late 2019 found roughly two in three Americans felt worn out by the amount of news there is, about the same as in a poll taken in early 2018. During the 2016 presidential campaign, about 6 in 10 people felt overloaded by campaign news.
But it can be particularly acute with news related to politics. The AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found that half of Americans feel a need to limit their consumption of information related to crime or overseas conflicts, while only about 4 in 10 are limiting news about the economy and jobs.
It’s easy to understand, with television outlets like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC full of political talk and a wide array of political news online, sometimes complicated by disinformation.
“There’s a glut of information,” said Richard Coffin, director of research and advocacy for USAFacts, “and people are having a hard time figuring out what is true or not.”
Women are more likely to feel they need to limit media
In the AP-NORC poll, about 6 in 10 men said they follow news about elections and politics at least “very” closely, compared to about half of women. For all types of news, not just politics, women are more likely than men to report the need to limit their media consumption, the survey found.
White adults are also more likely than Black or Hispanic adults to say they need to limit media consumption on politics, the poll found.
Kaleb Aravzo, 19, a Democrat, gets a baseline of news by listening to National Public Radio in the morning at home in Logan, Utah. Too much politics, particularly when he’s on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, can trigger anxiety and depression.
“If it pops up on my page when I’m on social media,” he said, “I’ll just scroll past it.”
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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
The AP poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
