Low-cost airlines continue to face extreme challenges in the Canadian market: following Flair Airlines’ January tax problems and Lynx Air’s January demise, another airline is discontinuing operations. On Thursday, August 15, Canada Jetlines, a small airline mostly operating out of Toronto Pearson International Airport and situated in Mississauga, Ontario, announced that it was suspending all of its flights and ending its operations.
The announcement was made only a few days after Brigitte Goersch, the carrier’s CEO, and four other senior officials announced their resignations. In a statement on August 12, the firm stated, “The Company has historically financed its future requirements through a combination of debt, equity, or other facilities.” Consequently, in order to maintain operations, the Company will need to obtain additional funds. The management and board of directors of the company are constantly looking for possible sources of further funding.
“The company has been unable to obtain the financing required to continue operations at this time,” a spokesperson named Erica Dymond stated, “so all operations are temporarily suspended with immediate effect.”
The airline was created in 2013, although it didn’t begin operations until 2022. Its tiny fleet consists of four Airbus A320-200 aircraft, each with 174 seats and a high-density all-economy configuration. At the beginning of 2023, the carrier decided to change its focus from serving a few domestic routes within Canada from its Toronto-Pearson base to sun destinations. It now offers low-frequency services to Guyana (Georgetown), Jamaica (Montego Bay), Mexico (Cancun), and the United States (Las Vegas, Miami, and Orlando).
Jetlines has been on the “edge of insolvency” for almost a year, according to John Gradek, a lecturer at McGill University’s Aviation Management Program, who made this revelation to the Financial Post.
