Cue the acid-green lights. Flair Airlines is having a moment.
At a cocktail and hors d’oeuvres soirée at Toronto’s Twist Gallery on Queen Street West Thursday night (Oct. 16), the Edmonton-based carrier welcomed its executive team, partners, and select media to provide a preview of what’s to come.
The VIP mixer, set in a lofty, neon green-lit second-floor art space, also doubled as an art event as guests took in striking images of Flair airplanes captured by National Geographic Explorer photographer Mackenzie Calle.
Flair, which recently marked it 20th anniversary, is flying forward with a suite of new products and initiatives, a B2B strategy – which includes a dedicated sales team overseeing travel agency, charter sales and commission incentives – a tour operator division, perks for passengers with carry-on bags, expanded fare bundles and a ticket resale option.
The updates build on the company’s “Flair FWD” strategy, a customer-focused platform, announced in April, that’s meant to improve the Flair experience with features like an On-Time Guarantee, in-seat ordering, a refreshed website, and digital meal credits for disrupted flights.
“Flair FWD is about recognizing that we are an incredibly valuable carrier to the Canadian marketplace – one that offers the exact same experience [as other airlines], at a better price,” said Eric Tanner, Flair’s Vancouver-based chief commercial officer, speaking to PAX last night.
Flair enters B2B space
Flair, for one, has identified the need to connect with customers who require more than just a seat.
A year ago, the airline hired Ryan Anderson, a former telecommunications manager, to develop a sales program that meets the needs of travel agencies, event planners, and other small to medium-sized businesses.
The result of these efforts is a new travel agency portal, available here, which officially went live last night
“It’s going to allow for a three per cent commission on base fares and ancillaries,” Anderson explained.
(To be clear, the commission is a credit so agents can improve their margins on future flights as they build a book of business).
The portal also gives travel advisors some flexibility. Agents can change a client’s name up to 48 hours before take-off and modify a reservation up to seven days from the departure date.
Flair also wants the trade to know that it does charters.
READ MORE: Flair completes executive team with three appointments
“That’s how we started,” Anderson said, referring to the airline’s early days, in the mid-2000s, when it flew cargo and passenger charter flights – notably, moving workers for Shell Canada’s oil sands project. “We’re still very active in that space.”
Charter flights don’t necessarily have to be within Flair’s network, which includes destinations across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.
“Passionate aviation fans have noticed our planes flying to Greenland and even over to Europe,” Anderson said. “We’ll do everything from sports teams to business retreats. It’s very diverse.”
(For anyone who’s interested, Anderson and his team can be reached at [email protected]).
Trevor Wakefield, director of charter operations and business development, unpacked the nuts and bolts of Flair’s charter program at a separate Flair event that was held Wednesday for travel pros.
His message to agents is to consider the value of booking a charter.
“There’s this perception that a private jet – a charter – is expensive. That you need to be a rock star,” he said. “But we’re actually able to deliver an affordable product.”
“If you divide it by the number of seats on our aircraft, it comes out less than what a ticket on another airline may cost. The value is determined by the passenger load, Obviously, the higher the passenger load, your price per seat comes down.”
Introducing “Flair Vacations”
But perhaps the biggest news to drop last night is that Flair is getting into the tour operator business.
“Flair Vacations,” a partnership with the HBX Group (parent company of Bedsonline), builds on the airline’s expansion into the Caribbean and Latin America (including a new Mexico City route, commencing Oct. 27, as well Montego Bay, Jamaica, which launches Dec. 14).
“Customers have been asking for this for years and years and years,” Tanner said during a presentation last night.
Flair’s all-inclusive vacation packages are set to launch in December.
“It’s going to be air, hotel and transfer included, with optional excursions,” Duncan Pattillo, Flair’s director of customer experience, told PAX.
The joint-venture with HBX provides “that missing link for Canadians,” he went on to say.
“We’re very excited about this product,” he said. “We have high volumes into Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Montego Bay, Kingston and Punta Cana, where there are fantastic offerings. We want to provide vacations to Canadians at a fair, affordable price.”
Zone 1 boarding with Flair Express
A suite of new services at Flair will lead the charge.
Unveiled last night was “Flair Express,” which launches December 3.
This is an upgrade given to any customer that purchases a carry-on bag, whether through Flair’s Lite/MAX bundles, or separately.
They’ll receive Zone 1 boarding and won’t be required to put their carry-on bag, or personal item, in a baggage sizer (which customers are currently required to do)
“This brings Flair in line with all of our competition, but at a fraction of the cost,” Tanner said, calling luggage restrictions “the biggest source of emotional anxiety for our customers.”
Speaking to PAX, Tanner said “Express” was informed by direct customer feedback.
“It was point of friction,” he said. “We want to make Flair the easiest airline to fly – financially, physically and emotionally.”
Travellers, of course, still have to be compliant with Transport Canada’s regulations for onboard items. Flair Express, really, is about alleviating stress at the airport.
“We want to make sure customers have the ability to bring what they want and need,” Pattillo added.
New bundles
The airline is also rolling out a new set of bundles.
There will be a “Basic” bundle (which comes with just a personal item), a “Lite” bundle (which includes a carry-on and Flair Express), a “Plus” option (checked bag and personal item) and “MAX,” which includes everything.
This will be rolling out system-wide this fall in Flair’s newly-designed app, Tanner said.
Ticket resale service
Flair will also be North America’s first airline to offer a ticket resale service through Fairlyne, a Paris-based resale platform.
Basically, if you suddenly can’t make your Flair flight, the airline will potentially buy back the seat – if the flight is popular.
“Customers get more of a refund than they would if they just didn’t show up for the flight,” Tanner said. “And for us, it’s a win because we can resell that ticket.”
“This is the new Flair”
The changes reflect Flair’s broader effort to reposition itself beyond the ultra-low-cost-carrier segment that has historically shaped its operations.
“I think people have a conception of Flair – and low-cost travel in Canada in general – as being a graveyard for airlines. And it long had been, but Flair is different now,” Tanner said.
Other changes Flair has recently made include launching a faster website with Amazon Web Services, along with “boarding passes for all” (Flair used to do boarding pass collection at its check-in counter, but it now sends digital passes to customers upon completing check in, where possible).
The airline takes pride in telling customers “the real story” behind delays when they occur, offering details that go beyond generic “operational reasons.”
The company’s On-Time Guarantee, unveiled last year, also gives customers on flights with a delay of 60 minutes or more a $60 e-voucher for next time.
Flair also now offers Apple AirTag bag tracking.
Additionally, the company with 20 aircraft (consisting of 18 Boeing 737 MAX 8s and two Boeing 737-800s) calls itself “Canada’s most reliable airline,” citing strong on-time performance numbers (last month, 89.2 per cent of Flair flights took off on time).
It’s for these reasons (including the announcements made last night) that Flair no longer identifies as ultra-low-cost, a model that essentially charges low base fares for seats while charging extra for nearly everything else.
“Historically, Flair has done itself a disservice,” Tanner said. “Every airline in Canada charges for carry-on bags, seat assignments and checked bags. We have the same seat pitch as Porter, the same carry-on policy as Air Canada, and the same seatback entertainment as WestJet. Why are we cheapening our brand by calling ourselves an ultra-low-cost carrier? If anything, we have the best value in the sky.”
One of Flair’s biggest challenges (arguably) is overcoming negative headlines from the past, from the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) reviewing Flair’s ownership structure in 2022 to having four Boeing 737s seized by lessors over unpaid lease payments in 2023.
Tanner said Flair, today, is not what some people think.
“We hear so many preconceived notions about Flair, and affordable air travel, that are based on articles from three, four years ago,” he said. “Part of our effort is to show the world that we are very different from what we were in the past.”
He added: “We’re not the Flair travel agents probably think about when they hear our name.”
“The proof is in the numbers, our return customers, and the look and feel,” he said. “I don’t think the old Flair would put on an event like this.”
In other words, “Flair is moving forward,” as Pattillo put it.
“We now have a formal sales team, we’re working with our B2B partners, and providing a vacations product,” he said. “This is the new Flair.”
Flair Airlines’ “Flair FWD: An Exhibition in Art & Flight” is on now and will be open to the public until Oct. 31 at Twist Gallery in Toronto.
Don’t miss a single travel story: subscribe to PAX today! Click here to follow PAX on Facebook.
