Low-cost airline Flair will offer Charlottetown-Toronto flights again this year

Flair planes will be back on the tarmac at Charlottetown Airport this summer after all, in part because the airline is projecting lower demand for flights to the United States.

The low-cost airline had dropped Prince Edward Island from its routes when it announced its 2025 schedule late last year. 

But this week, the Charlottetown Airport Authority said in a news release that Flair would operate flights between YYG and Toronto's Pearson International Airport three days a week starting in April. 

"All airlines these days are constrained in what capacity they can add to the market," Eric Tanner, Flair's vice-president of commercial operations, told CBC News on Thursday.

"Originally we didn't think we had enough aircraft time to return to P.E.I., but we've been able to prioritize getting capacity back in Charlottetown because there really is a lack of low-fare options to and from P.E.I." 

The airline is offering round trips between the two cities on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between April 28 and Oct. 13. Flights will arrive in Charlottetown from Toronto at 11:10 a.m. those days, with planes departing again for Toronto at 12:30 p.m. 

Tanner said the company is also projecting their U.S. bookings to be weaker this year, meaning more people might be looking to travel within Canada. 

"We do see a growing sentiment that Canadian customers are excited to explore their own backyard this summer," he said. 

"We've had a really great partnership with [Charlottetown] over the years that we've served YYG and we were able to act very quickly to bring the capacity back."

Some turbulence with air travel to P.E.I.

Last year, The Canadian Press reported that Flair Airlines owed about $67.2 million in unpaid taxes. Four of its jets were repossessed by leasing companies, though Flair alleges those seizures were illegal.

WestJet also announced back in the fall that it was cancelling three of its weekly flights between Charlottetown and Toronto during the peak summer season. The company still plans to offer direct service to Calgary and Edmonton.

Newson said at the time that the airline's move was related to a new strategy that focuses on providing service to cities in Western Canada.

In early February, however, Porter Airlines said it would add a new direct route between Charlottetown and Toronto starting June 13, with four weekly round trips.