Lynx Air, legally incorporated as 1263343 Alberta Inc., was a Canadian ultra-low-cost carrier based in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. It previously operated as Enerjet and was rebranded as Lynx Air on November 16, 2021. The first flight under the Lynx Air name took place on April 7, 2022, operating from

Calgary International Airport Calgary International Airport , branded as YYC Calgary International Airport, is an international airport that serves the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is located approximately northeast of downtown and covers an area of 20.82 square ...

Vancouver International Airport Vancouver International Airport is an international airport located on Sea Island (British Columbia), Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond, British Columbia, serving the city of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland region. It is lo ...

. On February 22, 2024, the airline announced it had entered creditor protection and ceased operations on February 26, 2024, at 12:00 AM Mountain Time.

History

Enerjet

Enerjet was originally formed in 2006 by a small group of entrepreneurs addressing what they perceived to be a gap in the service provided by Canada's major airlines,

WestJet WestJet Airlines, is a Canadian airline headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Founded in 1994, it is the second-largest airline in Canada and the eighth-largest airline in North America by frequency. It began operations in 1996 with 220 employee ...

and

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada, by size and passengers carried. Air Canada is headquartered in the borough of Saint-Laurent in the city of Montreal. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and cha ...

in "middle Canada". It was initially known as New Air & Tours until October 20, 2008, when New Air & Tours revealed its name and corporate logo to be styled as Enerjet. Enerjet was founded by nine individuals, including Tim Morgan, the former senior vice president of

. On November 28, 2008, Enerjet received an

air operator's certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial air transport purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets and s ...

(AOC) and Air Operator License issued by the

Canadian Transportation Agency The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA; , OTC) is the independent, quasi-judicial tribunal of the Government of Canada that makes decisions relating to federally-regulated modes of transportation ( air, rail and marine). Its headquarters ar ...

. While the airline initially planned to launch as a scheduled

low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

(LCC), the airline focused instead on charter operations involving the transport of employees of oil companies, such as for

Suncor Energy Suncor Energy Inc. () is a Canada, Canadian integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in production of synthetic crude from oil sands. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Suncor Energy was ranked as the 48th-largest public ...

, as well as ad-hoc charter services for

Air Transat Air Transat () is a List of airlines of Canada, Canadian airline headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1986, it operates scheduled and charter flights serving 60 destinations in 25 countries. Air Transat is owned and operated by Transa ...

, deeming the leisure travel market to be competitive following the collapse of Zoom Airlines, as well as the presence of leisure carriers such as

. By 2012, the airline was still seeking investment to expand into scheduled LCC operations, and had operated some flights between

and

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

during peak holiday travel periods, with plans to expand the services to

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley in the British Columbia Interior, southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna ...

and

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. In 2015, Enerjet signed an agreement to acquire 46

Boeing 737 MAX 8 The Boeing 737 MAX is a series of narrow-body aircraft developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes as the fourth generation of the Boeing 737. It succeeds the Boeing 737 Next Generation and incorporates more efficient CFM International LEAP eng ...

aircraft, 40 purchased and 6 leased. By 2016, the airline had gone through two tentative names for its LCC project, consisting of ''Jet Naked'' and ''FlyToo''. In late 2018, the airline announced it had attracted investors in order to transition from chartered flights to scheduled operations, one of which included American private equity firm Indigo Partners, which had notably invested in other LCCs including

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines, Inc. is a major American ultra low-cost airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 120 destinations in the United States, Caribbean, Mexico and Central America, and employs more than 5,000 staff. ...

JetSmart JetSMART Airlines SpA, stylized as JetSMART, is a Chilean ultra low-cost carrier controlled by US investment fund Indigo Partners, which also controls low-cost carriers like Frontier Airlines, Mexico, Mexico's Volaris and Hungary, Hungary's Wizz ...

Volaris Volaris (legally ''Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación S.A.B. de C.V.'') is a Mexican low-cost airline based in Santa Fe, Mexico City, Santa Fe, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City with its operating bases in Canc ...

, and

Wizz Air {{Infobox airline , airline = Wizz Air Holdings Plc. , IATA = , ICAO = , callsign = , aoc = , hubs = , focus_cities = , frequent_flyer = {{ubl, class=nowrap , Wizz All You Can Fly , Wizz Discount Club , Wizz Privilege Pass , ...

, and Enerjet subsequently planned to relaunch as an LCC during 2019. The launch of the airline was delayed due to the

Boeing 737 MAX groundings The Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner was Aircraft on ground, grounded worldwide between March 2019 and December 2020, and again during January 2024, after 346 people died in two similar crashes in less than five months: Lion Air Flight 610 ...

and the

impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on commercial air transport The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the airline industry due to travel restrictions and a decimation in demand among travelers. Significant reductions in passenger numbers have resulted in flights being cancelled or planes ...

Lynx Air

On November 16, 2021, the company revealed its new name as Lynx Air, with plans to begin flying in the first quarter of 2022. During the announcement, the airline made commitments for up to 46

aircraft over the next seven years to meet the anticipated demand, with deliveries starting in early 2022, and that it would follow the

model for its operations. The airline additionally announced it would initially operate domestic routes with plans to add international destinations later. On April 7, 2022, Lynx Air's first flights launched. The airline announced its first international destinations on September 28, 2022, with flights to the United States beginning in early 2023. On February 22, 2024, Lynx filed for creditor protection from the

Court of King's Bench of Alberta The Court of King's Bench of Alberta (abbreviated in citations as ABKB or Alta. K.B.) is the superior trial court of the Canadian province of Alberta. During the reign of Elizabeth II, it was named Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta. The Court ...

and announced it would cease operations on February 26 due to financial issues, citing escalating costs and increased airport fees as contributing factors.

Management

Merren McArthur was the airline's president and chief executive officer (CEO). She announced her departure in June 2023, but remained in her role until September 2023 to allow the company time to find her replacement. She previously served as CEO for both

Tigerair Australia Tiger Airways Australia Pty Ltd, operating as Tigerair Australia, was an Australian low-cost airline. Founded by Tiger Airways Holdings, it commenced services in the domestic airline market on 23 November 2007 as Tiger Airways Australia. It lat ...

and

Virgin Australia Regional Airlines Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) is an Australian regional airline based in Perth, servicing key towns in the state of Western Australia. The airline also flies interstate to destinations such as Adelaide, Darwin, Northern Territory, ...

, and founding CEO of Virgin Australia Cargo. Vijay Bathija was the airline's Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), with prior experience at

Etihad Airways Etihad Airways is one of the two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Emirates). Its head office is in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, near Zayed International Airport. The airline commenced operations in November 2003, and ...

and

Air Canada Rouge Air Canada Rouge (''Rouge'' meaning 'red' in French) is a subsidiary of Air Canada focused on operating lower-cost flights for leisure travellers. It is fully integrated into the Air Canada mainline and Air Canada Express networks; flights ar ...

. James "Jim" Sullivan was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the airline, who was formerly Vice President of Flight Operations at

JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation, stylized as jetBlue, is an American major airline headquartered in Long Island City, in Queens, New York City. Primarily a point-to-point carrier, JetBlue's network features six focus cities including its main hub ...

. Mike Woodward was the airline's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), with previous experience in the Energy and Banking Sector. Mike has previously served as the CFO of Campus Energy Partners and Vice President of

BMO Capital Markets BMO Capital Markets is the investment banking subsidiary of Canadian Bank of Montreal. The company offers corporate, institutional and government clients access to a range of financial services. These include equity and debt underwriting, corp ...

Destinations

Lynx Air flew (or planned to fly) to the following destinations by the time of its announced shutdown in February 2024. It does not include destinations solely operated to by charter flights, such as those under its previous Enerjet name.

Fleet

Current

Lynx Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 at Calgary International Airport in 2022

At the time of shutdown, Lynx Air operated the following aircraft:

As Enerjet, the airline previously operated the following aircraft:

Fleet development

As Enerjet, the airline operated a fleet of

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

737-700 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a twin-engine narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third-generation derivative of the Boeing 737, it has been pr ...

aircraft for its charter operations, with a single 737-800 leased from

Transavia Transavia Airlines C.V., trading as Transavia and formerly branded as ''transavia.com'', is a Dutch low-cost airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of KLM and therefore part of the Air France–KLM group. Its main base is Amsterdam Airport Sch ...

on occasion, before the 737-700s were retired by 2017. After retiring its 737-700s, Enerjet subsequently retained an inactive

DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada in the mid-1960s and still in production today. Built by De Havilland Canada from 1965 to 1988, Viking Ai ...

fleet in order to keep its AOC, while the airline underwent its subsequent transformation from chartered to scheduled operations in the coming years. When the airline eventually announced its rebranding as Lynx Air in November 2021, the airline announced that it had ordered 46 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft for delivery through 2028. In March 2022, the airline announced it had leased an additional 11 737 MAX 8s from

BOC Aviation BOC Aviation is the successor of the former global aircraft operating leasing company of Singapore Airlines, Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise Pte. Ltd. It is the largest aircraft operating leasing company headquartered in Asia, as measured ...

References

External links

* {{Defunct airlines of Canada Defunct low-cost airlines of Canada Airlines established in 2006 Airlines disestablished in 2024 2006 establishments in Alberta 2024 disestablishments in Alberta Canadian companies established in 2006 Canadian companies disestablished in 2024 Companies based in Calgary Companies that have filed for bankruptcy in Canada