Flair Airlines cuts fall and winter P.E.I. flights as Swoop soon shuts down

There will be fewer low-cost options for flights in and out of P.E.I. starting in mid-October. 

Swoop will operate its last flight out of Charlottetown on Oct. 15, says Charlottetown Airport CEO Doug Newson, with parent company WestJet shutting down the budget airline.

Flair will also be dropping service to and from Charlottetown in the fall and winter months. Newson said the final flight date for Flair is Oct. 10, but he's confident that airline will back next year.

"Bookings this summer have been very strong, both their Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo route," Newson said.

"With Swoop no longer operating as an airline, I think the opportunities for Flair to grow are going to be there. They have told me they're going to be back next summer."

A statement from a Flair representative confirmed the airline intends to return in the spring, but did not give a return date or reason for the pause.

Newson said demand for the low-cost airlines was high.

"Over the past two summers in particular, we've proven that there's a market for the low-fare carriers and there's no question that demand is there," said Newson. "There's no question that we believe airlines can be successful on those routes with that model."

The onset of winter can make it tough for those airlines to make money as demand takes a dip, though.

"It's a bit more challenging for carriers to make money in the winter when obviously these are more leisure-focused carriers and a lot of our leisure demand goes away a little bit in the winter time," he said.

"It's more costly to operate in the winter months as well. That may have factored into Flair's decision."

Newson says the Charlottetown airport will still be busier than usual this winter with the introduction of Air Canada Rouge's larger aircraft.

There will be twice-daily flights to Toronto and one to Montreal from Air Canada, and Porter will have daily flights to Ottawa.