Flair Airlines says it's offering flights for a loonie. Experts say it needs to get real

Would you buy a plane ticket for a loonie? Flair Airlines hopes so.

The ultra low-cost carrier says it has launched a $1 base airfare deal for passengers flying back to Canada from sun destinations — but some experts are skeptical of whether the airline can sustain the promo.

Flair says the $1 airfares, currently reserved for northbound flights from Mexico, the U.S., Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, are now offered permanently on its website.

The airline is offering $1 flights back to Canada from airports in Cancun and Puerto Vallarta, Orlando and Las Vegas. The deal applies to flights from down south to airports in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Saint John, Vancouver, Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., and London, Ont.

Eric Tanner, vice-president of revenue management and network planning at Flair, said the deal is a way to "give back to our customers."

"We're coming up on the beginning of our winter season where we stop flying quite as much domestically and we start flying quite a bit more internationally." 

He said those flights full when southbound, but that the aircraft are "quite empty" when they come back to Canada — so the deal incentivizes passengers to travel back up north. When the spring season begins, the deal will apply to southbound flights.

"These flights essentially have no opportunity cost. They are flying full south and empty north," he said. "And so even if we put four people onto that flight who otherwise wouldn't have taken it, that's great. We're happy about that."

Flair isn't the first carrier to try the $1 deal — Porter Airlines offered a similar promo for domestic flights in January 2023. And WestJet announced an UltraBasic Fare without carry-ons, seat selection and rewards points in June.

While the deal applies only to select flights, the airline said it plans to offer more routes throughout the year. The company stressed in a news release the deal is "not a one-time gimmick."

Others disagree. 

"It's a gimmick," said Ian Lee, an associate professor of management at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business.

"This is essentially a loss leader. You see this in grocery stores and in retail. They're doing this to try to generate, drive business to the site and get people comfortable with flying on this airline.

"They won't be able to sustain it for very long because the operating cost per customer is significant," Lee added, saying the airline would need to be consistently putting customers in almost every seat for the move to be sustainable.