Lynx Air, legally incorporated as 1263343 Alberta Inc., is a Canadian ultra-

low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...

based in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. 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 squa ...

Vancouver International Airport Vancouver International Airport is an international airport located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, serving the city of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland region. It is located from Downtown Vancouver. It is the second busie ...

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 Ltd. is a Canadian airline headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, near Calgary International Airport. It is the second-largest Canadian airline, behind Air Canada, operating an average of 777 flights and carrying more than 66,130 ...

and

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by the size and passengers carried. Air Canada maintains its headquarters in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled an ...

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 purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in pla ...

(AOC) and Air Operators License issued by the

Canadian Transportation Agency The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA; french: Office des transports du Canada, OTC) is the independent, quasi-judicial tribunal of the Government of Canada that makes decisions relating to federally-regulated modes of transportation ( air, ra ...

. While the airline initially planned to launch as a scheduled

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

Suncor Energy Suncor Energy (french: Suncor Énergie) is a 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-lar ...

, as well as ad-hoc charter services for

Air Transat Air Transat is a Canadian airline based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1986, it is the country's third-largest airline behind Air Canada and WestJet, operating scheduled and charter flights serving 60 destinations in 25 countries. Air Transa ...

, deeming the leisure travel market to be competitive following the collapse of

Zoom Airlines Zoom Airlines Inc. was a Canadian low-fare scheduled transatlantic airline with its headquarters in the Place Bell Canada building in Ottawa, Ontario. Zoom operated year-round scheduled services to Europe, and charter services to South A ...

, as well as the presence of leisure carriers such as WestJet. By 2012, the airline was still seeking investment to expand into scheduled LCC operations, and had operated some flights between Calgary and Vancouver during peak holiday travel periods, with plans to expand the services to Kelowna and Edmonton. 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

Indigo Partners Indigo Partners, LLC is an American private equity firm which has a controlling interest in the American Frontier Airlines and Chilean low-cost JetSmart, as well as holding stakes in Mexican budget airline Volaris and European low-cost carrier ...

, which had notably invested in other LCCs including Frontier Airlines,

JetSmart JetSmart Airlines SpA, stylized as JetSMART, is a South American ultra low-cost carrier created by US investment fund (and co-founder of LBM Fermin Ithuralde) Indigo Partners, which also controls low-cost carriers like US airline Frontier Airli ...

Volaris Volaris, legally ''Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación S.A.P.I. de C.V.'', is a Mexican low-cost airline based in Santa Fe, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City l-888-Ʒ9Ʒ-I394 with its hubs in Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Tijuana, and focu ...

, and

Wizz Air Wizz Air, legally incorporated as Wizz Air Hungary Ltd. ( hu, Wizz Air Hungary Légiközlekedési Zrt.) is a Hungarian ultra-low-cost carrier with its head office in Budapest, Hungary. The airline serves many cities across Europe, as well as s ...

, and Enerjet subsequently planned to relaunch as an LCC during 2019.

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

Boeing 737 MAX 8 The Boeing 737 MAX is the fourth generation of the Boeing 737, a narrow-body airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), a division of American company Boeing. It succeeds the Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG) and competes with th ...

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 later add international destinations. On April 7, 2022, Lynx Air's first flights launched.

Management

Merren McArthur is the airline's President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). 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 l ...

and

Virgin Australia Regional Airlines Virgin Australia Regional Airlines 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, Melbourne and Alice Spring ...

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

Air Canada Rouge Air Canada Rouge, ''Rouge'' meaning "red" in French, is a subsidiary of Air Canada. It is fully integrated into the Air Canada mainline and Air Canada Express networks; flights are sold with AC flight numbers but are listed as "operated by Air ...

. Tim Morgan is the airline's Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Founder. He previously served as Senior Vice President of

, with additional prior experience at Morgan Air LLP/Air Partners/Aircraft Works, and Lynx's predecessor Enerjet. Michael Holditch is the airline's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), having previously been the CFO of Enerjet.

Destinations

, Lynx Air operates to the following destinations: Prior to rebranding as Lynx Air and operating scheduled services, the airline operated charter flights on demand to various destinations as Enerjet.

Fleet

Current

, Lynx Air operates the following aircraft:

As Enerjet, the airline previously operated the following aircraft:

Fleet development

As Enerjet, the airline operated a fleet of Boeing 737-700 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 Schi ...

on occasion, before the 737-700s were retired by 2017. After retiring its 737-700s, Enerjet subsequently retained an inactive DHC-6 Twin Otter 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 ordered an additional 11 737 MAX 8s.

References

External links

* {{Airlines of Canada Airlines of Canada 2006 establishments in Alberta Airlines established in 2006 Companies based in Calgary Low-cost carriers