Flair Airlines goes frugal as 737 MAX buyer plans European-style relaunch

MONTREAL: Canada's tiny Flair Airlines, which made headlines by handing Boeing a crucial order for 737 MAX jets last week, is forging growth plans inspired by the austerity that transformed Hungary's Wizz Air into one of Europe's largest carriers.

Former Wizz executive Stephen Jones, brought in from Europe to run Flair last year, said the Canadian company had grabbed planes at "a great price" to accelerate a relaunch based on the imported recipe of extreme cost discipline.

"In many ways, the future of Flair will be a cookie-cutter of the success of Wizz," the CEO told Reuters.

One difference? Flair is basing its growth on Boeing jets whereas Wizz shot up the rankings to become one of Airbus's biggest customers.

In both cases, jet prices were key.

Shares in Boeing rose 6 per cent on Friday when one of Flair's main backers said it would order 24 of the troubled MAX, before leasing 13 of them to Alberta-based Flair.

The MAX is back in the air after regulators declared it safe in December, following a 20-month grounding in the wake of two fatal crashes.

But Boeing has dozens of cancelled jets in storage and is seen as aggressively chasing deals to restore confidence.

"(That) we are actually able to order them this month and have them delivered in two months' time is very unusual under normal circumstances. You may have anything up to a two or three year wait," Jones said.

"And also to get them at a great price," he added, without giving details.

The MAX sells for $122 million at list prices, but market sources say 50 per cent discounts were common across the industry before the crisis and may now be steeper.

That comes as Flair, originally a charter airline, is in the midst of re-inventing itself as an "ultra-low-cost carrier" (ULCC). Such airlines offer even lower prices than many budget rivals but charge multiple extras.