Flair Airlines CEO Stephen Jones, here in one of the company's Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft on April 17, has announced his retirement and will step down from his role.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Flair Airlines is looking for a new leader after chief executive officer Stephen Jones announced his retirement on Tuesday.
Mr. Jones, 63, departs the Edmonton-based discount airline on June 28 after four years – a period in which the carrier expanded rapidly from a few aircraft to about 20 Boeing 737 Max passenger jets.
“It’s just the right time for me,” Mr. Jones said in an interview.
He said he will spend time in Vancouver and his native New Zealand, pursuing his love of ocean sailing.
At the helm of Flair, Mr. Jones was an outspoken critic of Canada’s two dominant airlines, Air Canada and WestJet Airlines. He labelled them “Big Air,” and accused them of using their market share to squeeze out the smaller players with route matching and predatory pricing. “Big Air will say anything to make sure Canadians keep paying too much for airfare,” he said two years ago on social media.
Flair is recruiting candidates, and has named operating chief Maciej Wilk as his interim replacement, chairwoman Julia Haywood said in a statement.
As an upstart that charged low airfares in a concentrated market, Flair faced financial challenges. The Globe and Mail reported in January the airline owed the federal government more than $67-million in tax repayment related to the import of aircraft. A year earlier, aircraft leasing companies seized four Flair planes for missed rent payments. Mr. Jones said at the time U.S. investor 777 Partners paid the arrears on another seven aircraft.
It was the involvement of Miami-based 777 Partners that drew the attention of the regulator, the Canadian Transportation Agency, in 2021. The CTA found 777 Partners’ control, investment and board seats allowed it to call the shots, in violation of Canadian majority ownership laws. Facing the possible loss of its operating licence, Flair loosened 777 Partners’ grip and received approval from the CTA to carry on.
On May 2, Flair said 777 Partners had reduced its 25-per-cent stake to less than 10 per cent, shortly after Australian airline Bonza ceased operations and received court protection from creditors. The investor is facing legal and financial troubles in the U.S. amid scrutiny over its bid to buy an English soccer club.
Mr. Jones, who was hired at a time 777 Partners had seats on board, declined on Tuesday to name the investor that has replaced 777 Partners. New York’s Advantage Capital Holdings LLC is a creditor of 777 Partners, and its loans were reportedly secured by 777′s assets.
Mr. Jones has bristled at news coverage of Flair’s financial troubles, complaining reporters were ignoring the real story – Flair’s affordable airfares.
When asked what he thought could have gone better in his tenure, Mr. Jones took another shot at the coverage. “I wish some of the media would have got behind the business a bit earlier and actually focused on the benefits that we brought to the Canadian aviation industry. It seems that there was plenty of of focus on the troubles that we had,” he said.
“Startups are difficult, but it just did seem that we’re constantly being picked on for the things that we did … So, yeah, perhaps I didn’t manage the media relations well enough.”