CanJet will continue to run its charter and packaged vacation business in an increasingly crowded leisure market.Bayne Stanley
The future of CanJet Airlines, owned by Halifax-based conglomerate IMP Group International Inc., is uncertain after the company laid off pilots and flight attendants Tuesday.
Reports said the small charter carrier has cut 47 pilots and 68 flight attendants – about two-thirds of its flight staff – and eliminated its planned European operations for this summer.
While the company is continuing to operate its charter and packaged vacation business, the Air Line Pilots Association said "it is clear today that plans to essentially shutter the airline were made some time ago." ALPA said nearly all CanJet pilots have been let go, even though the association had worked for months with the airline to "mitigate involuntary layoffs."
ALPA said the 47 pilots would be laid off by May 6, and 39 of those would be gone by April 30. At the beginning of the year, there were approximately 100 pilots at CanJet, the association said.
The CBC and the Halifax Chronicle Herald reported that a total of 68 permanent and seasonal flight attendants will also be laid off.
However, Audrey Tam, president of the CUPE local that represents the flight attendants, said nine full-time attendants have been laid off, and contracts for another 48 seasonal flight attendants have expired.
CanJet has a small fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft, and ran charter flights from Canadian cities to Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. It started its CanJet Vacations business last fall, selling vacation packages. It has also supplied services to tour operator Transat A.T. Inc.
A CanJet ticket agent said Tuesday that the company is eliminating its European flights, but vacation flights "will continue."
At one time CanJet was a much larger enterprise, with scheduled passenger service across the continent. But its scheduled service, which flew to 14 Canadian and U.S. destinations, was folded in 2006. At that time the company blamed the pullback on its rival airlines – Air Canada and WestJet – saying they flooded the Atlantic market with seat capacity.
Since then the airline has focused on the charter business.
The airline is a subsidiary of IMP, a company controlled by entrepreneur Ken Rowe that has holdings in aerospace, aviation and health care.
Mr. Rowe's son, Stephen Rowe, runs CanJet. He did not respond to requests for comment.
Robert Kokonis, president of airline consulting firm AirTrav Inc., said CanJet's problems were partly related to Transat A.T.'s decision to pull its short-haul flights back in-house, but he noted that the airline is also finding it hard to compete in an increasingly crowded market. Air Canada Vacations and WestJet are expanding their leisure offerings, he said, and there other strong competitors including Sunwing and Air Transat.
"[CanJet] has become such a minor kind of player," Mr. Kokonis said. "My radar screen is barely pointed in their direction."