Canada’s Pivot Airlines eyes US charters

Canadian start-up Pivot Airlines (GGN, Toronto Pearson) has set its sight on providing on-demand transborder charters to the United States using its single 50-seat CRJ100ER without seat restriction. The airline has filed an application to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for a Foreign Air Carrier Permit and an exemption to engage in non-scheduled, small aircraft, on-demand charter transportation of passengers, property, and mail. This would be between any point/s in Canada and any destination/s in the US, as well as between any location/s in the territory of the US and point/s in a third country or countries. Except for cargo charters, these services would be a continuous operation, with or without a change of aircraft, that included services to Canada, to carry local traffic between Canada and the US, its application read. Pivot Airlines intends to start operating the requested services as soon as the DOT permits them, using its CRJ-100ER, C-FWRR (msn 7107), leased from Avmax Aircraft Leasing. The carrier has applied to the Canadian Transportation Agency and Transport Canada for a license that will allow it to operate the 50-seat CRJ without the current 39-seat restriction reflected on its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) issued on June 16, 2020. Pivot Airlines has asked the DOT to waive a requirement for financial projections for the US operations’ first year. These may be limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic and would not reflect any available data of normal market conditions. It also states that its financial statements or data summaries were not available at this time since it had not operated in its own right for a full year. The carrier currently operates passenger and combination charter services. It also plans to operate scheduled domestic air taxi services between Ottawa Int’l and Kitchener, according to the ch-aviation schedules module. Wholly-owned by Binder Capital Corporation, Pivot Airlines was established in March 2020 when it acquired all of the assets and undertakings of defunct Air Georgian (ZX, Toronto Pearson), an entity related to one of its shareholders. Air Georgian’s permit was voluntarily surrendered to Transport Canada on May 29, 2020, and cancelled on January 13, 2021, at Pivot Airlines’ request. The Air Georgian AOC formed the foundation for expedited processing of Pivot Airlines’ AOC application. Pivot Airlines was able to duplicate manuals, programmes, and systems previously used in Air Georgian’s operations and apply past experience and approvals to receive an AOC and Operations Specifications. Pivot Airlines also holds a Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) license, issued as a substitute for certain earlier licenses held by Air Georgian, authorising it to operate a non-scheduled international service, with small aircraft, between Canada and any other country.