Lessor seizes four Flair Airlines Boeing 737 MAX aircraft

Flair Airlines’ four Boeing 737 MAX aircraft were seized by its lessor in what the airline called a “commercial dispute” regarding the four jets.

The airline’s four aircraft were seized over the weekend at three airports in Canada, namely Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), Edmonton International Airport (YEG), and Region of Waterloo International Airport (YKF). In a statement published to Twitter on March 12, 2023, the carrier said that it had experienced “service disruptions” at these airports.

According to ch-aviation.com data, all 19 of the airline’s 737 MAX aircraft are leased from third-party companies. 13 are from 777 Partners, a 25% shareholder in the Canadian carrier, while six are leased from Airborne Capital. Out of the six that are owned by Airborne Capital, registered as C-FLDX, C-FLKA, C-FLKC, C-FLKD, C-FLKI, and C-FLKJ, only one, namely C-FLKJ, has departed on flight F8323 from Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW) to Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB) in the United States (US), according to flightradar24.com data. C-FLKJ is the only 737 MAX associated with Airborne Capital that has departed on a flight on March 13, 2023.

C-FLKD’s flights on March 11, 2023, are shown as canceled on the flight tracking site, while others, which landed at their respective destinations on March 12, 2023, have no scheduled flights at the time of writing on March 13, 2023. Flair Airlines’ C-FLKA, C-FLKC, C-FLKD, and C-FLKI, which are all owned by Airborne Capital, had their last flights between March 10 and March 12, 2023.

A person familiar with the matter, as reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), stated that the airline was late with its payments on the aircraft by “several days”, but it was a small amount in the context of Flair Airlines’ revenue.