Final low-cost Lynx Air flight takes off from Calgary on Sunday

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Passengers have been left ready — or grounded — after two out of three ultimate Lynx Air flights have been cancelled, and one other delayed on Sunday.

Pals Austin Cutrara and Adam Paterson checked into their delayed Lynx Air flight from Calgary to Toronto on Sunday, not figuring out it could be the airline’s final time to hit the skies.

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Calgary-based low-cost airline Lynx Air introduced it could stop operations final week, citing monetary pressures as one of many causes.

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With operations shutting down at 12:01 a.m. Monday, Lynx Air flights have been anticipated to proceed to function as per regular by Sunday, however each a flight from Calgary to Las Vegas and to Vancouver have been listed as cancelled.

Cutrara and Paterson visited Calgary over their studying break from faculty, for a few days of snowboarding and to skate on Lake Louise. Being college students, they wished to save cash on airfare.

“Lynx is sort of a good and reasonably priced airline. We fly fairly gentle, we simply take our backpacks, one bag, come right here for the week,” mentioned Cutrara.

Paterson mentioned, “It’s good to fly on a finances, with it going although I do know it’s harder to do these journeys.”

Previous to their journey, that they had by no means flown Lynx earlier than, however mentioned the flight on the way in which into Calgary was good.

One other passenger on the delayed ultimate flight, Zana Jento had her flight booked forward of time, not figuring out it could be the final.

“I assume I used to be stunned, I bought the information whereas I used to be right here (the airport),” Jento mentioned. “My dad texted me, like, ‘Oh by the way in which, Lynx is shutting down tomorrow.’”

Lynx Air confronted myriad of challenges

Lynx Air COO Jim Sullivan mentioned in an earlier memo to employees that the closure was brought on by compounding monetary difficulties introduced on by excessive inflation, gasoline, capital and regulatory prices, coupled with antagonistic alternate charges and “aggressive pressure within the Canadian market”.

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Airline trade specialists predicted in January that low fares introduced on by heightened airline competitors might spell the tip of not less than one in every of Canada’s ultra-low-cost carriers.

Launched in November of 2021 in Calgary, Lynx Air was meant to be a low-cost various to bigger Canadian airways. Their first flight took off in April 2022, and in Sullivan’s memo he claimed the airline boasted practically two million passengers, with the year-over-year quantity rising by 187 per cent in 2023.

Regardless of the airline’s substantial development, ongoing operational enhancements, value reductions and efforts to discover a sale or merger, “the challenges dealing with the corporate’s enterprise have turn out to be too important to beat,” a press launch said.

The airline’s 9 Boeing 737 Max 8s lined 23 locations together with most main Canadian cities and a few U.S. places, in accordance with Lynx’s web site.

Passengers with present bookings with Lynx Air have been suggested to contact their bank card firm to safe refunds. Extra data for Lynx clients is accessible right here.

— With information from Brent Calver, Matt Scace and Scott Strasser

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