These are the major players among Canadian airlines in an increasingly crowded market

Air Canada has been the dominant player since it acquired rival Canadian Airlines in 2001, and now accounts for nearly half of the country’s domestic air travel market, flying by far the most planes internationally as well.

WestJet, founded as a regional upstart in Calgary in 1996, has grown to serve nearly a third of the domestic market. It completed its purchase of Sunwing earlier this year but is facing a growing raft of rivals out of its home base in Alberta.

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Porter Airlines, which launched in 2006 out of the Billy Bishop regional airport near downtown Toronto, is tracing a rapid expansion as it seeks to nearly double its fleet by 2025 in direct competition with Air Canada. It now flies out of the larger Toronto Pearson airport as well.

Air Transat, co-founded by current Quebec Premier Francois Legault in 1986, has struggled to market its tour packages since the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also failed to turn a quarterly profit for three-and-a-half years straight while shouldering nearly $2-billion in debt. In 2021, Air Canada and Air Transat called off a proposed merger after it became evident the deal was unlikely to get regulatory approval in Europe.

Flair Airlines, an ultra-low-cost carrier that launched in late 2017, has helped push fares to new lows on some domestic and cross-border routes after waging a bitter rivalry with WestJet’s soon-to-fold budget subsidiary Swoop, all while shouldering a hefty debt and striving to maintain consumer confidence.

Lynx Air, whose inaugural flight took off from its Calgary base in April last year, is aiming to nearly double its fleet to 17 in 2024 and is backed by the deep-pocketed Indigo Partners, a U.S. private equity firm that invests in no-frills airlines.

— By Christopher Reynolds in Montreal

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2023.

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