Another Budget Carrier Is Coming to Canada in 2019

Canada is getting another budget airline. You might be surprised to hear that news if you’ve been convinced that newly launched Swoop is enough to satisfy the desire for cheap airfare in the Great White North. However, Swoop will soon have some competition. You might even be able to look forward to cheaper tickets by the time you’re ready to visit friends and family for the holidays next year if airline executives can get their ducks in a row before then.

Indigo Partners and an investor group led by Tim Morgan have plans to revamp Enerjet and transform it into a new low-cost airline that resembles something like Spirit Airlines or Ryanair. You may already know that Enerjet currently serves Canada as a charter airline. However, the Enerjet brand has a huge expansion on the horizon. Bottom-tier fares for a network of destinations located throughout Canada and the United States are being promised. Which cities will be on Enerjet’s new roster of routes? No word has been given yet regarding exactly where the airline will bring passengers. The first batch of large-scale commercial routes that the airline will offer is expected to be rolled out by some point in September of this year. However, you won’t want to look for Enerjet when it’s time to book a cheap flight in Canada once September rolls around. The plan is to change the name of the Calgary-based carrier before then.

There are still many unanswered questions regarding what the public can expect from a revamped Enerjet when it launches flights under a new name later this year. Indigo Partners is refusing to answer any questions regarding what Enerjet’s future fleet will look like. We do know that Indigo Partners placed an order for a total of 430 Airbus planes somewhat recently. The value of that order is somewhere near $50 billion.

Canada’s airline industry has a reputation for high ticket prices. That’s due mostly to the fact that operating costs related to airport fees and security are pretty high in the country. Budget carriers are particularly appealing to travelers looking to fly in or out of Canada without losing their shirts.

Enerjet will stand as a direct competitor to Swoop when it launches later in the year. Swoop is an offshoot of WestJet that was launched in June of 2018. Hundreds of thousands of people have already flown with Swoop since then. A spokesperson for Swoop recently told the press that the carrier has anticipated and prepared for competition in the Canadian market. Let’s hope that means that Swoop is prepared to go as low as it needs to when it comes to fares.

[Photo: Enerjet]