It’s a Beauty Way to Go …

The pilots of Flair Airlines, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), have voted to ratify their first collective agreement with the ultra-low-cost Canadian air-carrier. Of a vote comprising 88-percent of eligible Flair pilots, 65-percent voted in favor of a three-year deal that includes improvements in quality of life, compensation, and job security.

Flair Master Executive Council chair Captain Chris Toornstra remarked: “This contract is a positive step forward and means our pilots can now focus on their future, knowing it is brighter than ever. This is another example of how perseverance and pilot unity helped us obtain our first contract and improved our quality of life and job security. We thank our pilots and the ALPA staff for their professionalism throughout this negotiating process.”

By providing industry-leading remuneration, the ALPA-negotiated agreement ensures the wages earned by Flair’s pilots remain consistent with those of other air-carriers. Prior to the agreement, Flair pilots had toiled two-years under uncertain working conditions for comparatively low wages.

Since aligning with ALPA in 2021, Flair’s pilot cadre has more than doubled—a development wholly congruous with the airline’s desire to expand its route structure and customer base. By dint of ALPA’s considerable heft and capable leadership, Flair’s pilots have seen the solidarity they mustered around a set of shared priorities fashioned by negotiation and persistence into a trenchant and tenable contract.

Founded in 2005 as Flair Air, and authorized by Transport Canada to operate scheduled all-cargo service in 2006, the company known today as Flair Airlines has grown from a fleet of two 727-200s to 28 737s of the 800NG and MAX-8 persuasions.

In February 2019, Flair reinvented its brand, changing its signature colors from purple and red to acid-green and black in keeping with its new "Plane and Simple" ethos. The transformation included, in part, a new livery and flight-attendant uniforms.

In January 2021, Flair announced an order for 13 Boeing 737 MAX-8 jets, and made public its intentions to grow its fleet to fifty-aircraft within five-years. All future aircraft deliveries were to be painted in an updated livery comprising the airline's distinctive acid-green and black, as well as subtle highlights of a nostalgic light purple.

In December 2021, Flair ordered an additional 14 Boeing 737 MAX-8s, thereby gaining significantly on its stated goal of fifty-airplanes.

FMI: www.alpa.org