The CEO's tenure spanned a turbulent period for the seven-year-old company as the airline expanded its fleet but also hit financial headwinds amid stiff competition.
Flair said Tuesday a recruitment process for a replacement is underway and that chief operating officer
The
In a phone interview from
"I'm just at an age and stage in my life that I want to achieve some other goals," said Jones, who turns 63 in a couple of weeks. "I've been working pretty much non-stop for 40 years — and some pretty tough jobs."
With a CV that includes a spell at budget carrier
Flair was reduced to one active plane by
Jones sounded alarm bells over what Flair claimed were intentional efforts by bigger rivals to stifle its growth by launching routes parallel to Flair's and then dropping them as soon as the budget carrier left the market.
In
Earlier this year, Jones suspended expansion plans as the carrier contended with plane delivery delays and hefty debts, including
Nonetheless, Jones believes things are looking up for the feisty airline.
He pointed to the carrier's 98-per-cent flight completion rate — the proportion of flights not cancelled or diverted — and second-best on-time performance record among major Canadian airlines last year.
"The revenue environment is much, much stronger in the summer ahead than it has been in the prior years," he said, minutes after a virtual town hall with some 300 of the company's 1,250 employees.
"The business is in good shape and I assured them that it's actually in the best shape that I've ever seen it."
He declined to state whether the carrier would turn a profit this year, noting that its finances are private.
Jones also renewed his repeated demands over the past few years for an industry overhaul. He called on the government to enable more Canadians to fly by tamping down costs for airlines through reforms that would open the gate to lower airport fees and a higher ownership threshold for foreign players. The current ceiling is 49 per cent, with no one company allowed to control more than 25 per cent. (
"You're getting Canadians trapped on the couch because it's an expensive system now," he said.
Jones, who hails from
"I love
This report by The Canadian Press was first published
© 2024 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved., source