Saskatchewan is going back to being a fly-over province for Flair Airlines, with the discount carrier ending flights between Saskatoon and Toronto next month.
Flair Airlines currently flies between Saskatoon and Toronto three times per week, but announced earlier this month it is cancelling the route. The last flight is scheduled for Nov. 25.
The airline said in a news release it would be “reducing frequency or suspending service on certain underperforming routes in order to focus on bringing higher frequency and lower fares to Canadians.”
This will end Flair Airlines operations in Saskatchewan, for now.
“While it is unfortunate that the airline has made the decision to suspend the flights, we continue to actively discuss and pursue the effective return of Flair to Saskatoon,” a statement from the YXE Saskatoon Airport said.
Other airlines continue to fly the Saskatoon-Toronto route.
The Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport. (Trevor Bothorel/CBC)
Flair completely pulled out of Regina in 2021. In 2023, Flair ended its direct flight between Saskatoon and Calgary.
Flair Airlines declined an interview request, but sent a statement.
“We’re looking to add more aircraft to our fleet in 2025, which would allow us to revisit the routes in highest demand across Canada and serve more passengers as best we can,” the statement said.
Flair also recently announced additional flights for high-demand routes, such as Vancouver-Toronto and Calgary-Toronto.
Flair started flying out of Saskatoon with flights to and from Edmonton in 2018 as part of the airline’s expansion into smaller markets. It later added routes between Saskatoon and other cities.
The Saskatoon airport has seen 1,092,287 passengers from January to September this year, outpacing passenger totals every month compared to 2023. Last year ended with 1,277,077 passengers coming through the airport — still lower than the annual totals recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic.