Would you pounce on the opportunity to purchase plane tickets to Canada during the fall or winter months just for $1? Flair Airlines wants to make this a reality for customers. The economic travel company made this announcement in a press release sent out on Monday, August 26.

“Not A Limited-Time Gimmick”

Flair Airlines announced that select flights are available for just the base price of $1. Right now, you can only spend $1 each for a plane ticket if your flight comes from and to the following airports:

The airline points out that the $1 price is just on the ticket itself, so passengers should still expect to pay taxes, luggage fees, and boarding fees.

Flair Airlines CEO Maciej Wilk had this to say in the press release:

“We are committed to breaking down barriers to travel, making it possible for more people to explore more places more often...This $1 base fare launch is not a limited-time gimmick but a sustained commitment to offering unparalleled affordability across our entire network. And yet, our base fare is only a part of the total fare. We hope that airports, particularly in Canada, will follow suit and lower their fees so that more people can be empowered to travel.”

Flair notices that southbound flights around this time of year are full, while flights going back to Canada are rather bare. So the company sees this promotion as an opportunity to make money they otherwise would lose to other airlines. Vice President of Revenue Management Eric Tanner commented on the choice of routes for this promotion:

“We're coming up on the beginning of our winter season where we stop flying quite as much domestically and we start flying quite a bit more internationally...We figured there was zero opportunity cost to that seat because it’s not very full to begin with...We thought it would be nice to offer our customers one-dollar base fares."

The airline plans to monitor travel trends throughout the year to see what other flights can benefit from their special $1 deal.

What Critics Are Saying

Of course, travel experts are sure to take note of these attention-grabbing promotions and weigh in on how they will fare for airlines. Even if there are restrictions on what flights are affected by this deal, many who follow the industry see this as a gamble for airlines.

Associate professor of management at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business Ian Lee flat-out dismissed the promotion as a gimmick. Here are his thoughts directed at the CBC:

"This is essentially a loss leader. You see this in grocery stores and in retail. They're doing this to try to generate, drive business to the site, and get people comfortable with flying on this airline...They won't be able to sustain it for very long because the operating cost per customer is significant."

Travelers like Ella-Mai Kangur also shared doubts with the CBC:
“Many of these cheap flights, there's baggage fees, there's check-in fees, there's this fee, there's this fee. There are restrictions on time travel when, where. So we go with the airlines that we're comfortable with.”

Flair Airlines is one of the last economic airlines still in business in Canada. As of earlier this year, the airline owed $67 million to the Canada Revenue Agency over import costs.

This Canadian airline is certainly trying to make noise and get the attention of North American travelers, strategically offering $1 fares in certain markets as a means to draw in new customers and get them to become regulars who will pay more in the future — even as soon as paying for the flight back from Canada to the U.S. or Mexico. Whether this strategy will pay off remains to be seen, but as the executives state how certain flights are empty at specific times of the year, the airline is willing to take what it can get from travelers.
 

Let us know your thoughts on Flair's $1 deal in the comments section down below!