Low-cost carrier adding Tucson direct from Lethbridge

By Lethbridge Herald on March 30, 2022.

Herald photo by Al Beeber City manager Lloyd Brierley, councillor John Middleton-Hope, mayor Blaine Hyggen and the City's director of Commercial, Corporate and Customer Services Lisa Trent holds up a sign welcoming Flair Airlines to the Lethbridge airport.

Al Beeber – Lethbridge Herald

Travellers wanting to soak up some sun next winter will soon be able to do with it flair. 

Flair Airlines, that is.

The independent, low-cost airline will be operating direct flights weekly from Lethbridge to Tucson, Arizona starting Dec. 1.

The announcement was made at the airport on Tuesday.

Lisa Trent, the City’s director of commercial, corporate and customer services, said the recent MyYQL survey showed people are interested in a winter sun destination and Arizona is at the top of the list.

Passengers will fly Thursdays on a Boeing 737 Max from Lethbridge to Arizona’s second largest city which has a population of 542,629. A one-way flight is expected to cost about $125.

“We’ve been garnering feedback from Lethbridge residents as well as the surrounding region as to what their preferences are in terms of desired destination and over 80 per cent of the respondents actually identified U.S. sun destinations with Arizona” as a preference, Trent said.

“We’re truly listening to the people and we want to continue to invite feedback from the community to inform how we think about future expansion and additional growth opportunities,” Trent said.

Flying from Lethbridge will have a couple of key advantages over flying stateside from Great Falls, one of them being residents don’t have to risk the potentially dangerous road conditions which can develop during winter. And the Lethbridge airport offers free parking.

Additionally, Trent said starting May 4, City Transit will be offering an on-demand service to the airport.

“City council has been committed to the growth of the airport through various initiatives and improvements,” said mayor Blaine Hyggen at the announcement.

“This new route is another step forward in positioning the Lethbridge airport as an economical and regional hub. For our residents, this is a great new service,” said the mayor.

Hyggen said the flights to Tucson will be “the hottest ticket next winter.”

The City of Lethbridge recently invested $2.6 million into the airport to leverage an additional $23 million in grant funding from the provincial and federal governments for enhancements, and council approved a new airport incentive framework to help negotiate for new routes.

Flair has operated since 2017 and has routes from numerous Canadian cities from Comox, B.C. to Deer Lake, Newfoundland. Destinations include Los Cabos and Cancun in Mexico and such popular U.S. cities as Hollywood, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Chicago, Nashville, New York and Orlando.

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