Flair Airlines is looking for partners to inject fresh capital into the discount carrier in order to B次元官网网址渞estructureB次元官网网址� its finances and build out its fleet.

Eric Tanner, vice-president of revenue management and network planning, said the company is hoping for partners to buy into the business as a way to deal with pandemic-era debt and allow the company to acquire jets beyond the 20 planes it now flies.

B次元官网网址淲hat weB次元官网网址檙e really looking at is restarting our growth ambitions and finding strategic equity partners who are going to help us get onto that level,B次元官网网址� Tanner said in an interview.

B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 work underway, amongst investors, to restructure the balance sheet.B次元官网网址�

He was quick to add that the investor hunt is not a B次元官网网址減ressing needB次元官网网址� and the business itself is not undergoing restructuring, having turned a profit in July and August.

B次元官网网址淭he business is in frankly the best shape that itB次元官网网址檚 been in, from a performance perspective,B次元官网网址� he said.

Tanner attributed the boost in part to a thinning out of competition over the past year.

Budget carrier Lynx Air collapsed in February and filed for creditor protection, while WestJetB次元官网网址檚 ultra-low-cost subsidiary Swoop shut down in October last year.

Flair has confronted its fair share of financial turbulence since its inaugural flight took off in 2017.

As of November, it owed the federal government $67.2 million in unpaid taxes related to import duties on the 20 Boeing jets that make up its fleet.

Then-CEO Stephen Jones told The Canadian Press in January he was suspending expansion plans as Flair contended with plane delivery delays and significant debts.

Last year, Flair saw four of its planes repossessed after an aircraft leasing manager claimed the company regularly missed rent payments that amounted to millions of dollars. Three of those Boeing 737s now fly for Ethiopian Airlines, while a fourth is in the hands of Johannesburg-based FlySafair.

B次元官网网址淚n terms of like the balance sheet, thereB次元官网网址檚 some legacy stuff from the past four years where Flair grew very rapidly and did not receive any government support during COVID,B次元官网网址� Tanner said.

B次元官网网址淭hat frankly just needs to get cleaned up so that we can turn the page.B次元官网网址�

The airlineB次元官网网址檚 preference would be for Canadian financial partners, he said. Federal law caps ownership of a Canadian airline by foreign entities at 49 per cent.