NewAir is ready to launch, maybe.

[Clint23]

New airline getting set to jet
UPDATED: 2008-08-22 03:40:18 MST


Oilsands hub is 737-ready

By MARKUS ERMISCH, SUN MEDIA

Fledgling Calgary airline NewAir just received tentative permission for takeoff but is still waiting to ink a key contract with an unspecified Canadian company to fly workers to job sites.

Spokesman Dean McKenzie said the airline, led by a number of former WestJet executives, will start service this fall but is still finalizing a deal with "a major business in Canada to fly their employees to specific destinations."

Pending finalization of that contract, McKenzie said NewAir and Tours will decide which regular passenger markets to serve.

Although McKenzie wouldn't reveal who their contract partner is and where the carrier plans to operate, Alberta's oilsands are a likely destination.

Ft. McMurray Airport executive Sally Beaven said a number of the scheduled carriers fly workers to the oilsands hub. Further, about five oilsands mines in the area operate airstrips large enough for a Boeing 737, the aircraft NewAir will use, to land and take off.




NewAir will start with a single, new-generation Boeing 737 but plans to negotiate "almost immediately for a second and third aircraft once we determine the contract and the go-forward plan," McKenzie said, noting a deciding factor in selecting that type of aircraft was its fuel efficiency.

Depending on the terms of the contract, NewAir may serve cities underserved by Canada's main carriers and fly to a single destination down south, McKenzie said.

Aviation analyst Rick Erickson said NewAir's tentative business plan makes sense and is good news for Calgary, already home to WestJet.

NewAir, he said, "could easily grow into a significant operation" that will be "adding to the richness of the Calgary aviation community."

Flying as a contract carrier, he said, is "very robust business" and could leave room, even with one aircraft, to make three to four weekly flights to a destination such as Las Vegas.

To date, NewAir is entirely Canadian-financed, but the company is still looking for additional investment.