Enerjet airline to be launched in Canada in 2009

A new airline called Enerjet will be launched in Canada in 2009 by a group of former executives of WestJet Airlines Limited.

The proposed carrier will focus on charter flights, to be followed by an expansion into tours, a statement from the new company said.

The new company, which has been working under the tentative name of New Air and Tours, is led by Tim Morgan, a co-founder of WestJet Airlines Limited, who stepped down in 2005.

The low-cost carrier WestJet Airlines Limited, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, flies to most major cities in Canada and also to destinations in the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. WestJet Airlines is the second largest airline in Canada, after Air Canada, the country’s flag carrier.

Alan Mann, chief financial officer of the new company and also a former executive of WestJet Airlines, said in the statement: “Enerjet, which will be headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, symbolises Canada’s strength and the entrepreneurial and dynamic drive of Canadians. From 2009, Enerjet’s two Boeing 737-700 aircraft will fly charters throughout Western Canada. That will be followed by the launch of a tour company division in the third quarter of 2009 for Canada and one sun destination.”

Mann added: “We do not anticipate that the current economic climate will create problems for Enerjet’s business plan. Enerjet is not competing for the same type of business as WestJet or Air Canada.”

According to him, New Air and Tours had originally planned to launch as a travel tour operator flying between smaller “middle Canada” markets, such as Kelowna and Fort McMurray, to sun destinations, such as Las Vegas, in winter. In the summer, New Air and Tours had intended to fly from those secondary markets to tourist destinations within Canada. That plan, Alan Mann, added, was still intact, but would not launch until the second half of 2009.

In interviews held earlier, Tim Morgan had said that he “liked to target smaller Canadian cities that are underserved by the other airlines.”

Enerjet received tentative licensing approval from Transport Canada – the department within the government of Canada which is responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of transportation in Canada – in August 2008. The management said in the statement that it anticipated full licensing by the end of November 2008.

The management also said that Enerjet was holding discussions to start charter flights to Alberta’s oil sands and other major industrial projects, but no contracts had been awarded so far.

Westerkirk Capital Incorporated, a private equity firm that invests for the family of Sherry Brydson, the niece of the late billionaire and newspaper mogul Ken Thomson, is a major shareholder in Enerjet with a stake of $4.5 million.