Canada has four airlines who fly the Boeing 737 MAX - in order of their entry into service,
they are WestJet, Air Canada, Sunwing, and Flair.
However, for just over a year now, eagle-eyed observers of Boeing’s production facilities
in Washington State have noticed these brightly coloured 737 MAX tails.
If you look up these aircraft, you’ll find that these are destined for a Canadian airline
called Enerjet, with three future Canadian registrations already assigned, according
to planespotters.net.
When it comes to commercial air travel in Canada, you don’t usually see startup airlines
with brand new airplanes!
So who exactly is Enerjet, and why are they connected to some brand new 737s that still
haven’t been delivered?
Well, for that, we have to go back a couple years.
Enerjet isn’t a brand new airline by any stretch.
They originally launched in November 2008 as a charter airline, operating some Boeing
737-700s.
Based in Calgary, Alberta, they flew as many as 7 different 737-700s from 2008 to 2017.
They had also leased two 737-800s from Transavia at one point.
Early on in their history they secured a contract with Suncor Energy for workforce transportation
to and from the oil sands.
Enerjet also operated a couple flights for other airlines over their years of charter
work, including an agreement with Sunwing in 2010, and Air Transat in 2014.
By and large, this oil field and contracted airline work was the bulk of Enerjet’s flying,
something they describe on a job openings page as, “We fly work boots on Mondays and
flip-flops on Saturdays.”
Eventually though, Enerjet’s flying appeared to dry up, and as several of their 737-700s
left the fleet, it seemed as though the airline wanted to move on to other things.
In early 2017 the final 737 left the airline after completing a contract in Europe.
Though they weren’t exactly flying anymore, Enerjet was still around.
So, what’s happening with Enerjet now?
Well, according to that job openings page, they’ve been working for years to create
an ultra-low-cost scheduled airline that would serve all regions of Canada.
This potential offshoot of Enerjet has been in the works since at least 2014, with working
airline names such as “Jet Naked” and “FlyToo”.
Since then, Enerjet’s been fairly cautious in their approach, not announcing any launch
dates or confirming an airline name, while still working quietly behind the scenes.
In November 2016 though, Enerjet got some good news.
They, along with another low-cost startup, Jetlines, were granted an exemption from Canada’s
25% cap on foreign ownership of Canadian airlines.
Under that exemption, both airlines would be able to sell 49% of their shares to foreign
investors, with the limitation that no one foreign investor could own more than 25% of
the airline.
Shortly afterwards, Enerjet announced plans to partner with global low-cost airline investor
Indigo Partners, who has ownership in a number of other low cost carriers like Frontier,
and Wizz Air.
Finally, in December 2018, Enerjet issued a press release stating that they would be
launching their ultra-low-cost carrier in 2019, backed by “significant financial commitments
from a consortium of Canadian investors and Indigo Partners, LLC”.
Enerjet would be rebranded, and offer a “simple, ultra-low-cost fare structure and an extensive
network of destinations across Canada and into the US”.
The goal for them was to be in the market by “this time next year” which would imply
late 2019, maybe early 2020.
That same job opportunities page states that: “We’ll be flying brand new aircraft, sporting
a new look, and carrying a new brand name into the Canadian skies.
We will say a fond farewell to our Enerjet name in 2019, and look forward to new horizons,
with everyday cheap air travel, and greater choice for Canadian travelers.”
As far as I can tell, that press release is the most recent bit of news we’ve heard
from them, at least for now.
If you look at some of the job postings though, they do mention a rebound in travel in 2021,
so there’s clearly still some interest.
It’s also worth mentioning that Enerjet does have a few names trademarked in the Canadian
Trademarks Database, including FlyToo as mentioned previously, but also “Skyline Air” and
“AltisAir”.
Anything beyond that is just speculation on my part, but I suspect the 737 MAX grounding
brought Enerjet’s plans to a halt.
Plus, being able to get their hands on some brand-new aircraft could very well be Indigo
Partners’ investment at work.
These Enerjet 737 MAXs first appeared in December 2019, after Boeing’s reduced rate of production
following the grounding.
Without the grounding and the resulting production cuts, they may actually have been able to
launch in late 2019 after all.
In that way, Enerjet may have just been really unlucky with the timing.
On the other hand, if they had launched just before the grounding happened, or even just
a year later in the dumpster fire that was 2020 they’d be in a tough spot.
So this strategy of laying low and waiting for the right time may very well have been
in their best interest.
Those 3 737 MAXs are still parked at Boeing as far as I’m aware, so who knows.
Maybe they are still waiting for the right time to launch, hence the lack of any titles
on the planes.
Either way, I’m definitely curious to see what this venture will end up becoming.
And hey, if anyone from Enerjet’s watching this, feel free to reach out!
Thanks very much for watching, and I’ll see you next time.