Good morning from Calgary International Airport!
My name is Alex, and today’s a pretty special day for Lynx Air.
Lynx Air is Canada’s newest ultra-low-cost carrier, and today is their very first flight!
Formerly known as Enerjet, Lynx Air has chosen Calgary as their home base, and their very
first flight will be an hour-long hop across the Rockies to Vancouver.
Before we go through security though, Lynx had a brief press conference set up, with
a few words from Lynx Air’s CEO Merren McArthur, as well from Boeing and YYC.
Our gate for this historic flight is B35, and waiting there was the 737 MAX 8 taking
us over to Vancouver, registered as Charlie Golf Juliet Sierra Lima.
This was the first 737 MAX delivered to Lynx back in February, although this plane first
flew all the way back in December 2019.
It caused quite a stir within Canadian aviation circles at the time, since it was reportedly
going to Enerjet, which at that point, hadn’t been flying for years.
Two years later and it is very nice to finally see this plane on a gate here at my home airport.
Lynx Air’s festivities today didn’t stop with just the pre-security event, and at the
gate were some cupcakes and a ribbon cutting.
With that, let’s go fly with Lynx Air!
Lynx Air’s 737 MAX seats 189 passengers in an all-economy configuration, and my seat
for today is 7F.
Obviously, any all-Economy 737 is bound to be a little tight on legroom, but with these
slimmer seats, it’s actually not that bad!
I was pleasantly surprised to have some free space for my knees, (I'm 6'8" for reference)
and this seat’s only made even better with that perfect engine view!
Waiting at every seat was this Lynx Air branded umbrella, which we were told would be useful
for Vancouver weather!
I think that was a really nice touch, especially since they also handed out sunglasses on the
return flight to Calgary!
One thing that really stands out already, is the geometric pattern on the carpet, and
I really like it!
It makes the cabin look way more visually interesting, and kind of reminds me of Etihad
Airways, but blue!
I think that pattern would’ve looked really cool on the seats as well, but I’m guessing
custom seat covers are a bit outside of a ULCC’s budget.
I’ll talk a bit more about the cabin once we’re in the air, so please enjoy the very
first takeoff of a Lynx Air flight, off of Calgary’s runway 17R.
Now that we’re airborne, let’s check out the rest of the seat as usual.
Right in front is this sturdy tray table that slides out.
It also rests surprisingly high up, which is great for me and my wasted NBA potential.
Down below is a pretty roomy seatback pocket, which had an air sickness bag, and Lynx Air’s
crisp new safety card.
Also on the seat, very interestingly for an ultra-low cost - sorry, ultra-affordable carrier,
are these coat hooks on the sides of the seats in front.
That might seem a bit unusual, but I think it’s actually a really good idea for Canadian
winters when you really should bring a winter coat onboard.
The rest of the cabin is pretty much the same.
If you do want more legroom though, there are a couple options.
Rows 15 and 16 are the overwing exit rows, and have plenty of space for anyone.
Interestingly, these don’t have the tray tables in the armrest, so there’s some extra
width too.
There’s also row 1, seats A, B, and C, and row 2, seats D, E, and F, where the armrests
are fixed.
And for those that value their window views, I would steer clear of row 12, and maybe row
11 on the left side too.
Those missing windows are just a 737 quirk though and not specific to Lynx or any other
airline.
As far as lavatories go, there are three on board, with one in the front and two in the
back, and they’re all a fairly average size.
On their flights, Lynx Air doesn’t actually offer any food or drink for purchase, something
they made clear while I was checking in.
However, they did hand out some complimentary cups of water, and that plus the cupcake from
before was decently refreshing.
Later on, the cabin crew also came around handing out bits of the ribbon to anyone that
wanted a piece.
As for in-flight entertainment, well, Lynx doesn’t offer any, but this is one of those
routes where you really don’t need it!
Lynx originally started selling tickets back in January this year, offering flights to
Calgary, Kelowna, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Toronto.
They’ve got some pretty aggressive expansion ahead of them though, and even before today’s
launch, they’ve already announced even more new routes out of Toronto to St John’s,
Halifax, and Edmonton, along with some more routes out of Hamilton.
They’ll also be adding frequencies on the existing routes, with double daily Calgary-Vancouvers
starting in May.
At the time of this inaugural flight, they’ve taken delivery of three 737 MAXs so far, all
of which were built around late 2019 and early 2020.
They do have commitments for up to 46 737 MAXs throughout the rest of the decade, so
I am looking forward to seeing where things are gonna go.
Also, I’ll just point out that Lynx Air’s callsign is “DAUNTLESS”, which I think
is easily one of the coolest Canadian airline callsigns!
Pretty soon though, we were descending over the Lower Mainland, and here’s our approach
and landing onto YVR’s runway 26L.
Well, that was Lynx Air’s inaugural flight, and this
was a really fun one.
It’s not every day you get to be on board a new airline’s first ever flight!
When it comes to low cost travel, I do think it’s important to keep expectations low
and be aware of extra fees.
In my case though, I only paid for the ticket, a seat, and didn’t really need anything
else since I was flying right home anyway.
That being said, it’s this sort of pricing model that Canadians haven’t had access
to for so many years, and although Flair has been doing that for a while already, I think
the combination of Flair and Lynx could put a fair bit of pressure on Canada’s established
airlines.
So, with a wealth of experience and their financial backing from low-cost investment
giant Indigo Partners, I think Lynx has a very promising future ahead of them.
Regardless, this was a great inaugural flight, and it’s safe to say that Lynx Air pulled
out all the stops.
And, although we didn’t get one on this arrival for some reason, the flight back to
Calgary a few hours later got a water salute from YVR!
Even then, the festivities on the original flight actually weren’t done just yet, so
stay tuned!
Huge congratulations to Lynx Air on a fantastic inaugural flight, and I wish them all the best.
Thank you very much for watching, and I’ll catch you next time.