Flair missed 'millions' in payments on seized planes, leasing company says

Photo: The Canadian Press

An airliner cuts through the skies over Montreal, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020. Flair missed 'millions' in payments on seized planes, leasing company says. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

The leasing company that seized four planes from Flair Airlines over the weekend says the carrier "regularly" missed payments over the past five months.

Flair found itself down by more than a fifth of its fleet after the Boeing 737 Maxes were confiscated by Airborne Capital Inc. on Saturday, forcing the airline to cancel multiple flights.

Flair has deemed the actions "extreme and unusual," with CEO Stephen Jones telling reporters Monday the company is now 100 per cent caught up after being "a few days in arrears" with about $1 million owing on the jetliners.

Jones also claimed the seizure was the result of another carrier's attempt to undermine Flair following "behind the scenes" negotiations between a major Canadian airline and Airborne Capital.

In a statement, the Dublin-based company says it "strongly rejects the allegations" by Flair, and that it reclaimed the planes after a five-month period when Flair frequently failed to meet its monthly payments, amounting to "millions of dollars."

Plane leases are an increasingly hot commodity amid supply bottlenecks and high demand, but Airborne Capital says it expects "material losses" linked to the repossession and remarketing of the aircraft.