Canada's Lynx Air has announced its first US routes: Toronto to Orlando and Calgary to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. Each has head-to-head competition. It comes as Lynx Air prepares to celebrate six months since its first revenue-generating flight took off. And although entirely unrelated, it follows Jetlines' launch last week and the announcement of Air Canada's brand-new Vancouver-Houston.

First US routes are coming

Many new airlines intentionally focus on unserved or underserved routes. After all, they face less competition, may go relatively unnoticed, can grow dominance, and can be the 'people's champion' by opening up travel opportunities. In contrast, it often seems that many in North America generally focus on already-served markets.

Lynx Air is no exception, with the competitive makeup of its first US routes shown in the table below. Despite strong competition, it will be an important lower-priced option – and the only lower-priced airline on Calgary routes. For example, the lowest one-way fare I can find for Calgary-Phoenix with Lynx Air is CAD$233 (as always, bags and more are extra). On the exact dates, the cheapest nonstop by an incumbent (also excluding bags, seats, etc.) is $523.

In that sense, the US routes are underserved. Moreover, American Airlines ceased Phoenix-Calgary in February 2021. Notably, Lynx Air currently avoids competing with Flair on international routes, although they'll face each other indirectly to Orlando (Flair serves Sanford).

Lynx Air B737 MAX 8 image
Lynx Air has six B737 MAX 8s. Image: Lynx Air.

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How does the competition stack up?

Route

Start date

Weekly flights (when Lynx begins)

Direct competition (flights in the week Lynx starts)

Toronto to Orlando

January 27th

4x

Air Canada (28x weekly), WestJet (18x weekly), Sunwing (1x daily), Air Transat (4x weekly)

Calgary to Phoenix

February 7th

3x

WestJet (18x weekly), Air Canada (1x daily)

Calgary to Los Angeles

February 16th

3x

WestJet (2x daily), Air Canada (1x daily)

Calgary to Las Vegas

February 24th

4x

WestJet (17x weekly), Air Canada (1x daily)

Lynx Air's route network
Lynx's route network as of September 28th. Image: GCMap.

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Now has 19 routes

As of September 28th, Lynx Air has 19 routes: 15 domestic and four international. With around 85% of the airline flights, it revolves around Calgary and Toronto. Indeed, Calgary-Toronto is its second most-served route.

Topping the list is Calgary to Vancouver, a relatively short 428 miles (689km). It tends to have 1x to 2x daily flights, with Cirium showing an average of 9x weekly until the end of March. In the present week, it has 10x, against 86x with WestJet, 68x with Air Canada, 15x with Flair, and 2x with Sunwing.

It has six B737s

Lynx Air has six B737 MAX 8s, each with 189 seats and averaging 2.6 years. According to ch-aviation.com, none have been used by another airline, but Norwegian had planned to take delivery of three, although they weren't taken up. All of Lynx Air's fleet is leased from either Aergo Capital or SMBC Aviation Capital.

Have you flown Lynx Air? If so, share your experience in the comments.