There is a tense air between the Canadian low-cost airline Flair Airlines and the lessor Airborne Capital. The Lessor recently secured four Boeing 737-Max aircraft due to payment arrears. Now the carrier filed a lawsuit against the financial company.

Flair Airlines also did not spare public criticism of Airborne Capital's actions. It was admitted that there was actually a arrears, but this was settled. The airline described the measure initiated by the lessor as “illegal and defamatory”. One even accused that behind the garnishment operated by Airborne even competitors who want to damage Flair or who are said to be "keen" on the four Boeing 737-Max affected.

The fronts between the two business partners have hardened massively, because Flair Airlines has meanwhile filed a lawsuit against Airborne Capital. The lessor cannot really understand the behavior of the airline and explains, among other things, that Flair Airlines had arrears of several million US dollars that had accumulated over a period of five months.

“Airborne Capital firmly denies the allegations made by Flair Airlines over the last few days regarding four aircraft managed by Airborne. The leases of the four Airborne-managed aircraft were terminated after a five-month period in which Flair regularly defaulted on its leases by failing to make its payments when due, with arrears running into several million dollars a statement.

Flair Airlines has filed the lawsuit against Airborne Capital in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and has already responded to the lessor's public comment. Among other things, the carrier states: “Airborne Capital's unlawful and immeasurably destructive actions were carried out during the first weekend of the school holidays of many of our customers. This is profiteering on the backs of Canadians and was totally unexpected and unwarranted."

On the part of the lessor, however, one sees it calmly and points out, among other things, that the low-cost airline has repeatedly been asked to pay the outstanding leasing installments. “Nevertheless, the payments were not made and the lease agreement was not complied with. Terminating an aircraft lease is always a last resort, and such a decision is never taken lightly. In this case, after numerous reminders, Flair again failed to make the payments due, so Airborne took action to end the leasing of the aircraft. Airborne has a legal obligation to mitigate losses from Flair's default. Airborne has taken steps to comply with this legal obligation. Despite these efforts, significant losses are expected in connection with the repossession and remarketing of the aircraft,” the lessor said.

The accounts of Flair Airlines and Airborne Capital differ greatly. For example, Stephen Jones, the airline's chief executive, claimed that the Lessor had allied with Air Canada and/or Westjet to harm the low-cost carrier he managed. In any case, you would only have been in arrears for a few days. It sharply rejects the fact that no leasing installments were paid for the four affected Boeing 737-Max for five months.