Of interest to shareholders and onlookers, part 2: airlinesFLYHT has something like 115 clients worldwide. These airlines were part of announcements FLYHT made recently. Part Two, Airlines Calgary-based
Canada Jetlines Oct. 4, 2023,
“...AFIRS 228 Iridium SatCom and AFIRS EdgeTM 5G solutions will be installed on Canada Jetlines A320 aircraft, and as part of the collaboration, Canada Jetlines will serve as FLYHT’s A320 Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) partner for the aircraft type.” Nov., 2023, KJ: Canada Jetlines is “
...contracting for a full suite of hardware and recurring SaaS products”.
Canada Jetlines “
is targeting to reach a fleet of 15 aircraft by 2025”. (The STC was received Feb. 16, 2024.)
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Calgary-based
Flair Airlines June 25, 2023,
“...an agreement for the purchase of FLYHT’s innovative hardware and services. FLYHT will enable Flair to closely monitor its fuel and greenhouse gas emissions for every phase of flight operations, including when an aircraft is at the gate, taxiing, at idle, during takeoff and at cruise. The data allows Flair to find opportunities to increase fuel efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint on its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft”. Q3 2023 (November) Letter to Shareholders, KJ: Flair aircraft will be
“...providing installation access for the Edge” STC process. Nov., 2023 comment, KJ: Flair is “
...contracting for a full suite of hardware and recurring SaaS products”.
There is talk that Flair and Lynx Air will merge, but no details have been made public as yet. Flair has some debt owed to Canada Revenue. Lynx Air was a feeder airline for Frontier Airlines years ago. They are now competitors. Flair fleet size: 20 aircraft. Lynx fleet size: 9 aircraft.
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Calgary-based
WestJet Airlines January 16, 2020, FLYHT secured a US$6.2 million contract with WestJet to install FLYHT’s AFIRS SatCOM. Initially, this was for 160 aircraft.
I understand that Bill Tempany believed in 2022 that WestJet would take the Edge also when it came available. This seems to be proving out.
See “
FLYHT and NOAA Collaborate” in part 1 about how WestJet will be getting the WVSS-II/Certus/Edge package in a contract announced Sept. 2023 with NOAA.
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Swoop Airlines “...was a Canadian ultra low-cost airline owned by WestJet” founded in 2017.
March, 2022, FLYHT and Swoop Partner to Reduce Emissions.
“...FLYHT is partnering with Swoop Airlines to reduce emissions by eliminating non-essential Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) usage.” This project was completed.
Nov., 2023, Calgary Herald... “
Calgary-based Swoop’s five-year experiment ended last weekend when WestJet, the company’s owner, announced it had absorbed the airline’s fleet into its own.” Not terrible news for FLYHT as Swoop aircraft are now WestJet and will likely get AFIRS SatCOM (and the Edge) now, too.
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SunWing Airlines Founded in 2005, SunWing began as a tour operator flying from Canada to popular holiday destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. It was soon flying out of numerous American cities. SunWing grew to have a fleet of 13 Boeing 737-800’s and 9 737 Max 8’s.
WestJet acquired SunWing in May, 2023. Just four months later, that subsidiary SunWing would be absorbed into WestJet.
“The WestJet Group today shared its targeted timeline for the integration of Sunwing Airlines into WestJet Airlines to complete the airline’s strategy to move all 737s into the same AOC (air operator certificate). Planning and integration activities are well underway, with the goal of completing integration efforts by October 2024.” In the same way that what happens to WestJet aircraft is expected to happen to Swoop aircraft, absorbing SunWing will just mean that many more more installations of FLYHT product.
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Denver-based
Frontier Airlines Dec. 7, 2021, ...for its near-term deliveries. SatCOM and SaaS. (Opportunity for growth with a fleet size of 144.)
Frontier to
“equip near-term deliveries of A320 and A321 aircraft with FLYHT’s AFIRS solution, enabling Frontier to optimize its over water routes. By gaining access to real-time fleet information through FLYHT’s solutions, Frontier aims to improve operational efficiencies in both flight and ground operations, including reducing flying time and the associated fuel burn, while enhancing customer satisfaction.” In 2022, Frontier bid on merging with Spirit Airlines. JetBlue offered more.
Jan., 2024, “
A federal judge in Boston ruled to block the $3.8 billion proposed deal after agreeing with the U.S. Department of Justice that it was anticompetitive and would harm consumers”.
Spirit is working to stave off bankruptcy, hasn’t given up on the JetBlue merger just yet.
Will Frontier return to the table?
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Air North, Yukon’s Airline
Oct 31, 2023, “
FLYHT to Provide 5G & Iridium Connectivity Solutions to Air North, Yukon’s Airline to Enhance Communications and Operations.”
Lengthy description of the hardware (both AFIRS SatCOM and the Edge) and services at this link.
https://flyht.com/investors/news-and-media/view/flyht-to-provide-5g-iridium-connectivity-solutions-to-air-north-yukons-airline-to-enhance-communications-and-operations/ Air North has a small fleet of four ATRs and seven Boeing 737s.
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China Express / ARJ21 OEM Sept. 9, 2020,
“...to Factory Install AFIRS on ARJ 21 Aircraft and Announces China Express as a Launch Partner for its Actionable Intelligence Solution”.
“...20 AFIRS units ... will be factory installed on the ARJ21 aircraft for China Express Airlines Co. Ltd., China’s first private regional airline. China Express will take delivery of the first 20 of an expected commitment for up to 100 of the newest aircraft type available in China over the next 5 years”. March 11, 2021,
“After more than a year of product development and collaboration with operators, Flyht is poised to move its revamped suite of real-time data analysis tools into line operations with launch customers China Express, LIAT, and Swoop”, CEO Bill Tempany said.
Wikipedia note:
“LIAT ceased operations on 24 January 2024.” See WestJet for details about Swoop.
AFIRS was to be factory-installed on the ARJ21 from early on, there was just no production. I expect that AFIRS is still available OEM today.
Q:
“How many ARJ21 are there? A: There are 113 Comac ARJ21 aircraft in active service as of September 2023. Currently, the largest operator is Chengdu Airlines with 25 aircraft.” For a list of airlines with active ARJ21 aircraft, try Wikipedia’s
List of Comac ARJ21 operators.
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Comac C919 OEM October 28, 2021, AFIRS to be factory-installed on Comac’s C919.
“...announced that it has signed a multi-year contract with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (“COMAC”) for the installation of AFIRS 228 on the COMAC C-919 aircraft, and has received an initial purchase order.” The good news is... Wikipedia: “
By January 2023, COMAC reported having received more than 1,200 orders and aimed to expand its annual production capacity to 150 airliners in five years.”
The bad is... Deliveries (to China Eastern Airlines), just 1 in 2022, 2 in 2023, 1 in 2024. Total: 4 in service.
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Another two of the smaller contracts we don’t hear enough about...
Sichaun and Bahamasair May 2025
“FLYHT today announced two new commercial agreements with Sichuan Airlines, the largest airline in Western China, and Bahamasair, the national airline of the Bahamas, for satcom hardware and recurring software services. The combined value of the two contracts is approximately $1.2 million in revenue over the next five years. Sichuan Airlines, a long-standing FLYHT customer, has agreed to purchase 10 additional AFIRS 228 units for installation on its fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft that it is converting from passenger to cargo in order to service the growing demand for freight services in China. FLYHT was awarded the contract after a competitive bidding process that included the incumbent satcom provider. Bahamasair has re-engaged with FLYHT after pausing during the pandemic, re-activating three ATR aircraft with the full suite of SaaS services including voice, aircraft situational display (ASD) and health monitoring. The multi-year contract anticipates the installation of AFIRS 228 hardware units and related software services for additional ATR aircraft over the term of the contract.”