Charter operations since 2006
On September 5, 2006, CanJet announced that on September 10, 2006, it would cancel all regularly scheduled services[5] and focus instead on charter service because of the highly competitive nature of the airline industry in Canada, and the resulting slim profit margins. Ken Rowe, IMP Chairman and CEO, said, "with the rising business risks of operating a scheduled airline, IMP has decided to suspend year-round scheduled airline service and focus on their increasing charter business." CanJet stated that any passengers who had bought tickets for travel dates after September 10, 2006, would be provided a full refund, or alternative travel arrangements.[6] Before the announcement, CanJet had been operating scheduled services and served 15 cities in Canada and the United States.
On September 27, 2006, CanJet announced that it would rehire more than 100 airline pilots and flight attendants; about 20% of the number laid-off on September 10, 2006, as the company regained a contract to fly chartered flights for tour operator, Sunquest.[7]
On February 13, 2009, CanJet announced a five-year partnership with Montreal based Transat AT. Since 1 May 2009, Transat Tours Canada has chartered CanJet's Boeing 737 aircraft flying from Canadian cities to various destinations. This replaced an agreement with Calgary-based WestJet.[8]
In 2014, CanJet started to sell holiday packages branded CanJet Vacations in addition to its charter activities.[9]
On April 14, 2015, the company[10] laid off approximately half of its flight staff and eliminated its planned summer European operations.[11] It also planned to park five of its six aircraft in the wake of the termination of the cooperation with Air Transat and the insufficient sales of holiday packages.[12] A few weeks later the shut down of its CanJet Vacations holiday package operations was announced after 10 months of service due to much lower demand than expected.[13]
On September 1, 2015, CanJet announced that it was ceasing flight operations indefinitely and effective immediately. Its corporate website www.canjet.com is no longer in operation.[14]
