Summer ends with no ultra-low-cost airline in Hamilton

Hamilton flyers are familiar with the feeling:

An airline takes a look at the Hamiltonairport, likes what it sees, and promises to start flying there. And soon!

But as summer ends, none of the lower-cost airlines who've flirted with John C. Munro International Airport on Mount Hope have gotten up and running certainly not up and flying.

• Budget airline NewLeaf Travel wants to make Hamilton a hub
• Jetlines CEO Dave Solloway pitches new low-cost airline
• Air Canada's Hamilton flights won't take off for a year

We will definitely let you know when we're ready for takeoff.- Amie Seier, marketing manager, NewLeaf Travel Co.

The best flying news to come to Hamiltonians this summer was a new direct bus to take passengers straight to Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

There's some solace. The airlines are saying the flightsare delayed, not cancelled:

Air Canada's promised Rouge service was pushed back to May 2016 after a crash in Halifax took a plane out of its fleet.

Winnipeg-basedNewLeaf Travel Co. chief Jim Young told CBC Hamilton in Aprilhe'd launch Hamilton flights by this summer. That's not going to happen, said Amie Seier, recently namedmarketing manager for NewLeaf.

"We can assure you that we won't surprise you with a launch [by end of summer]," she said in an email last week."As you can imagine, the undertaking of the startup of a travel business can be quite big. We're just in the process of building our team and the needed infrastructure to get ready to launch. We will definitely let you know when we're ready for take off."

Another ultra-low-cost carrier,Canadian Jetlines, is raising money andtoldthe Hamilton Spectator it planned tolaunch in western Canada this summer with an expansion to Hamilton to later this year or early next. Jetlines presidentDavid Solloway did not return emails from CBC Hamilton over the past few monthsseekingmore information.

The business models are variations on a theme popular in Europe and the U.S.:Cutting costs by charging passengers a low fee for their seat and seatbelt, and charging la carte fees for everything from onboard drinks and snacks to carry-on bags.

Meanwhile, the airport is being patient.

"Strategically we see Hamilton International as an Airport well suited to an ultra-low cost carrier model, and would welcome New Leaf Travel Co. or any other low cost carrier to Hamilton Airport when looking to enter southern Ontario," airport marketing director Lauren Yaksich said in April.

Tuesday, Yaksich directed timing questions to the airlinesthemselves.

"Our discussions with the carriers are ongoing," she said.