MONTREAL - Sunwing is hiring pilots and flight attendants who formerly worked at Zoom Airlines as the discount travel company expands service to winter hot spots.
Ten Zoom pilots began training Monday, just days after the Ottawa-based vacation airline suddenly stopped flying, stranding thousands of passengers and causing hundreds of layoffs, says Sunwing vice-president Lawrence Elliott.
"We've offered positions to a lot of their staff," he said in an interview.
The privately owned company expects to hire about 300 flight attendants, including up to 100 who worked at Zoom. Jobs could also be available for Air Canada (TSX:AC.B) employees who are slated to be laid off in November when the airline reduces its capacity by seven per cent.
More Zoom staff could be hired but the two companies operated from different bases and flew different aircraft.
Toronto-based Sunwing, which has 800 employees, is on a hiring spree as it prepares to deliver 700,000 seats this winter for Canadian snowbirds.
It serves 33 destinations from 29 Canadian gateways, including communities such as Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and Val D'Or, Que., that are typically ignored.
The company claims to be the largest Canadian tour operator to Cuba and the second-largest leisure group behind Transat (TSX:TRZ.B).
Sunwing insists that it's in strong financial health despite the challenges of operating in a high-fuel environment. Its fleet of Boeing 737-800s is young and provide three to four per cent fuel savings over competitors.
Falling oil prices will allow the airline to reduce its fuel surcharges next week, Elliott said.
It plans to nearly double the number of aircraft it operates to 15 this winter.
Research Capital analyst Jacques Kavafian had suggested that Sunwing and transatlantic carrier flyglobespan could be among the airlines flying in Canada that could face uncertain futures following Zoom's demise.
But Elliott said Sunwing's business model is very different from Zoom, which relied mostly on the transatlantic market.
While Zoom focused on travel, Sunwing's base is package travel. Most of Sunwing's business goes through travel agents while Zoom sold directly to customers, said Elliott.
"We're low cost but we're not no frills," he said, pointing to free movies and complementary champagne.
Ernst & Young recently named Sunwing's owners Colin and Stephen Hunter as entrepreneurs of the year after reviewing the company's books.
Zoom's demise will have very little impact on Sunwing because it had a very small presence to the south, said Elliott.
"It really has a minimal effect on us, other than the staff."
Topic: Sunwing hiring Zoom pilots and flight attendants as it grows service to hot spo (Read 5283 times)