Flair Airlines signs 15-year agreement to have engines serviced by Lufthansa in Calgary

Edmonton-based Flair Airlines has reached a 15-year agreement to have its plane engines serviced by Lufthansa Technik in Calgary, bringing home jobs that were performed in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Lufthansa Technik, a subsidiary of German aviation giant Lufthansa Group, will provide the majority of maintenance and digital services for Flair’s 18 Boeing 737s that use Leap engines, the companies said on Thursday.

Flair spokeswoman Kim Bowie declined to say exactly where the work is currently being performed but said that some of it is in the U.S.

The agreement “supports skilled jobs and greater maintenance capability here at home,” Ms. Bowie said. “This partnership will allow more engine maintenance to be performed in Canada, closer to our operations.”

Flair’s 737 Max 8 planes are currently serviced at Lufthansa’s facility in Tulsa, Okla., according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company.

Lufthansa opened its repair facility at Calgary’s airport in 2025 and employs 80 people. It is expanding the shop, building a larger, $120-million, 14,000-square-metre facility that will service a range of engines and house Canada’s first test cell – specialized equipment for work on the latest jet engines – by next year. It will employ about 160 people by 2030, said Lufthansa, which operates service facilities around the world.

The company’s main client in Calgary is WestJet Airlines. The new repair facility was funded in part with $18-million from federal, Alberta and Calgary governments.

Georgios Ouzounidis, Lufthansa Technik’s vice-president of sales for the Americas, said Flair’s agreement reflects its “confidence in the capabilities we are building in Calgary.”

The service includes analytics that combine aircraft data, engineering, digital records and asset management, which Flair said will allow it to streamline maintenance planning and operations.

In a joint press release, the companies said: “The partnership advances Lufthansa Technik’s commitment to build aviation capability in Canada while connecting that capability to a global aerospace network.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Joseph Schow, Alberta’s Minister of Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration, said the benefits of the agreement will be widespread.

“This partnership is a strong example of how investment in Canada’s aerospace sector is strengthening our supply chains, developing a skilled workforce and building the expertise and capacity our industry will need for years to come,” Mr. Schow said.

Leap engines are made by CFM International, a joint venture of Cincinnati-based GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines of Paris, and are used in the 737 Max and Airbus A320 Neo.