Zoom Airlines

History

Zoom Airlines Inc. was founded in May 2002 as a low-fare transatlantic airline. The carrier, based in Canada's capital city, Ottawa, was conceived by two Scottish brothers, John and Hugh Boyle, to fill an opportunity in the Canadian leisure travel market.

The brothers entered the holiday business in the 1980 with their startup company Falcon Holidays in their native Scotland, which was later sold for a large profit to a major United Kingdom tour operator.

Their next venture, Direct Holidays, was started in 1991 and gained strength and market share in Scotland, becoming a household name and the largest 'direct sell' travel company in the UK.

After the sale of Direct Holidays in 1998 to MyTravel Group for £84m (C$200 million), Hugh relocated to Canada. Boyle started GO Travel Direct Vacations, introducing the 'direct sell' method. This business model eliminates the role of travel agents, passing the savings back to the holiday maker. In taking this business model one step further, Boyle launched Zoom Airlines, removing the remaining third parties from the booking process.

In November 2006, Zoom Airlines and Flyglobespan.com embarked on a codeshare agreement. Zoom Airlines operated two of three weekly Manchester to Toronto Flyglobespan flights. Zoom flights from Toronto to Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, London Gatwick, London Stansted and Manchester were available for booking on the Flyglobespan website, as well as Ottawa to London Gatwick. This agreement was only for the 2006/2007 winter season, as Flyglobespan subsequently commenced their own Canadian program.

In the summer of 2006, John Boyle founded a sister company in the UK known as Zoom Airlines Limited. It operated until 28 August 2008, when it ceased trading along with the original Canadian company.

In January 2008, Zoom Airlines Inc received approval from the Canadian Minister of Transport, Lawrence Cannon, to operate flights between Canada and Italy.

2008 financial difficulties

On August 27, 2008, an aircraft leased to Zoom was grounded at Calgary International Airport when the owner cancelled the lease agreement. The fuel supplier would not refuel the aircraft due to outstanding debts. Zoom subsequently announced it had requested creditor protection.

Administration

On 28 August 2008, a Boeing 757 aircraft was held at Glasgow International Airport because of the airline's financial difficulties. It was reported that the aircraft was impounded after the airline failed to pay its air traffic control charges. Shortly afterwards, the airline announced that it had filed for administration under the Canadian Companies Creditors Arrangement Act and that it was ceasing operations. On the same day shortly after C-GZNA had departed London Gatwick for Bermuda/Fort Lauderdale under the command of Captain Tony Hampson and Senior First Officer Howard Barnard the company's sister airline filed for bankruptcy under the British legal system in August 2008. Zoom Airlines is reported to have blamed the "horrendous" price of aviation fuel and the wider economic slowdown.

Re-launch as XPO Airlines

On January 14, 2009, Globe Span Capital announced the acquisition of Zoom Airlines Inc. A plan was in place to get the new Zoom off the ground in early 2009. The Kingston, Ontario, based financial services company planned to relocate Zoom Airlines finance, human resources and call-centre divisions to Kingston. The operation centre of the airline was to remain in Toronto. On March 25, 2009, a web site was launched for the new airline, XPO Airlines. The executives at Globe Span had planned to use the Zoom Airlines brand name, but chose to change to a new name.

Europe

North America

Caribbean

South America

Asia

Fleet

As of September 2008 the fleet consisted of:

^{*W Premium Economy offered only on select flights.}