New airline NewLeaf lands in Kelowna

You'd never guess five-year-old Delaney Harvey wasn't expecting a throng of reporters at Kelowna International Airport on Monday afternoon.

She was pretty as a picture in her flowered sun dress, just what the cameras were hoping for as the first passenger to disembark the first NewLeaf Airlines flight.

"She got all dressed up for her aunty," mom Carol said. "She had no idea the press would be here."

Yes, reporters and dignitaries were waiting for Flight 001 from Winnipeg. Monday's arrival represented Canada's return into the low-cost, no-frills airline business.

If Delany wasn't expecting press, NewLeaf CEO Jim Young certainly was.

He was banking on good publicity after six months of questions and accusations.

Outsiders have challenged NewLeaf's business model and Transport Canada held up the start date with regulatory hurdles.

We gave @flairairlines and @newleaftravel until tomorrow to answer our questions about #protection of #passengers. pic.twitter.com/x6r8ppVPlE

— Air Passenger Rights (@AirPassRightsCA) July 17, 2016

Young said he's more than confident Canadians will embrace NewLeaf.

"We have paid our bills," Young said on the tarmac.

He called a class-action lawsuit and contractors who claim they haven't been paid as "continuing business disputes."

"They'll be settled in due course, but they don't have anything to do with what happened on the airplane today," he added.

Gabor Lukacs filed a class-action lawsuit saying NewLeaf, because it's a booking agent and not an airline, leaves it passengers exposed in the event of financial trouble.

NewLeaf uses Kelowna-based Flair Airlines to ferry passengers between 11 Canadian cities, including Kamloops.

"The customers should have no concerns that we are more than well funded."

Sam Samaddar, YLW director, appeared convinced. He said adding NewLeaf encourages job growth and gives customers more choice. It also gave YLW non-stop, direct flights to Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Regina, destinations it didn't have until now.

Although he perhaps treaded on some senstive territory when he joked the first water-cannon wash was free.

As is airline tradition, firetrucks sprayed jets of water over the plane as it rolled into the gate.

Any further cleaning services, however, would come at a cost.

"I'll be sending you my bill," he said.

Mostly everyone laughed.

The real test of the airline will come from passengers, it seems. If they aren't concerned about the airline's financing, they will prove it by buying tickets.

Carol Harvey said she was happy with her flight from Winnipeg with her husband and two children. She hadn't flown in five years.

"It was very nice, actually," she said.

Was there any difference between WestJet, Air Canada and NewLeaf?

Just one, she admitted: "Price."