AirSprint Continues Growing Canada's Fractional Aircraft Sector

AirSprint is Canada's largest fractional aircraft operator and one of the largest in North America, based on flight hours. As a primary player in the Canadian market, they have helped define the fractional aircraft industry in Canada and are instrumental in its continued growth.

The company just celebrated its 25th anniversary and continues to add aircraft to its 40-strong fleet.

In this article, we explore AirSprint’s background and expansion, with an in-depth look at its fleet, program structure, and pricing, based on a discussion with CEO James Elian.

AirSprint's Background and Growth

AirSprint's primary customers are Canadian business leaders traveling anywhere between Vancouver and the Maritimes. Domestic travel makes up about 35% of the flights, while the rest is primarily back and forth to the U.S., with some traffic to the Caribbean and Europe. Founded in 2000, the company has offices in Montreal, Calgary, and Toronto, with hangars in the last two.

AirSprint has enjoyed impressive, consistent growth, especially in recent years. With almost 400 employees today - up over 150% from 2020 - they flew to 650 airports and did more than 6,400 unique airport pairs in the last 12 months and covered 28.7 million km (approximately 17.8 million miles) in 2024. The image below shows all flights from 2020 to 2025.

James Elian, CEO of AirSprint, tells SherpaReport that the company expects another record year in 2025, which will be the 9th in a row, and the flight volume for the first four months of the year is already up 15% year over year.

Since 2019, private jet flights in Canada have increased by 55% overall, with more than half of the growth coming from AirSprint. Today, over 30% of all private jet flights in Canada are flown by AirSprint.

AirSprint's Fleet Composition

The AirSprint fleet includes light, mid-size, and super-midsize aircraft carrying 6 to 9 passengers, depending on the configuration, with the mix optimized for Canada's geography and flying patterns. They added an Embraer Praetor 600 in February 2025, and three Cessna Citation CJ3+ aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2024, increasing AirSprint's fleet to 40 aircraft. This fleet now includes seven Embraer Praetor 500/600, nine Embraer Legacy 450/500, eighteen Cessna Citation CJ3+, and six Cessna Citation CJ2+ aircraft.

The Cessna light aircraft models provide the range and economy combination that makes sense for many members' regional flight needs. At the same time, the super-midsize Embraer Praetor 600 has the range to take members from St. John's to Vancouver non-stop. In addition, between the Embraer Praetor 600 and the mid-size 450/500 models, 40 percent of the AirSprint fleet can fly non-stop from Toronto to Mexico City. The fleet mix helps ensure members have access to the aircraft that fits their needs most of the time, while allowing them to switch aircraft as the situation demands.

“A private plane is the ultimate business tool,” says James Elian, “and in times of uncertainty, face-to-face meetings are more important than ever.”

In recent years, the company's strategy has been to add “lightly used” aircraft to the fleet, which means they are just a few years old and have a few hundred hours on them, rather than buying brand-new planes. “We are stewards of these expensive assets for our owners,” says James Elian.

For 2025, James anticipates bringing a few more aircraft into the fleet, and adds that they are evaluating longer-range jets to see if they would make good additions in the future.

"We continue to bring people into private aviation as they understand the true benefits,” says James, while noting that they have also seen several cases of customers selling their whole aircraft and buying a fraction.

AirSprint's Owner Services team, available 24/7 and 365 days per year, is a key contributor to its growth. The Owner Services team provides concierge-level service by booking flights, arranging the details for members at their destination (e.g., catering, ground transportation, accommodation), and managing the overall travel experience.

Capital Purchase and 5-Year Lease Options

AirSprint offers the flexibility of two fractional ownership options, buying or leasing. The first approach involves a one-time capital purchase. Members buy a portion of an aircraft based on its retail price, and their portion of the residual value is returned when that aircraft is sold.

Alternatively, members have a 5-year lease option requiring a one-time deposit that is refundable at the end of the term. Leasing members also pay an annual lease payment. Whether a member chooses to buy or lease, everyone pays an annual overhead fee and an occupied hourly rate for usage. Of course, whether the capital purchase or 5-year lease option is best for a given member largely depends on their financial and tax situation and personal preferences.

AirSprint's fractional membership model assumes aircraft usage of 800 hours per year divided into 25-hour increments, each representing 3.125% of the aircraft. Members can choose from three options:

• Advantage Access (25 hours per year)
• Club Access (50 hours per year)
• Infinity Access (75+ hours per year)

Each level enjoys guaranteed booking with 24-hour notice, though the Infinity level enjoys the additional benefit of not being restricted by the 25 reserved calendar dates per year. Each membership level also has access to empty leg flights, which are deeply discounted flights available when aircraft are scheduled to fly empty for repositioning purposes. Advantage members pay the standard annual overhead fee for their 3.125% share, Club members receive a 9% discount on their annual overhead costs, and Infinity members receive a 17% discount.

A Pricing Illustration

AirSprint makes it easy to understand their pricing and test scenarios with their "Get Pricing" tool on their website. Before generating your detailed pricing, the tool asks several simple questions: buy or lease, aircraft preference, and your desired number of flight hours per year.

For example, selecting a 5-year lease for a Cessna Citation CJ2+ at the Club Access level (50 flight hours per year) results in the following pricing:
• One-time lease deposit: US$45,000
• Annual lease fee: US$57,960
• Annual overhead fee: C$180,748
• Occupied Hourly Rate C$2,443

The tool also makes it easy to modify your choices to see how your pricing will change under different scenarios.

Future Focus

After playing a dominant role in the growth of the fractional aircraft market in Canada, AirSprint believes that substantial opportunity remains for further growth as Canadians increasingly recognize the benefits of fractional over private aircraft ownership. AirSprint sees its growth coming from continuing to serve existing clients and helping others understand how fractional ownership benefits Canadians for business and leisure travel. “25 years ago, fractions were not an option in Canada. We’re excited by what’s to come over the next 25 years,” says James Elian.