TORONTO — NewLeaf will take to the skies July 25 with an expanded network of 12 destinations, including five new additions: Edmonton, Victoria, Kamloops, Fort St. John and Moncton. The other seven destinations are Abbotsford, Halifax, Hamilton/Toronto, Kelowna, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg.

Launched earlier this year, NewLeaf was ready to begin flights Feb. 12 but bookings ground to a halt after air passenger advocate Gabor Lukacs raised licensing concerns.

NewLeaf is not an ******* but rather a re-seller of ******* seats, for ******* partners Flair Airlines and Enerjet, says NewLeaf CEO Jim Young. NewLeaf doesn’t have its own operating license because as a re-seller, it doesn’t need one. The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) ruled in NewLeaf’s favour, although Lukacs has filed an appeal.

Asked about the appeal at a press conference today, Young said “we’re not going to sit around waiting for a single individual to decide if we fly. We have the legal right to fly. … This is one individual who claims to have the moral authority to speak for all Canadians. We have a business to run. We have Canadians who want to fly.

“Any rumours of our ***** have been greatly exaggerated … We’re back, exactly the way we said we would be. We’re just a little late.”

NewLeaf is focused on smaller airports currently underserved by the competition. “Almost all of our routes are a nonstop service that our competitors do not currently offer,” he said.

Like most ultra low-cost carriers (or in this case, re-sellers of ultra low cost carrier fares), NewLeaf isn’t exactly courting the retail travel industry. But NewLeaf isn’t  anti-travel agent, said Young earlier this year. “If we’re anti-anything, we’re anti-GDS,” he said. Agents can book the ******* directly for their clients, he added. “We’re anti-cost. We have to have the lowest operation costs we possibly can.”

Introductory fares available until Oct. 2 start at $79 all-in for a one-way fare between Edmonton and Kamloops. Young said he expects the promotional fares to sell out during the busy summer season, and added that the ******* is focused on the short-breaks leisure market, on 156-seat planes. Flights run two to three times a week and Young said he’s hoping to ramp up frequencies soon. The *******’s website is gonewleaf.ca.

Also at the press conference, Young announced that Ben Baldanza, former CEO of Spirit Airlines, has joined NewLeaf’s Board of Directors.