In the early morning Canadian cold on March 11, the beginning of spring break for school-age kids in Ontario, families duly assembled at the Region of Waterloo International Airport west of Toronto to fly on Flair Airlines to the sun in Orlando, Florida.
But more than three hours before the 7:20 a.m. flight — “in the dark of night,” as Flair CEO Stephen Jones later expressed it — bailiffs arrived at the airport to take ownership of the airplane, a Boeing 737 Max.
As the sun rose, two police vehicles drove out onto the tarmac and parked alongside the jet. Officers got out and inspected documents citing nonpayment of the airplane lease.
