Come Monday, Canadian travellers booked with the ultra-low-cost airline Lynx Air will be out of luck and its employees out of work. A plane arrives at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, B.C. on March 18, 2020.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press

Jonah Prousky is a management consultant and freelance writer who focuses on business, technology and society.

Just a couple years ago, Canada’s aviation industry reached what promised to be a major turning point.

As ultralow-cost-carriers Lynx Air and Swoop began operations in 2022 and 2018, respectively, it looked like vacationing on a budget was about to get much easier – just as it has in Europe and the United States.

Now it’s clear that the ULCC model that works so well in other parts of the world was, here in Canada, only a pipe dream.

Last week, Calgary-based Lynx Air filed for bankruptcy protection and announced it would cease operations on Monday. The news left many Canadians scrambling to rebook their travel plans with other carriers, or pleading with their credit card companies for a refund.

That had come after the end of another budget carrier. Last year, after just five years, Swoop, Canada’s first true ULCC, was acquired by WestJet, which shut it down and........

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