Two wealthy Quebecers, Mitch Garber and Stephen Bronfman, are major shareholders in Lynx Air, which abruptly stopped flying on Sunday, leaving thousands of travelers stranded.
• Also read: “I cried”: Lynx Air’s bankruptcy cost customers in Quebec dearly
• Also read: End of activities: All Lynx Air flights in Montreal-Trudeau have already been canceled
Stepworth Holdings, owned by Stephen Bronfman, the son of billionaire Charles Bronfman, owns an 11.5% stake in Lynx Air Holdings, the ultra-low-cost carrier's parent company headquartered in Alberta.
Stephenson Management, owned by businessman Mitch Garber and his wife, tax lawyer Anne-Marie Boucher, also owns an 11.5% stake in Lynx Air Holdings.
Stepworth and Stephenson helped found Lynx's predecessor company, Enerjet, in 2018. The amounts the two companies invested there were never made public.
“Photo from Lynx Air website”
Represented on the Lynx Board
Mr. Boucher served on the Lynx Board of Directors from December 2018 to December 2023.
Anne-Marie Boucher “Photo from LinkedIn”
For his part, Mr. Bronfman was represented on the Lynx Board by Frédéric Martel, who served there from September 2021 to December 2023. Mr. Martel was then head of investments at Claridge, the Bronfman family's holding company. He has been CEO of the Montreal company since January.
Lynx sought protection from its creditors last Thursday. The company is drowning in nearly $600 million in debt while its assets are worth just $429 million (including nine Boeing 737 MAX aircraft leases worth $345 million).
- Listen to the interview with Alexa Liendo, Lynx Air customer, on Richard Martineau's show QUB :
The airline also owes the Canada Revenue Agency more than $25 million for missed GST payments related to aircraft imports.
It also owes Aéroports de Montréal more than $1.6 million and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority more than $2.4 million.
Lynx's largest creditor (and shareholder) was the American company Indigo, which controls the American airline Frontier Airlines. The Alberta company owed him more than $90 million.
He cancels his trip to Vancouver
Clifton Augustin is one of Lynx's desperate customers. He was scheduled to leave for Vancouver with his family on Monday. He paid about $350 for three round-trip tickets.
Lynx initially suggested she request a refund from her credit card company. The online agency he booked with, FlightHub, then promised him a direct refund.
Clifton Augustin “Photo courtesy”
Since he had not yet received his money, Mr. Augustin preferred to cancel his trip. He looked for tickets on other airlines, but the total price exceeded $2,000.
“It was one of the first times I bought tickets from a company I was less familiar with. It’s definitely a strange first experience,” he says.
Lynx cited rising costs, high fuel prices and the “difficult” economic environment as explanations for the collapse.
“Despite significant growth, continued operational improvements, cost reductions and efforts to explore a sale of the business or merger, the challenges have become too great for us to overcome,” the company said in a news release last week.
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