View source for Jetsgo

{{Short description|Defunct low-cost airline of Canada (2002–2005)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Distinguish|JetGo}}
{{Infobox airline
| airline        = Jetsgo
| logo           = JetsgoLogo.png
| logo_size      = 150
| IATA           = SG
| ICAO           = JGO
| callsign       = JETSGO
| founded        = {{start date|2002|06|12}}
| commenced      = 
| ceased         = {{end date|2005|03|11}}
| bases          = {{ubl|class=nowrap
  | [[Montréal–Trudeau International Airport|Montréal–Trudeau]]
  | [[Toronto Pearson International Airport|Toronto–Pearson]]}}
| secondary_hubs = 
| focus_cities   = 
| frequent_flyer = JetSmiles
| lounge         = 
| alliance       = 
| subsidiaries   = 
| fleet_size     = 29
| destinations   = 41
| parent         = 
| headquarters   = 7800 chemin Côte de Liesse, [[Saint-Laurent, Quebec|Saint-Laurent]], [[Quebec]]
| key_people     = [[Michel Leblanc]] ([[Chief executive officer|CEO]])
| website        = [https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.jetsgo.net/ Jetsgo.net]
}}

'''Jetsgo Corporation''' was a short-lived Canadian [[low-cost airline]] based in the [[Saint-Laurent, Quebec|Saint-Laurent]] [[Borough#Canada|borough]] of [[Montreal]].<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20040805031100/http://www.jetsgo.net/en/085contact.shtm Talk to Us]." Jetsgo. Retrieved on June 5, 2009.</ref> Jetsgo served 19 destinations across Canada, 10 destinations in the United States, and 12 scheduled weekend-charter destinations in the [[Caribbean]]. At the time the third-largest carrier in the country, Jetsgo abruptly ended service and entered bankruptcy protection on March 11, 2005, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at the beginning of the busy March-break travel season. According to news outlets, the airline was processing orders and taking payments for flights the night before they claimed insolvency and ceased operations.<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/yourspace/jetsgo_failure.html CBC's follow-up to Jetsgo's closure] - ''cbc.ca''</ref>

Soon after its demise, the company pledged to make a comeback as a charter-only airline. However, on May 13, 2005, the airline filed for bankruptcy protection, cancelled plans to relaunch service and began the process of [[liquidation]].

==History==
[[File:Fokker 100 C-GKZC Jetsgo TOR 20.09.04R edited-2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Fokker 100]] of Jetsgo at [[Toronto Pearson International Airport]]’s Terminal 3 in September 2004.]]
Jetsgo was launched on June 12, 2002, and ceased operations on March 11, 2005. The airline was Canada's third-largest airline at the time, controlling up to 10% of the domestic market. Expert analysts widely blame the airline for poor management. Founder [[Michel Leblanc]] had previously founded [[Royal Aviation]], which he later sold to [[Canada 3000]].

On March 11, 2005, Jetsgo abruptly announced that it had ceased operations. The action stranded thousands of passengers in airports and at their travel destinations with no way home, the defunct airline having made no arrangements with other carriers to handle their passengers. This occurred on the Friday morning before the March Break holiday season, one of the busiest air travel days in 8 of 10 provinces.

1200 employees lost their jobs. Jetsgo had accumulated $55 million in debt in the last eight months before it closed. Employees were finally paid for the time prior to the airline's shutdown on March 14, 2005. Passengers who had purchased Jetsgo tickets were forced to apply for refunds through their credit card companies or travel agencies. [[Air Canada]] and [[WestJet]] ran additional flights to bring the stranded passengers home.

Because of its abrupt shutdown, the Jetsgo name was frequently corrupted to "Jetsgone" in some media reports. Passenger Satoshi Takano also used this term for a website<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jetsgone.com/ |title=Archived copy |website=www.jetsgone.com |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070527130852/http://www.jetsgone.com/ |archive-date=27 May 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> which he created for former employees. It operated under that name for some time after the company's demise.

In February 2007 the media reported that the [[Military of the United States|United States military]] was using the former [[call sign]] assigned to Jetsgo during flights over [[European Union]] (EU) territory. ''The Sunday Times'' said that the call sign had been used by military flights involving so-called "[[Extraordinary rendition by the United States|extraordinary rendition]]" of political detainees to [[black site]] destinations.<ref>[https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/us-military-planes-criss-cross-europe-using-bogus-call-sign-3xxpl3jzg99 "US military planes criss-cross Europe using bogus call sign"], ''The Sunday Times,'' 19 February 2006</ref>

==Staff==
The airline employed 1,350 people at the time that it filed for bankruptcy.<ref>{{cite news |title=Spring-break shock; Cheap fares and no-frills service marked the brief history of Jetsgo Corp., which went out of business yesterday |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=2005-03-12 |page=F1}}</ref>

==Incidents and accidents==
In March 2005 [[Transport Canada]] said that investigators found issues with the operating methods of Jetsgo. The deficiencies were discovered during "a special inspection" into engine problems revealed after a forced landing in Toronto in January 2005.
[[File:Jetsgo.md83.cgklr.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Jetsgo Airlines MD-83 landing at Toronto in January 2005]]

Number of incidents reported on a yearly basis concerning Jetsgo:<ref name="Calgary">{{cite news |title=Safety issues dogged Jetsgo; One jet involved in eight 'incidents' In January, a plane veered off runway |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=2005-03-17 |page=C1}}</ref>

*2002: 5
*2003: 15
*2004: 32
*2005: 7
*Total (2002–2005): 60

On 20 January 2005 a Jetsgo [[McDonnell Douglas MD-80|McDonnell Douglas MD-83]] landing in poor weather and low visibility at [[Calgary International Airport]], in [[Calgary]], Alberta, veered left off runway 34 and hit a runway hold-short sign, damaging landing gear and flaps. The plane then declared a [[missed approach]], took off and landed again. There were no casualties.<ref>Flight International, July 2005</ref><ref name="Calgary" />

==Destinations==
{{col div}}

===Canada===
* '''Alberta'''
** [[Calgary]] – [[Calgary International Airport]]
** [[Edmonton]] – [[Edmonton International Airport]]
** [[Fort McMurray]] – [[Fort McMurray International Airport]]
* '''British Columbia'''
** [[Abbotsford, British Columbia|Abbotsford]] – [[Abbotsford International Airport]]
** [[Kelowna]] – [[Kelowna International Airport]]
** [[Prince George, British Columbia|Prince George]] – [[Prince George Airport]]
** [[Vancouver]] – [[Vancouver International Airport]]
** [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria]] – [[Victoria International Airport]]
* '''Manitoba'''
** [[Winnipeg]] – [[Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport]]
* '''Newfoundland and Labrador'''
** [[Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador|Stephenville]] – [[Stephenville Dymond International Airport]]
** [[St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. John's]] – [[St. John's International Airport]]
* '''Nova Scotia'''
** [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]] – [[Halifax Stanfield International Airport]]
** [[Sydney, Nova Scotia|Sydney]] – [[JA Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport]]
* '''New Brunswick'''
** [[Moncton]] – [[Greater Moncton International Airport]]
** [[Saint John, New Brunswick|Saint John]] – [[Saint John Airport]]
* '''Ontario'''
** [[Ottawa]] – [[Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport]]
** [[Thunder Bay]] – [[Thunder Bay International Airport]]
** [[Toronto]] – [[Toronto Pearson International Airport]]
** [[Timmins]] – [[Timmins Victor M. Power Airport]]
* '''Prince Edward Island'''
** [[Charlottetown]] – [[Charlottetown Airport]]
* '''Quebec'''
** [[Montreal]] – [[Montréal–Trudeau International Airport]]
** [[Quebec City]] – [[Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport]]
* '''Saskatchewan'''
** [[Saskatoon]] – [[Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport]]

===United States===
* '''California'''
** [[Los Angeles]] – [[Los Angeles International Airport]]
* '''Florida'''
** [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]] – [[Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport]]
** [[Fort Myers, Florida|Fort Myers]] – [[Southwest Florida International Airport]]
** [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]]/[[Sanford, Florida|Sanford]] – [[Orlando Sanford International Airport]]
** [[Sarasota, Florida|Sarasota]] – [[Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport]]
** [[St. Petersburg, Florida|St. Petersburg]] – [[St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport]]
** [[West Palm Beach, Florida|West Palm Beach]] – [[Palm Beach International Airport]]
* '''Nevada'''
** [[Las Vegas]] – [[Harry Reid International Airport]]
* '''New Jersey'''
** [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark]] – [[Newark Liberty International Airport]]
* '''New York'''
** [[New York City]] – [[LaGuardia Airport]]
{{div col end}}

==Charter operations==
Jetsgo also operated weekend scheduled charter services from [[Toronto Pearson International Airport|Toronto]] and [[Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport|Montreal]] to destinations in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

==Fleet==
[[File:Jetsgo.md83.cfklz.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Jetsgo Airlines MD-83 parked outside a hangar at Toronto Pearson Int'l Airport]]
Jetsgo operated a fleet of 14 [[McDonnell Douglas MD-80|McDonnell Douglas MD-83]] and 11 [[Fokker 100]] (plus six Fokker 100 in storage);<ref>{{cite journal |title=Canadian discount airline Jetsgo |publisher=Air Transport World |date=April 2005}}</ref> three more Fokker 100s were due for delivery in 2005. Seating in all aircraft was configured in an "all-economy" setting typical of low-cost carriers. Jetsgo also had special "comfort plus" sections on most of their planes, which featured more leg room on seats A and B in rows 1 - 12, as well as no middle seat.

==Slogan==
* "Jetsgo. Pay a little. Fly a lot." /"Jetsgo. Moins cher, plus souvent."

== See also ==
* [[List of defunct airlines of Canada]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Jetsgo}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.jetsgo.net/ Jetsgo] (archive)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050313084810/http://www.ctv.ca/generic/WebSpecials/jetsgo/timeline.html CTV.ca Timeline of events in Jetsgo's history]
*[http://www.rsmrichter.com/Restructuring/Jetsgo.aspx Public Documentation on Jetsgo insolvency made available by accounting firm RSM Richter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061023031657/http://www.rsmrichter.com/Restructuring/Jetsgo.aspx |date=2006-10-23 }}

{{Portal bar|Canada|Companies|Aviation}}
{{Defunct airlines of Canada}}

[[Category:Airlines established in 2001]]
[[Category:Airlines disestablished in 2005]]
[[Category:Defunct low-cost airlines of Canada]]
[[Category:Companies based in Montreal]]
[[Category:Saint-Laurent, Quebec]]