Discount airfare ticket seller NewLeaf Travel is back in business five months after it abruptly suspended operations and refunded fares as it awaited a federal regulatory ruling.

The Winnipeg-based startup announced Thursday it now plans on operating 60 flights a week, with the first departure scheduled to take off on July 25.

The 'no-frills' company has added more destinations and, in addition to Edmonton, now serves Kelowna, Kamloops, Fort St. John, Abbotsford, Victoria, Regina, Saskatoon, Halifax, Moncton, Hamilton and Winnipeg.  

Earlier this year, NewLeaf had to stop ticket sales after a week when it hit some turbulence over whether it needed a licence to operate.

The company contended that it did not require a licence because it does not operate airplanes and only resells seats from Kelowna-based Flair Airlines, which owns and operates a fleet of Boeing 737-400 jets.

In late March, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) ruled in favour of NewLeaf and cleared the way for the company to resume ticket sales.

NewLeaf CEO Jim Young said the company was delayed in its relaunch following the ruling for a number of reasons, including negotiating five additional routes and ensuring that its policies were in sync with CTA's guidelines.

"We went through the act and understood what the specific guidelines were and we went back into our business practices and our marketing messages in order to be able to make sure that we comply," he said.

Some of the changes involved the company's marketing and advertising materials to make sure that customers understand the company is a ticket reseller and not an airline.

Newleaf offers flights that start at $79 one-way, including all taxes and fees.

Its tickets are discounted because flights fly out of mostly smaller regional airports with lower landing fees and customers pay fees for extras like carry-on and checked baggage, priority boarding, and call centre assistance.

The “ultra-low cost” airline is already looking into an expansion by adding on U.S. destinations this winter possibly to Florida, California, Texas and Colorado.

With files from the Linda Nguyen, The Canadian Press