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Two companies are in the midst of raising money to launch ultra-cheap airlines in Canada, but it’s going to be a tough slog in a market that’s notoriously cruel to new carriers.

“They have a high risk of going under after a year or two,” former Air Canada CEO Pierre Jeanniot said in an interview.

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“There are lots of examples of that in Canada. We just haven’t been able to support many low-cost airlines.”

Canada has never had a successful ultra-low cost carrier, but there are now two in the works: Jetlines and Jet Naked.

It’s pretty tough to go head-to-head with big red and blue in this country

The no-frills model was pioneered by Dallas-based Southwest Airlines and has since been picked up by several others, including Ryanair and AirAsia.

WestJet still calls itself a low-cost airline but it has steadily moved away from that model as it grows. It now offers perks like premium economy class and a frequent-flyer program and has launched a regional carrier called Encore. It even began its first transatlantic flights last month with service to Dublin. All these new services add costs and WestJet’s fares are now generally comparable to Air Canada’s.