CanJet Airlines will rehire more than 100 pilots and flight attendants after regaining a major contract, the company announced Wednesday.

The contract for charter flights with tour operator Sunquest bodes well for the future of the airline, said Ken Rowe, chief executive officer of IMP Group, the company that owns CanJet. He said the company also is securing other contracts.

"It's already going very well, because we are signing up contracts now," he said. "Enough to get the number of airplanes that we have flying, economically at a much lower risk, which will allow [us] to get newer airplanes or larger airplanes to meet our new contracts as we go forward."

Rowe said it's less risky to run a charter business than one that offers scheduled flights, but he isn't ruling out a return to scheduled flights in the future.

He also said 50 employees at a CanJet call centre in Bathurst could have their jobs back soon.

"It depends on how firm these contracts are that we continue to sign," he said. "But I believe all of those 50 will be hired back if they are available within the next year."

The airline suddenly dropped 456 employees in Halifax, 50 in Bathurst, and 80 in Toronto on Sept. 5 when it stunned the industry with an announcement it was shutting down its scheduled passenger service.

At the time, Rowe issued a news release saying he would look into increasing the airline's charter operations.

However, Sunquest — one of the country's largest tour operators — also issued a release saying it would "rearrange" its service, shifting its business to two other airlines.

In an interview Tuesday, Sunquest president Andrew Dawson said that decision has changed based on guarantees that Rowe has given him. CanJet has guaranteed that jets will be available to fly the tour operator's passengers to southern tourist destinations this winter.

"We have six flights with CanJet per week. They're all weekend travel. We also will have some shared flights with Skyservice [airline] from Halifax and St. John's," he said.