Airline History Blog - Yesterday's Airlines

Empress Sydney: CP's Only 707

12/2/2019

Aside from its experiment with the Bristol Britannia Canadian Pacific had been a stalwart Douglas customer since the 1940s. Despite it being a hard-fought competition Douglas won out for the first CP jets with Canadian Pacific purchasing Douglas DC-8-43s over the rival Boeing 707-320. The only time that CP actually operated a 707 was from late 1967 to early 1968 and the experience didn’t end happily.

C-GRYN: 707 Voyager from OZ to Canada

13/11/2018

Charter operations in Canada have a long and colourful history and much like charter services in Europe an impressive variety of airlines have come and gone in the service of flying the masses to the sun for their summer holidays. Even so Ontario Worldair must rank as one of the more obscure airlines, but their short operational history didn’t stop one 707 from gaining over 4 and half years of flying time in Canada with them and Worldways.

Six Survivors: Canadian Pacific's Versatile DC-6Bs

14/5/2017

Canadian Pacific turned to the trusty Douglas DC-6B to carry it through the 1950s, but even though the type was replaced by new turboprops, and then jets, on the long haul routes it was reliable and economic enough to be repurposed. The Sixes provided an upgrade to passengers on the domestic routes and continued to serve CP into the late 1960s, a testament to the type's rugged excellence.

Proud Wings Pt2: Vintage 737s

16/3/2017

The multiple mergers that created Canadian Airlines International in 1987 created an impressively homogenous fleet, unlike that which Continental Airlines accumulated during the same period through its own multi-merger. Nonetheless that fleet was largely built around older technology aircraft, which although reliable were increasingly uncompetitive into the 1990s. Unfortunately given Canadian's weak financial status replacing these older aircraft would never be achieved.

Proud Wings Pt1: Canadian A320s

13/3/2017

Canadian Airlines International came into being on March 2, 1987: an amalgamation of Canadian Pacific, Nordair, Eastern Provincial and Quebecair with the aggressive and successful Pacific Western. The latter was the buyer and it seemed that finally a second force airline in Canada would have a chance at success after CP Air had been hamstrung competing against Air Canada throughout the regulation years. It was however not to be.

GUEST REVIEW: Royal Canadian Air Force Airbus CC-150 Polaris (A310-304) VIP

28/11/2016

Today Yesterday's Airlines brings you a special guest review by Dan R (ACPIlot from DAC and 400ScaleHangar) of a great new release that he had personal involvement in getting realised in 1/400 scale on Aeroclassics' excellent new A310 mould. It doesn't fit my collection criteria however its a wonderful piece and I want to thank Dan for letting me republish his great review.

So over to Dan it is:

C3 to India: The Rise & Fall of Canada 3000

2/10/2016

Deregulation has brought its share of turbulence to the Canadian aviation scene as it has elsewhere. With Canadian Airlines on the ropes as the new century arrived the charter airline Canada 3000 transformed itself into a new competitor for Air Canada. It stretched its reach to global destinations like India as well as scheduled domestic ops. Sadly for Canada 3000 it overstretched itself dramatically, resulting in a bizarre and unexpected collapse.

Time Flys...Why Don't You?: Time Air

3/5/2016

Despite regulation the Canadian airline scene was full of pioneering airmen who built great airlines. Among them was Walter R. "Stub" Ross whose dream of providing short haul services enabled him to build the most successful regional airline in Canada. Lethbridge Air Services became Time Air and went on to form the basis for the entire Canadian Airlines regional network.

Wardair Goes For Broke: First A310s in North America

25/9/2015

Deregulation of the Canadian market gave Max Ward the chance he had been waiting for since the 1960s - to finally get out there and compete against the big boys of Air Canada and CP Air. Sadly Wardair bit off more than it could chew with some stonking great orders, which included quite a lot of Airbus A310s. I remember getting to see them at Gatwick as a boy in the late 80s.

Maple Tristars: Air Canada L-1011s

29/7/2015

Though Air Canada had operated Lockheed Constellations it had been a firm Douglas customer throughout the jet-age. It is therefore a testament to the design of the Lockheed Tristar that despite this Air Canada chose the graceful trijet - placing an order for 10 aircraft with 9 options in December 1968. The Tristar weathered its stormy development and served the Canadian national carrier for 26 years.

Quebecair Pt3: 1980-1999 Arise Inter-Canadien

3/7/2015

The 70s had not been kind to Quebecair and the 1980s would prove even less so. The wave of market consolidation in the mid-80s couldn't help but sweep up such a vulnerable airline and yet it would survive, albeit barely recognisable, to carry on serving Quebec into the 90s.

Quebecair Pt2: 1970-1980 Charters & Troubles

2/7/2015

Quebecair entered the 1970s as a well run and respected regional airline focused primarily on scheduled inter-Canadian services. A significant part of the other regional airline's operations since the early 60s had been holiday charters to Florida and Caribbean. Compared to Nordair and PWA, Quebecair had been relatively slow to enter the market. That would change in the 1970s but so would the airline's financial position. Troubling times were ahead...

Quebecair Pt1: 1946-1970 Rimouski-Jets

1/7/2015

In 1966, during the regulated era of Canadian aviation, five regional airlines were given the role of supplementing Air Canada and CP Air, which themselves reassigned many of their smaller services to the regionals. Within Quebec (excluding its North-west which was assigned to Nordair) services were operated by Quebecair.

Wardair Canada - Setting the Standard

3/3/2015

Wardair was started by Maxwell W. Ward. Operations began in 1953 and Wardair changed from being a small bush operator to become a charter airline when its first DC-6B arrived in 1962. From then on like Laker Airways in England it was always trying to find a way to compete against the duopoly in its home nation and claim its place as a transatlantic and domestic scheduled carrier. Finally it would achieve this goal but it could only hold onto its prize and indeed its identity for a short while.

Pacific Western: Alberta Pacesetter

22/2/2015

Pacific Western Airlines had been formed as a bush-flying enterprise in 1946 named Central British Columbia Airlines. Between 1949 and 1952 it acquired seven other bush-flyers and became PWA in 1953. True operation as a scheduled regional airline (one of five) began in 1959 when Canadian Pacific transferred route authority for 18 services from Edmonton to Northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. This was just the start and PWA would grow not only to become the most successful of the five regionals but also to eventually takeover CP Air and join the big time...