Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Attaché from CP Air - An airline within an airline

During one of our NetLetter team Zoom sessions, we were chatting about special aircraft liveries when Ken mentioned CP Air's 'Attaché' brand from the mid eighties. A quick Google search brought up the photo by Gary Vincent in this edition's header.

I was surprised that I have no recollection of ever seeing this livery although, at this point in my career, I did not see much daylight.

While digging through issues of CP Air News from that time, what most fascinated me was that it reminded me of the concept that air travel was a special event and the emphasis was on good service. CP Air launched an aggressive advertising campaign and the full schedule of Attaché launched on April 28, 1985. Probably the first attempt at operating 'an airline within an airline'.

Unfortunately, the timing was wrong and the idea probably ill-conceived. Business people were not willing to pay a slightly higher fare for more comfort and the brand was short-lived.

In the not too distant future, the concept of an 'airline within an airline' would shift to low cost branding. Tango, Zip and, currently, Rouge in the Air Canada world. Almost all major airlines have some sort of low cost brand that offer less service at a reduced price which is acceptable to today's consumers.

Editors' Note by Ken Pickford:

The 5 Attaché branded B-737-300's were registered C-FCPG/I/J/K/L and delivered during 1985/86; all gone by the end of 1986. Four of the 5 eventually wound up with Southwest Airlines and one with a carrier in Russia after various other leases. All since scrapped.

There is a good article at the link below with reference to the Attaché product.

www.yesterdaysairlines.com/airline-history

Also, this site has good info on many other airlines also, especially history of their liveries. 

Click the images below to view excerpts from CP Air News related to the Attaché brand. 

CP Air's well publicized Attaché launch 

Aircraft # 752, first of the B737-300's in Attaché livery

The new look aboard CP Air’s Attaché B-737 aircraft! CP Air’s Engineering Department and Marketing selected a seat made by the French company Sicma over 13 other seat types, and then spent a year with Sicma co-developing the seat to unique standards.

The final product is so different that CP Air will have exclusive use of the seats in Canada and in CP Air’s airspace for the next two years. “The seat addresses the total comfort of the passenger in terms of width, recline, and density of foam and it has several other novel features," said Mike Stidwill, director, maintenance support services.