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Canada 3000 Airlines was a Canadian discount charter airline offering domestic and international flights. It was the largest charter airline in Canada at the time of its operation, with over 90 destinations worldwide, although it changed to scheduled service in 2000 after the Canadian Airlines and Air Canada merger.
Canada 3000 competed with Air Canada, WestJet, and fellow charter airline Air Transat. In November 2001, the airline went out of business after a sharp decline in revenues following the September 11 attacks in the United States. There have been several attempts to restart the airline since then. The airline was headquartered in Etobicoke in the west-end of Toronto.
The airline was created in 1988 by British airline Air 2000, initially for charter service to lease some of its airplanes for Canadian charter travel (dubbed as Air 2000 Airline Ltd). On May 1, 1989, by order of the NTA, it changed its name to Canada 3000. The next year the airline acquired Vacationair and a subsidiary was created in Mexico with the name Aerofiesta. Following the demise of Wardair, the company's goal was to become Canada's largest charter carrier, a position it attained in 1991. In January 2001, Canada 3000 bought charter carrier Royal Aviation of Montreal. The company also acquired Royal Cargo Airlines' cargo division, renaming it to Canada 3000 Cargo. In March 2001 it also took over CanJet.
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On November 8, 2001 the company suddenly collapsed with no warning for travellers or employees. The company filed for bankruptcy, citing a downturn in air travel during the weeks following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
Out of bankruptcy, the Canada 3000 Cargo operation, which was still operating, was sold off and became Cargojet Airways. Canada 3000 was the first A330-200 operator in April 1998.
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Photo by John Davies
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A Canada 3000 Airbus A310-300 at Paris-Charles de Gaulle in 2001. It was carrying a Canada 3000/Royal Aviation hybrid livery after they purchased the latter. |
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Photo by Konstantin von Wedelstaedt
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A Canada 3000 Boeing 737-200 at Ottawa in 2001.
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Photo by John Davies
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A Canada 3000 Boeing 757-200 at Lisbon in 1991.
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Photo by Pedro Aragão
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