Attaché from CP Air - An airline within an airlineDuring 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. |
Air Canada Will Take 4 Retired Alaska Airlines Airbus A320's (and 1 from China Southern Airlines) As demand for narrow body jets continues to surge, Air Canada has found a nifty solution in picking up several former Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-200 airframes to meet capacity demand. Four ex-Alaska Airlines A320's, averaging around 14 years, have been acquired by Air Canada, with their registrations freshly updated from their former U.S. 'N' designation to Canada’s 'C'. Three aircraft, C-FCZF (ex-N637VA), C-FCQX (ex-N847VA, photo below), and C-FCYX (ex-N853VA, photo below), are currently undergoing maintenance at Piedmont Triad International Airport (GSO) in Greensboro, North Carolina. The oldest aircraft to be delivered, C-FCQD (ex-N632VA), remains in storage at San Antonio International Airport (SAT) after experiencing issues during in-flight testing earlier this week. An additional ex-China Southern Airlines A320, B-6267, previously stored at Larnaca International Airport (LCA), is expected to be delivered to Air Canada as C-FDGQ after its current lease expires on January 31. Source: SimpleFlying.com |
Editors' Note: All 4 former Alaska Airlines aircraft were originally delivered to Virgin America between 2007 and 2012. They were acquired with Alaska's acquisition of Virgin America in 2018. The former China Southern Airlines aircraft was originally delivered in May 2006. |
N853VA at LAX June 4, 2012 Photo by Adam Fagen |
N847VA at LAX October 12, 2018 Photo by Colin Brown |
for the latest posts at the Air Canada Media Centre. |
Click the logo to open the Air Canada YouTube channel. |
Subscriber Frank Healy sent in the following 'Whatever Happened To' request: I am searching for information regarding Sergeant Norman Welles. I was at RAF Abingdon in Berkshire in 1967 soon to be returned to 'Civvie Street' (civilian life). Logic said go to a large British city that had an airport. In the crew room one day, chitchat turned the subject of Sergeant Welles, someone said that he was headed to Canada after writing a letter to Canadian Pacific Air Lines about a job, location was Vancouver. We rushed to the large crew room map on the wall to find Vancouver. "It’s on the other side of the Continent, it’s right beside the Pacific Ocean!"“ The seed has now been planted in my brain so I also applied to immigration, was accepted, and headed to Vancouver, Canada in June. Within days of arriving I got a job with Air Canada, incredible luck. Now, I must find Sergeant Welles. I checked with CPAL and all others at the old YVR, no luck. I phoned every Welles name in the Vancouver phone book, still no luck, every so often I would search again but never did find him. Whatever happened to Sergeant Welles? In a sense he got me to Canada all those years ago. His name is very similar name to a small Mining Town in central British Columbia, a heck of a coincidence. Editors' Note: We did a Google search but found no conclusive results. Any chance that anyone remembers working with a 'Norman Welles'. |
Terry Baker, co-founder of the NetLetter scours the internet for aviation related Trivia and Travel Tips for you, our readers, to peruse. |
perx.com brings you deals from Interline Vacations. |
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