We have welcomed 17 new subscribers so far in 2024.

We wish to thank everyone for the continuing support of our efforts.

Back issues of The NetLetter are available in both the original newsletter format and downloadable PDF format.

We invite you to visit our website at www.thenetletter.net/netletters to view our archives.

Restoration and posting of archive issues is an ongoing project. We hope to post every issue back to the beginning in 1995.

We always welcome feedback about Air Canada (including Jazz and Rouge) from our subscribers who wish to share current events, memories and photographs.

Particularly if you have stories to share from one of the legacy airlines: Trans-Canada Air Lines, Canadian Airlines, CP Air, Pacific Western, Maritime Central Airways, Eastern Provincial, Wardair, Nordair, Transair, Air BC, Time Air, Quebecair, Calm Air, NWT Air, Air Alliance, Air Nova, Air Ontario, Air Georgian and all other Canadian based airlines that once graced the Canadian skies.

Please feel free to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We will try to post your comments in the next issue but, if not, we will publish it as soon as we can.

Thanks!

Hamilton Lancaster VERA hitting the road in 2024.

Hamilton’s Lancaster and other warbirds will be taking to the road this spring and summer in a cross-Canada tour. In celebration of the RCAF 100th Anniversary, the Canadian Warplane Heritage aircraft will be appearing at several air shows, coast to coast across Canada, including the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill.

More than 7,000 Lancasters were built—430 of them, including the CWHM’s model, at Victory Aircraft in Malton. During the Second World War, a number of Lancasters were converted for passenger use at Victory with a streamlined nose and tail. The variant was called the Lancastrian, and some were used by Trans-Canada Air Lines on its inaugural trans-Atlantic service, before being replaced by the larger Canadair North Star in the late 1940’s.

2024 Air Show Appearances

• May 18 – Comox Armed Forces Day
  • PBY Canso (based in Victoria)
• June 22 - 23 – Bagotville International Air Show
  • Dakota
• June 29 - 30 – Quinte International Air Show at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ontario
  • Lancaster, B-25 Mitchell & Dakota
• July 1 – Canada Day Mass Fly-past over Ottawa
  • Lancaster, B-25 Mitchell & Dakota
• July 20 - 21 – Cold Lake, Alberta Air Show
  • Lancaster
• August 3 - 4 – Manitoba Air Show
  • Lancaster
• August 9 - 11 – Abbotsford International Air Show
  • PBY Canso (based in Victoria)
• August 24-25 – Air Show Atlantic
  • PBY Canso, Dakota & Avenger

Source: BayObserver.ca

See also: www.warplane.com/events/air-shows

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'.

Photographer, Udo Haafke, sent us this photo of a B-747-200M,  registration C-GAGA (fin #306), showing a Mercedes being loaded at DUS (Düsseldorf Airport) in May 1985.

Shirlee Schacter sends us this information:

Central Ontario Pionairs held their annual Christmas Luncheon at Lionhead Golf and Country Club in Brampton, Ontario, on December 5th, 2023.

This is one of the most popular events of the year and attendance is always at capacity. The festive atmosphere, the re-kindling with former colleagues and the sumptuous buffet all added up to a fun-filled event. The generous member donations of non-perishable items for the food bank achieved an all-time high.

The guest speaker was Deedee Lannon, Past President of National Pionairs, who recapped 2023 accomplishments.

Lesley Huether, District Director, presented Bob Newson (left) with an award for his many years of service on the board of both the National and Central District Pionairs.

Lesley Huether

Patricia 'Deedee' Lannon

Retired B-747 captain Clint Ward sent in this personal memory of an historic flight.

On June 1, 1957 there was an occurrence in Canadian aviation that seems to be lost in the shadows. TCA had something they called the Pacific Mercury and I think it was for the Super Connie Flights from Toronto to Vancouver with a stop in Winnipeg.

On June 1, 1957 that stop was eliminated and the flight of that day completed the first ever non stop connection between Toronto and Vancouver. I was the first officer on that flight and perhaps the last survivor of the crew.  I wrote about the experience in my book 'On All The Other Days'. (Available at Amazon.ca)

Clint

Extracted from 'On All the Other Days' by Clint Ward

An historic inaugural occurred on my second flight as a Super Connie First Officer. It was the first ever non-stop flight from Toronto to Vancouver. The Captain was Roy Cartwright, and he received a letter and two documents prior to the flight which let us know how our day would proceed. He was also saddled with a new co-pilot just out of training with a single day of experience. I’ve always felt that this nine-hour flight, as historic as it was, has been lost in the fog of history.

The Super Connie continental cruising altitudes were much lower than jet travel today. If the weather was good we could cross the Alberta and B.C. mountains at 12,000 feet making it easy to enjoy the spectacular scenery.

One sight that always fascinated me was the Frank Slide and we flew right over it. It was a rockslide that buried part of the mining town of Frank which is now part of Alberta. When the slide occurred there was no Alberta, which was created in 1905, and Frank was still part of the Northwest Territories.

At 4:10 in the morning of April 29, 1903 over 82 million tonnes of limestone rock slid down Turtle Mountain, obliterating the eastern edge of Frank, the Canadian Pacific Railway line and the coal mine. I have driven by the slide and from the ground view it is startling to see the size of some of the rocks, as big as houses!

Click the icon to view the extract from 'On All The Other Days' by Clint Ward chronicling his personal experience on this historic flight. 

Click the icon to view the extract from 'Between Ourselves', July 1957, with additional photos of the flight.

Red carpet treatment was given passengers at Toronto as they boarded for Vancouver. They were piped aboard by the Georgetown Girls' Pipe Band and flanked by TCA stewardesses holding flags from the United States, France and Canada. A little more than eight hours later the plane landed in Vancouver.

Winner of a Bulova watch estimating, within two minutes, the exact time of the flight from Toronto to Vancouver was Judy Taylor of Ottawa.

She is a graduate of McGill University in Physiotherapy, Captain Roy Cartwright makes the presentation while Jack Robinson, DSM of Vancouver looks on.

David Ayton shares this memory -

Back in the day I was trying to get back to my home base in YYZ, on a stand-by pass. In those days, at Heathrow, Air Canada and British Airways shared adjacent gates.

Though travelling by myself this particular flight was jam packed and getting a seat was very unlikely. While standing at the counter I chanced to glance over to the BA gate and I spotted a BA employee I had met once at a party at the home of a friend in Montreal.

She was frantically waving to me and, pushing my way through the crowded gates, I stood before her position at the counter. She must have been able to lipread my predicament at AC's gate because she offered me a ticket to YYZ, 1st class would you believe?

In those days of mutual cooperation between our two airlines, stand-by was reciprocated in the early 80's. I thanked her most profusely and accepting her offer, I dashed off up the stairs to the gate with ticket in hand, departure times were then close together. I cannot now remember her name but I shall always remember her kindness.

Regards,

Dave Ayton, formerly CAVT-AME YYZ

Terry Baker of The NetLetter team relates his similar experience -

The same happened to me at Mirabel (YMX) when AC to LHR was delayed and the gate agent whispered to me "nip over to British Airways before the revs catch on".

In those days our passes were good on BA. The BA agent gave us a couple of seats and said “Go on board now”.

The joys of travelling with carry-on, no worries about luggage when switching flights.

India Graduating Record Numbers of Female Pilots.

Women now make up about 14% of airline pilots in India, more than twice the world average, and the total is growing at a record pace.

The Directorate General for Civil Aviation reported that 18% (292) of the 1,622 commercial pilots certificated were women and it expects that trend to continue.

That was a jump of 22% over the previous year. “This is the second consecutive year where the number of licenses issued reached a decade high,” the DGCA said in a statement.

It’s still nowhere near enough with India leading airline growth in the world. Its airlines have more than 1,600 aircraft on order, and the country is actively promoting aviation as a career to young people.

Source: AVWeb.com

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

• 1992 -
  • May 23 - Service between Toronto and Berlin commenced.
• 1993 -
  • May 3 - Inaugural of "Lone Star" flight Toronto-Houston with A320 equipment.
  • October 25 - Service Toronto-Halifax-London daylight service launched with B-767.
• 1994 -
  • May 15 - Service Toronto-Vancouver-Seoul commenced with B-747 equipment.

Found in 'Horizons' magazine

Issue dated March 1993

Retiring ways at LAX.

Bill McGee, Customer Service Agent - Los Angeles, shows off his retirement plaque with fellow employees.

From left to right: Customer Service Agents Christine Monette, Audrine Marshall and Bethe Sullivan; John O'Neill, Aircraft Services Coordinator; Bill McGee; Merlyn Milne, Customer Service Agent; Laurice Messih, Lead Customer Service Agent and Berit Vickter, Customer Service Agent. 

When Air Canada's Boeing 767 flight AC840 from Toronto touched down at Manchester airport March 28, 1993 its passengers were among the first through the brand new Terminal Two.

Queen Elizabeth officially opened the new terminal March 5, and the facility opened up to scheduled passenger traffic March 28. Air Canada was among many long-haul airlines which made the switch from Terminal One to the new Terminal Two, says Airport Services Manager Chris Frost. 

In our photo, Airport Services Manager Chris Frost and Customer Service Agent Jan Harradine are among the Air Canada employees who made the move to Manchester's new Terminal Two.

Issue dated May 1993

Air Canada takes off to Mecca.

An Air Canada Boeing 747 aircraft and a 30-member team of pilots, in-flight personnel and maintenance supervisors left Toronto for an assignment to transport Muslim pilgrims between Medan, Indonesia and Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The two-and-a half month contract with Garuda Indonesia will see the Air Canada contingent fly 44 round trips - 10 hours each way - until July 4. They will transport some 10,000 Muslims on their religious pilgrimage. The contract generated $3 to $4 million in revenue for Air Canada.

Issue dated June 1993

YUL Power Plant achieves perfection.

A group of proud employees from Dorval's Power Plant Shop recently achieved 100 per cent serviceability of spares for the JT9D-7.

"This is the first time we have attained this level since the introduction of the B-747 in 1971," says Val Jurkovic, Manager, Power Plant Production - Wide Body & Blades. "It's the result of teamwork between Planning, Engineering, Materials Management, Quality, Support Shops & Production."

The employees shown here are:

Front, left to right: Greg Scoffield, Bert Leffei, Anantha Rao, Maurice Webb, Al Clattenburg, Orazio Cianciusi, Steve Firman, Richard Lefebvre and Frank Kantorik.

Back, left to right: Gerry Fournier, Willy Jone, Jacques Landry, Bob Lenko, Jean-Marc Vandenbrande, Walter Hock, Marian Szczerba, Maurice Dubois, Youssef Shedeed, Manuel Cesar, Lucien Vinersar, René Guérard, Antonio Miguel, Ian Broadley, Ghislain Landy, Sonny Harr and Mario Dellavecchia.

January 1, 1970, a new CP Air/CP Hotels service enabled passengers to move directly from the airport to hotels without handling their luggage - a first for the airline industry.

CP Air passengers (on domestic flights) with reservations at a CP Hotel can have their luggage transported from any departure point to the destination hotel room.

Source: CP Air Newsletter November 1969

From CP Air News - Expo 86

Edition dated June 1985

You're seeing CP Air’s four Expo-painted aircraft all together at Vancouver airport, right? Wrong! You’re seeing four separate airplane photos that were merged by an electronic retouching process utilizing a computer.

CP Air needed such a photo to dramatically portray what the airline has done to promote Expo. However, it was simply not possible to pull the four aircraft out of their cycles to put them in one place for the photographer. So high technology was called to the rescue. It’s expected that Expo will utilize the photo extensively in its worldwide promotion.

CP Air's Pionairs held their seventh annual reunion luncheon May 15 in Richmond. They now number 1,056, of whom 875 live in B.C., 120 elsewhere in Canada, 15 in the continental U.S., 11 in Hawaii and 35 in 16 other countries.

Singled out for special mention during the luncheon was Harry Beardsell, who is stepping down as treasurer after serving in the post since 1978. Ernie Watson has been appointed to replace him.

The Pionairs announced that they will again operate the Vancouver employees Charitable Donations Campaign this year. Last year's campaign raised $157,000, of which $11,000 was contributed by Pionairs

Meeting the President... from left, Fred Fisk, chairman of the Pionairs executive committee, who was manager, Vacation Sales Development, when he retired in 1976; President Don Carty; Reid Moir, public relations manager, Western Canada, retired 1983; and Al Bingham, assistant vice-president, supplies and services, retired 1984.

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.

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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Specials on Riviera Maya.

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Viva Maya by Wyndham Playa del Carmen.
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Adventures in Antigua. Jolly Beach Antigua Bolands.
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St James Club Antigua.
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The Verandah Antigua Willikies,
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Cruises.

February 2, 2024. 10 night Galapagos
Celebrity Flora Quito Round-Trip.
Suite from $5,000 USD

March 3, 2024. 7 night Caribbean.
Nieuw Statendam. Fort Lauderdale Round-Trip.
Balcony from $486 USD

May 15, 2024. 14 night Mediterranean.
Seven Seas Voyager. Piraeus to Valletta.
Balcony from $3,500 USD

July 1, 2024. 10 night Alaska.
Queen Elizabeth. Vancouver Round-Trip.
Balcony from $1,119 USD

Our cartoon, by Dave Mathias, is from the 'Between Ourselves' magazine issue May 1966.