Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

1942 - May 1st - Inauguration of service between Moncton, N.B., Sydney, N.S. and St. John's, Newfoundland.

(Source TCA Annual report 1942)

Aboard the inaugural Montreal-Paris service with North Star equipment on April 1st, 1951 were two five year old beavers on their way to the Vincennes Zoo in Paris, a gift from the Canadian Government to mark the beginning of the new service.

(source The Val d'Or Star April 27th, 1951).

Dug out of the "Horizons" magazine issue dated August 1981.

Inauguration of the "Sun Charter" flights, on November 1st 1981, one of the most extensive charter programs ever undertaken by the company. The program is being operated by Touram Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Canada.

Dangerous Goods handling workshop.

The workshop was held in Montreal. 

Shown at the Montreal meeting of instructors are, seated from the left: Jean-Luc Paiemont, Montreal; Wally Pacholka; Tom Bryce, Cargo Service Specialist, Montreal; chairman Ed Bownes; Roger Beaudry, Training Program Manager and co-chairman of the meeting; Tony Manzo and Keith Rhodes.

Standing second row from the left: P. Forget, Flight Operations Instructor, Montreal; Tom Thususka, Toronto; Marjorie Robertson, Chicago; Doug Owen; Jim Tinson, Vancouver; Bob Bruce, New York; R. Roberts, Halifax; Tim Illing and Gord Bair.

Standing back row from the left: Mike Meakin, Vancouver; Jean Duguay; Dudley Morgan, New York; Steve Kamburis and Albers, Toronto; Reynald Gagne, Montreal; Wally Beaton, Toronto; Doug Gallupe, Halifax and Chuck Taylor, Toronto.

Missing from the photo are: Ron Clark, Flight Operations Safety; Suzanne Dassault, Montreal Instructor; Walter Moran, Regional Safety Manager, Montreal; Sean Goggin, Joe Stewart and Don Sinclair.

Paris-based employees had a chance to meet with Pierre Jeanniot, Executive V.P. and C.A.O, when he attended the Paris Air Show.

During the visit, accompanied by David Bryce-Buchanan, V.P., European Region, Jeanniot dropped into the district offices at rue Falguire where he presented service anniversary pins to 14 employees.

Just as wines have good years, 1961, 1966 and 1971 were very good years for Air Canada's operations in France as 14 employees who joined the company in those years proved when they received their service pins.

In the photo from the left: Pierre Paquin, General Manager, France and Western Europe; Jacqueline Desaulniers, Financial Manager, 20 years; Jean Munoz, Sales Representative, 20 years; Christiane Maliet-Benar, Passenger Agent, 15 years; Alain Pelle, Sales Representative, 15 years; Martine Benchetrit, Secretary, Public Affairs, 20 years; Nicole Maurin, Cargo Agent, 15 years; Michel Plazanet, City Ticket Office, Supervisor; 15 years; Celia Blandin, Secretary, Personnel, 15 years; David Bryce-Buchanan; Jacques Gras, Manager, North Africa, 20 years; Colette Zani, Reservations Supervisor, 20 years; Josette Decottignies, Passenger Agent, 10 years; Michel Schott, Sales Manager, Lyon; 15 years; and Pierre Jeanniot;

Missing from the photo are Jean Rousse, Sales Representative, 15 years and Jacky Leroy, Warehouseman, 10 years.

A Montreal team of six well-seasoned cyclists undertook a Hungarian Odyssey.

Crossing the Austro-Hungarian border, their 500 kilometer ten-day tour took them through the Danube Valley, passing through the ancient towns of Sporon, Gyor, Esztergom and Visegrad to Budapest.

Due to the complexities of the trip and to meet the objective of having fun, each member of the team was assigned a task. Senior Data Base Designer Michel Moreau was appointed navigator while Marcel Gelinas of CP Air Sales became the menu consultant.

Volker Stadelmaier, Program Manager, Onboard Sales, In-Flight Service wore the public relations hat, while Walter Joly, System Flight Crew Sked. Analyst, was named bicycle engineer. In charge of music was Telecommunications Agent John Ryan, while photography responsibilities fell to Stephen Ryan, First Officer. The six intrepid cyclists found that Hungary was very different from its central European neighbours in both language and culture.

Undaunted by language they used their own particular "lingua franca" to absorb some of the country's history and quite a lot of wine.

The cyclists shown from the left are: Michel Moreau, Marcel Gelinas, Volker Stadelmaier, Walter Joly, John Ryan and Stephen Ryan.

Extracted from the "New Horizons" magazine issue dated September 2004. (used with permission).

Air Canada emerged from CCAA protection on September 30, 2004 after 18 months restructuring.

During September 2004, Fly City Pass was launched. The pass is structured along the same lines as the Latitude Pass. While the Latitude Pass is specific to the eastern and western triangles, the Fly City Pass allows customers to buy packages of tickets for flights between certain cities in Canada and the U.S.

September 29, 2004 marked the 10th anniversary of the arrival of the Canadair Regional Jet in the mainline operation. In 1994, Air Canada took delivery of the first CRJ in the CL65-100 series. 

Four were delivered in 1994, 13 the following year, seven in 1996, and two more in January, 1997. Jazz has operated CRJs in the CL65-200 series since May, 2002.