Jumbo Stay Hotel Revisited
We had a reference to this 747 Hotel in Sweden in a previous NetLetter issue, but I found some additional information about it with some great photos that I thought you may enjoy.
If you’ve endlessly tried to sleep on a plane to no avail, now is your chance to finally catch some zzz's aboard a Boeing 747. The Jumbo Stay, a jet that’s been parked at the Stockholm-Arlanda Airport since 2009, welcomes guests to spend the night. Price ranges from $66 CAD/night (four-bed dorm) to around $280 CAD for a "Double Bed Ensuite Cockpit" (or Black Box Suite). I thought the "Engine Rooms" were very unique! See their website at www.jumbostay.com
The plane, which was an active Boeing 747-212B once owned by Transjet Airways that entered service in 1976, has been given a modern makeover. The jumbo hotel, which can house up to 76 guests, features 27 rooms, including a luxury suite in the plane’s cockpit, as well as accommodations inside the plane’s engines.
You can view the complete article at The Travel www.thetravel.com/sleep-vintage-jumbo-jet-hotel-stockholm-arlanda-airport/
Boeing 737-200 – Still flying high
As the worldwide fleets of Boeing 737-200’s decreases, one Canadian operator, Nolinor Aviation of Montreal, is in the process of upgrading its fleet of the 40-year-old aircraft with modern cockpit avionics and glass displays.
Nolinor operates passenger and cargo services to the far north of Canada where there are still gravel runways that newer aircraft are not approved for.
Since the Boeing 737-200 is approved for gravel runways and the Nolinor fleet is relatively young (in cycles), the fleet of seven current and three to be acquired may continue to be of service for several more years. The total of ten aircraft will give Nolinor the largest fleet operated by an airline still using any of the 77 remaining active in the world (there were 900 in service in 1998). 
I found only one of the current fleet to have a CP Air/Air Canada connection. Registration C-FACP was first delivered to Maersk Air in December 1979 and was first registered in Canada as C-GQBA in March of 1982 and flew for Quebecair.
After leaving Canada briefly, it returned as part of the CP Air fleet as C-FACP and later flew for Canadian, Air Canada, Zip, Canadian North and First Air.
It was withdrawn from service in July 2016 before it was re-registered as C-GNLA and entered the Nolinair fleet in September 2016 and is still active at the age of 38 years.
Sources and references:
YouTube video below of C-FACP in First Air livery at Inuvik Airport
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As mentioned in NetLetter #1393, the Pacific Western Airlines 2018 - Picnic/Reunion was due, and did, take place on August 12, 2018. By all accounts, this memorable event was an overwhelming success. Kudos and thanks to Gale and all the organizers - volunteers who made this happen. Thanks to Neville Gosling and Gale Brisseau for the photos which have been posted on www.pwareunion.com Canadian Pacific Air Lines became the first Commonwealth airline to use the new Arctic route and the first company to provide direct service between Europe and Canada's west coast. Inaugurated in June 1955, initially on a weekly frequency, the service operates between Vancouver and Amsterdam via Greenland (westbound) and Manitoba (eastbound). Since it represented an expansion of C.P.A.'s existing route from Vancouver to Sydney, the introduction of this service enabled C.P.A. to claim yet another "first"; some of the passengers on the inaugural flight were "the first to have flown in one journey over the International Date Line, the Equator and the Arctic Circle." Among those aboard was C.P.A.'s president, Mr. Grant McConachie, who showed interest in both Comet 4 and Britannia as potential replacements for the DC-6B's, which serve Latin America, Hong Kong and Tokyo as well as the points named above. The company also operated medium and short stages in Canada using Convairs, DC-3's and a number of smaller aircraft, D.H. Otters being among the latest additions. (Source: Flight International archives 1955 page 208) |
 Here is the former PWA aircraft C-GEPW B737-275 in interim Canadian colours 1986. |
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(Source: Canadian Airlines photos) |
Air Canada was affirmed as North America’s Only Four-Star, Full Service International Carrier by the Independent Research Firm Skytrax.
Full article at Canadian Aviation News.
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The latest from Larry Milberry, publisher at CANVAN Books - Here's the preliminary info about CANAV’s forthcoming aviation title “Fighter Pilots and Observers”. I’ll start shipping in 2 weeks. Also, the info about a new Northern Ontario bush flying book and CANAV’s main general book lists. Keep building up your library; it’ll help keep the internet from turning your brains to mush! |
 Details on Volume 8 of "Aviation in Canada". |
| Summer book list. |
| True Stories from the Great White North and Beyond. |
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With interests from both Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways, the airway held enough sway in Ottawa to allow their four Boeing C-204 Thunderbirds to land in the Inner Harbour and moor at a wharf in front of the Legislature or the James Bay Athletic Association’s wharf from July through September of 1931. (Source: www.victoriaharbourhistory.com) |
