Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

 

2003, Canadian Elite Operation.

Air Canada has unveiled plans to launch yet another offshoot, this time in the business sector. The airline says the operation, dubbed 'Elite' wiII offer an exclusive class of service with a fleet of Airbus A319's configured with only 40 seats, rather than the typical average 124 seats in the type from mid 2003.

 

Operations will begin with just two or three aircraft serving key runs like Toronto - Vancouver, although subject to the initial success of the venture, up to ten aircraft could be introduced by 2005 and international services launched.

Elite is the fifth new subsidiary of Air Canada, following Jazz,  Jetz, Tango, and Zip.

 

Editors' Note: 'Elite' never did become an official brand of its own, instead evolving into a customer loyalty product.

 

Today it is referred to as  Aeroplan Elite Status. 

 

August 1998 - Bill Norberg sent us this memory -

The arrival of our first B-747 was a major event in the early spring of 1971.

 

We in Maintenance had been preparing for its arrival for a long time and felt we knew quite a bit about them. However when you come face to face with the first B-747 you will be responsible for maintaining you feel a little humbled. It was a huge aircraft and so much was to depend on its performance and reliability. We had no practical back up for a B-747 flight at that time.

 

The aircraft arrived at Gate 22 of the Dorval terminal after its delivery flight. We moved it to our new B-747 sized hangar for training and modifications. We tended to treat the aircraft like fine china as no one wanted the unenviable reputation of having "dinged" our first B-747.

 

We had two bays in the new hangar at Dorval and one was completed in time to accept this first B-747. As the construction work had just been completed on this bay we wanted to be sure there were no tools, pieces of construction material or other foreign objects that could fall off the beams and walkways in the ceiling area of the hangar and hit the aircraft below. We had our facilities people check all these areas the day before and felt comfortable that all was well.

 

The aircraft was finally placed in the hangar. Not long after a construction worker's safety helmet was to fall directly on the top of the B-747 damaging the SATcom antenna, for which we had no spare as it was not in use at that time.

 

We recovered the helmet but were never able to identify its owner. No doubt a worker from the unfinished bay was curious and came across the walkway to have a look at this marvellous new huge aircraft.

There is an old saying..."If it can happen....it usually does".

 

We eventually were to become good friends with the B-747's and realized that the sky did not fall if we had a technical problem with one of them. We just had to take it on as we did with every other aircraft. As I remember it we had 38 days of the operation on the Miami flight before we had our first maintenance delay.

 

The honeymoon was over.

 

Bill Norberg.

 

 

Photo by Garth Pritchard - Montreal Gazette

 

The Canadian Aviation Historical Society is pleased to invite you to our annual convention in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Wednesday, June 19 to Saturday, June 22, 2024, held in partnership with the RCAF History and Heritage in recognition of the RCAF's 100th anniversary.

 

Full details at:

 

Central Ontario Pionairs announce their upcoming Members Appreciation Luncheon on Wednesday,  May 29, 2024, at the Mandarin Flagship location in Brampton.

 

The cost per member is $15 with the balance subsidized by the Ontario District in appreciation for the continued support of their members.

 

Further details can be found in the April edition of the Pionairs Ontario District Newsletter.

Pionairs President, Larry Johns, sent in the following report on their AGM held May 2 in Winnipeg -

 

Once again the event was a success with 125 people from across the country and even from the UK, joined by an online contingent of about 35 to engage with guest speakers from Air Canada, Manulife and Johnson Insurance.

 

The conference provided an opportunity to ask general questions, and visit the information desks to ask more personal questions as well.

 

Of course, the conference also presents a chance to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. As the survey in April highlighted, Pionairs really enjoy opportunities to meet face to face, see the photos below!

Save the date for the Annual Fall Information Session in Edmonton, Alberta on October 2, 2024.

 

See you there!

 

For more info on the Pionairs visit: Pionairs.ca

 

We have welcomed 46 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 and select 'NetLetter 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!

 

From the 'Horizons' magazine.

 

Issue dated August 1993.

 

Cartoon by P. Avis