We have welcomed 129 new subscribers so far in 2021.

We wish to thank everyone for your 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, 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!

CFB Borden Air Show set to return.

After being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Armed Forces Day and Air Show at CFB Borden, near Barrie, Ontario, will make its return.

CFB Borden has confirmed that its Canadian Armed Forces Day and Air Show will take place on June 11 and June 12, 2022.

Sources:

Borden Citizen

CTV News Barrie

Subscribers Monika and Wayne Hilson contacted us to advise that Eva Mossop celebrated her 100th birthday.

Ms. Mossop is seen in the photo below (2nd from right) taken at YVR with a group from the Canadian Maple Wings Association.

Thanks to Shirlee Schacter for sending us this photo of The NetLetter founder, Vesta Stevenson, with legendary Air Canada CEO, Claude Taylor.

The photo was taken during the Pionairs AGM at San Francisco in 1992. 

In NetLetter #1444 we published details of the commemorative stamps issued by the East Canada Section of the Ninety-Nines in order to celebrate Canadian women pilots representing various flying careers. 

Please note that these stamps cannot be purchased at Canada Postal outlets but are available at www.canadian99s.com/stamps.

Lorna Vivian deBlicquy,  first Canadian female civil aviation inspector. 

Designed by Suzanne Wiltshire, the stamp shows Lorna Bray’s childhood interest in airplanes, and her later acting upon that early interest as a teenager.

The stamp was introduced on October 19, 2011, the 65th anniversary of the date Lorna first experienced the exhilaration of flying. At age 14 Lorna was strongly committed to learning to fly. With her parachute jump with the Ottawa Parachute Club in 1947, the 15-year-old teen became the youngest Canadian to skydive. 

When Lorna earned her private pilot license on September 14, 1948 at age 16, there were few career opportunities for female pilots.

Completing her Commercial License in 1952 and a BA in 1953, her first career was high school teaching. A flight instructor in her spare time, she confirmed her passion for flying and soon moved to aviation as her full-time career.

For more info on the career of Ms. deBlicquy see:

canadian99s.com/lorna-deblicquy-2

and

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorna_deBlicquy

 Air Canada Resumes Multiple Routes.

Air Canada resumed various routes recently, including Calgary to Frankfurt (August 1st); Toronto-Dublin (August 1st); Montreal-Tel Aviv (August 1st); Toronto-Zurich (August 3rd); and Montreal-London Heathrow (August 3rd). 

Celebrating the return of Air Canada was Frankfurt Airport. This summer, the Canadian airline has the third-highest number of long-haul seats from Frankfurt of any non-German carrier, behind only United Airlines and Emirates. Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary are served, with Calgary currently three-weekly, rising to four-weekly in September and once-daily in November.

Source: SimpleFlying.com

Passengers using Star Alliance Biometrics platform enroll only once.

Passengers then can pass through biometrically enabled touchpoints across multiple member airlines and participating airports using just their face as their boarding pass.

This speeds up the passage through the airport while making each step completely touchless, supporting important health and hygiene safety measures in times of COVID-19 and delivering on Star Alliance's vision of a seamless customer experience.

Source: www.staralliance.com/en/biometrics

We're flying towards a greener future. Our member airline Swiss International Air Lines reached a major milestone with the arrival of 'Davos', the 30th Airbus A220 in their fleet.

Davos releases less CO2 than other planes and is much quieter on board.

Source: www.facebook.com/staralliance/posts

All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan's largest and 5-Star airline for eight consecutive years, will begin using Face Express - an innovative facial recognition technology - to improve the customer experience and streamline the boarding process starting from July 19, 2021.

Part of ANA's initiative to offer additional contactless services, the new check-in procedure will be introduced on international flights departing from Narita International Airport.

Source: www.anahd.co.jp

Larry Milberry has put together a blog named 'The Great Lockheed Twins'. Click Here to open the blog. 

We have, with permission from Larry, some of the photos and story of those aircraft which ended up at Trans-Canada Air Lines. We will present these over several upcoming issues of The NetLetter.

Source: via Larry Milberry www.canavbooks.wordpress.com

Excerpt from Larry's blog:

A famous old Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) Lockheed 14H-2 was CF-TCN, which had begun its Canadian career in May 1939. However, with its new fleet of DC-3's serving Canada so well postwar, in 1947 "TCN" was sold to Montreal Air Service. In May 1951 it moved to Winnipeg for Central Northern Airways, then joined Argosy Oil and Gas of Calgary in 1956.

Through the 1950's such Lockheeds were favored by Canadian oil companies. While a DC-3 offered a more comfortable VIP cabin, the Lockheeds had speed, so could reach their business destinations across Canada in Toronto, south to Texas, etc. much faster.

I was quite excited when spotting "TCN" at Malton on November 25, Commander Aviation of Toronto had acquired it, so the freshly-painted "TransAir" colours were baffling. Others had title to "TCN" until in 1964 it finally went to Execaire of Montreal, an upstart corporate charter company. I've heard that "TCN" was Execaire's first aircraft.

The company gradually grew into Canada's premier bizjet charter operation. Today it operates a fleet of Challengers and Globals.

Does Execaire remember its humble beginning with a beautiful little 1939 Lockheed 14? I took the photo above on the Airport Road side of Malton on the Sanderson Aircraft lot. Across the field (and across Runway 28- 10) you can see one of the old wartime hangars, which by this time mainly were occupied by corporate DC-3's, Lockheeds, Doves, Beech 18's, etc.

Editors' Note: CF-TCN was delivered to TCA on May 25, 1939 and assigned fin #36 and sold to Montreal Air Service on April 21, 1947 after accumulating 17,178 hours.

Execaire is now part of the Innotech/Execaire Group.

Source: Air Canada "A pocket guide" by Frank Pooley.

Found in the 'Between Ourselves' magazine.

Are you there?

Traffic ground to a screeching halt along Montreal's fashionable Sherbrooke Street as the photographer assembled the above group of 170 graduating stewardesses for a "class photo".

The girls are members of the largest group of trainees ever assembled by the Company.

Found in 'Horizons' magazine

Flap repair.

When fin 211 (C-FFWN, c/n 054) took off from Dorval on October 27, 1992, the pilot reported some slight vibrations. In fact, it was the main landing gear tire tread which had failed during the take-off roll and damaged the right hand inboard flap. The A320 landed safely in Vancouver but without a new flap, it was stranded.

Materials Management managed to secure a spare flap from a U.S. company within 24 hours, but they realized it was only a temporary solution. The options were to repair the flap or purchase a new one.They chose the repair route as the less expensive option. This group was instrumental in ensuring the A320 flap work was completed on time.

From left to right, front row, are: Yvon Comtois, Jean-Louis Hélie, Reggie Bowes, Jim Gelsthorpe, Bev Teague, Judy McKay, Diane Dryburgh, René d'Heilly, Angelo Rei, Normand David, Peter Ciarma, Gaspard Granata and Keith Routledge.

Back row: Bill Gibson, Bob Purcell, Yves Renaud, Rick Schofield, Raymond Lalande, David Tuff, Bert Walser, Max Eichner, Mike Kandiliotis, Wayne Pilling, Ross McDermott and Mohamed Benchabla.

Missing from the photo were: Bridget Gonsalves, Jacques Laberge. Mike Hawraniak, Brian Griffiths and Gerry Deshaies.

Photo by Brian Losito.

Bye, bye RB211.

Employees from Dorval's Power Plant Shop bid farewell to the last Rolls-Royce RB211 engine overhauled by Air Canada.

"This ends a long relationship with Rolls-Royce, which dates back to 1943 when our converted Lancasters were equipped with Merlin engines," says Val Jurkovic, Manager, Power Plant Production. 

Christmas in Frankfurt.

Frankfurt's Cargo Handling department and some former colleagues gathered together for the annual ACRA Christmas party.

Smiling for the camera were, back row, left to right: Mike Barker, Cargo Agent; Konrad Bossdorf, Cargo Sales and Service Manager; Cargo Agents Mattia Tauchert and Michael Weimer;
Eckhard Hausch; Uwe Pochert and Alexandra Bieser.

Front row, kneeling: Michael Munster; Miguel Blaufuks; Ludwig Hamburger, Senior Cargo Agent and Thomas Hock, Cargo Agent.

Captain Lamb's last flight.

Saying goodbye doesn't come easy after almost 40 years of service, but Toronto B-747 Captain Jim Lamb takes it all in stride.

Wishing him well are, front row, left to right: Dave Britt, Flight Service Director; Flight Attendants Diane Champagne and Claude St-Jean.

Back row, left to right: Flight Attendants Diane Pominville and Jerome Bélanger; Neil Dunn, Second Officer; Suzanne Proulx, Flight Attendant; Jim Lamb; Michelle Brunelle, Flight Attendant; Glenn Adams, First Officer; Flight Attendants Sylvia Hamilton, Anne Cosgrove and Héléne Monday-Lafontaine.

From 'Canadian Pacific Airlines' newsletter.

Hundreds of people thronged Windsor airport April 28, 1964, when two DC-8's (one to, the other from Mexico) inaugurated the first jet service for the Ontario city.

For the record, crews were: On Flight 581: Captain Jim Black, First Officer Neil Carey, Second Officer Jack Forgie, Purser Fred Sittman, Steward Peter Meijer and stewardesses Monique Cote, Lise St. Gelais and Estelle Prejet.

On Flight 582: Captain Harvey Johnson, First Officer Doug Ireland, Second Officer Tom Gale, Purser Wim Vanstiphout and stewardesses Nina Youngman, Christa Ehlert and Roslyn Pugsley.

Editors' Note: Photo not available.

Busy lines were these training telephones at Vancouver training department when this Orient and Latin America group spent a week on a customer service course. This was the second of three groups who received training.

Front row, from left: Becha Jiminez, Lima CTO; Monica Sievers, Santiago CTO; Mrs. Winnie Yue, Hong Kong CTO.

Back row: Yoichiro Kuhara, Tokyo CTO; Francisco Vargas, Mexico CTO; Alfredo Vega, Mexico sales rep.; Salvador Ramos, Mexico CTO-traffic; Melquiades Velasco, Mexico airport.

Bright red jackets of CPA women and blue blazers of men stood out at a gathering of the Los Angeles Interline Club.

Representing the company at an event jointly sponsored by CPA and Varig (with South American tickets as prize), were, from left: DSM Grant Williams, Rosemary Zezza, Lilian Payne, Doris Tivald and Paul McWaters.

Winnipeg terminal opens.

Station manager George Heinmiller and his staff of 10 traffic and maintenance people made an overnight move and were ready for business first thing November 12, 1963 when Winnipeg's new $18 million dollar terminal opened.

Highlight of the building is the vast, airy waiting room on the mezzanine floor above the airline counters, baggage carousels, etc. It has contemporary furnishings and 35,000 feet of illuminated ceiling containing 8,000 fluorescent tubes.

There are roomettes for transient passengers, cocktail lounge, dining room and coffee shop, a nursery, VIP suite and interview room.

One of the first flights. into the new Winnipeg terminal was, appropriately, CPA's Flight #1 by DC-8 'Empress of Winnipeg'.

Captain Jim Forbes was welcomed by Airport Manager J. E. Smyth.

Editor's Note from Ken Pickford: The 1963 terminal mentioned in the above item, expanded in 1984, was closed and later demolished following opening of the current Winnipeg terminal in October 2011.

Recognition of 15 years with CPA was given six employees at the second annual service award dinner and dance at Vancouver on November 8, 1963.

From left to right: Gerry Robertson, maintenance mechanic; Britannia Captain Jack Wells, Executive Vice-President
J. C. Gilmer, who made the presentations, Miss Elsie Muren, maintenance department; Tom Kelly, upholstery shop; Norval Norton, legal department and DC-8 second officer Alf Bicknell.

Some 500 people attended the event.

Receiving 10-year service pins were H. Yoshida, chief accountant, Tokyo and Miss June Sato, passenger agent, Tokyo.

Making presentations were Japan sales manager Bob Connor, left, and Far East regional manager Ed Ogden, right.

The Great British Airliners

This interesting 41 minute documentary is about the story of British aviation.  It follows the clip of the Bristol Brabazon and Vickers Viscount.

It is taken from the BBC documentary 'When Britain Ruled the Skies'.

Toronto-based Porter Airlines has placed a firm order for 30 Embraer E195-E2 passenger jets with options for an additional 50 aircraft.

Porter, the North American launch customer for the E195-E2, is expected to begin taking deliveries in the second half of 2022. The deal is worth an estimated $5.82 billion.

“With this order for up to 80 of our largest aircraft, the E2 is making a stunning North American debut,” said Embraer Commercial Aviation CEO Arjan Meijer. “As the quietest and most fuel-efficient aircraft in the segment, the E195-E2 also delivers excellent economic performance that shines through.”

Source:

avweb.com/aviation-news/embraer-secures-80-aircraft-deal

COVID-19 during 2020/1 was not a good period for airlines.

Here is information on some of those failures –

Air Italy was forced to suspend operations after its Italian co-owners pulled the plug on further funding and Taiwan’s Far Eastern Air Transport - which had abruptly ceased operations in
December 2020 only to rescind the closure notice within days - had its operating licence revoked.

The most high profile pre-crisis failure was UK regional carrier Flybe, which lost its long battle for survival in early March 2020. Another tipping point for Flybe appeared to be the UK government resisting appeals to directly bail out the carrier.

The plug was pulled on the likes of AirAsia Japan, Cathay Dragon, NokScoot, LATAM Airlines Argentina, Level Europe, SunExpress Germany and Tigerair Australia during 2020, as their shareholder airlines focused on dealing with challenges to the core business.

In the USA, the pain was predominantly felt by regional operators – mostly the impact of consolidation in feeder flights for the majors. Trans States Holdings operators Compass Air and Trans States Airlines were the first to go in April, followed at the end of September 2020 by ExpressJet Airlines after United Airlines consolidated Embraer ERJ-145 feeder flights around CommutAir.
The year closed with Montenegro Airlines ceasing all operations from 26 December, attributing the decision to the refusal of the country’s government to continue supporting the carrier.

Start-up moves.

In December 2020 Canadian airline OWG carried out its inaugural scheduled revenue flight, from Toronto’s Pearson International airport to Santa Clara Abel Santamaria airport in Cuba. The airline is a project of Canadian passenger and freight charter carrier Nolinor Aviation. China Eastern Airlines subsidiary OTT Airlines carried out its maiden flight on 28 December, 2020.

A new South African start-up Lift Airlines also carried out its first flight in December 2020.

One of the first new operations to launch in 2020 after the pandemic struck was the Abu Dhabi joint venture carrier between Air Arabia and Etihad Airways. The carrier, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, started operations in July 2020 on routes to Egypt.

European low-cost carrier Wizz Air had hoped to launch flights during 2020 with its own Abu Dhabi operation, a joint venture with Abu Dhabi state holding company ADQ. However, the launch was pushed back. The carrier operated its first flight on January 15, 2021.

South Korean start-up Aero K - which has been in the works for several years - took a step towards getting airborne when it was granted its operating licence in late December 2020.

Also in December, 2020, Brazilian start-up Voe Nella disclosed plans to launch passenger and cargo flights by the end of the first quarter 2021 with ATR and Boeing aircraft.

Plans for a new Ukraine carrier called Bees Airline emerged in November 2020, when Swiss Aviation Software disclosed its AMOS package’s selection by the start-up to manage maintenance processes.

Hong Kong start-up, Greater Bay Airlines, moved closer to launch with the South China Morning Post reporting in late December 2020, that the carrier has recruited Cathay Dragon’s departing chief Algernon Yau to head the airline.

In December ‘Flyr’ was revealed as the brand name for the new Norwegian airline which aims to commence services in the first half of 2021.

Original source: flightglobal.com

Pratt & Whitney Boeing 747SP 

I first wrote about my fascination with the Boeing 747SP (Special Performance) in my article on 'SOFIA' for NetLetter #1430. 

While looking to see how many of this type are still in service, I was surprised to see that two of them are actually registered in Canada with Pratt & Whitney Canada of Longueil, Quebec. Both aircraft serve as test beds for new engines.

C-FPAW (pictured in this edition's header) was delivered to the Civil Aviation Administration of China in September 1980 (US registration N1304E) and later began its career in passenger service with Air China (registration B-2452) in July 1988 (pictured below).  

It has been with Pratt & Whitney since June 2009.

Photo by Aero Icarus @ commons.wikimedia.org

C-GTFF was first delivered to Korean Airlines in March 1981 under registration HL7457. It was returned to the Boeing Aircraft Holding Company in October 1998.

It has been with Pratt & Whitney since December 2010. 

Click the image below to view the YouTube video, by videographer Mark Brandon, of C-GTFF landing in Mirabel (YMX).

Additional information:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747SP

B-747SP website - www.747sp.com

Pratt & Whitney flleet - 
www.planespotters.net/airline/Pratt-Whitney-Engine-Services

Terry Baker, co-founder of the NetLetter scours the internet for aviation related Trivia and Travel Tips for you, our readers, to peruse.

Answer for the mystery airline in 'Odds and Ends'.

We are SunExpress. Uniting people, countries and cultures for more than 30 years

It’s all hidden in our name. Founded as a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines in 1989, we are a true sun specialist and offer numerous direct connections between Europe and Turkey.

Besides flying our guests to many idyllic holiday destinations in Turkey, we reconnect them with their families and loved ones with our direct flights from Europe to many Anatolian cities.

Source: sunexpress.com

Photo by Eric Salard @ commons.wikimedia.org

Pratt & Whitney Canada Developing Hybrid Electric Power.

Pratt & Whitney Canada will partner with De Havilland Canada to develop a hybrid-electric propulsion system for regional airliners. The government of Canada has invested about $130 million USD in the project, which will involve De Havilland modifying a legacy Dash-8-100 turboprop regional airliner for the hybrid system.

A turbine engine will be mounted in the fuselage to generate power for electric motors on modified nacelles on the wings. P&WC says the system should use about 30 percent less fuel with a corresponding drop in carbon emissions. The aircraft will be ready for ground testing in the next year and should fly in 2024.

Source:
www.avweb.com/aviation-news

Our cartoon is by F.G. Freeland and appeared in the 'Between Ourselves' magazine issued January 1956, with the caption: "You heard what he said - one full fare and two halves."