Nationair Canada
| Nationair Canada | |
|---|---|
|
|
| IATA code : | NX |
| ICAO code : | NXA |
| Call sign : | NATION AIRWAYS |
| Founding: | 1984 |
| Operation stopped: | 1993 |
| Seat: |
Montreal , Quebec , Canada
|
| Home airport : | Montréal-Mirabel Airport |
| Management: | Robert Obadia |
| Number of employees: | 1,300 (March 1993) |
| Fleet size: | 15 (March 1993) |
| Aims: | North America, Caribbean, Europe |
| Nationair Canada ceased operations in 1993. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation. | |
Nationair Canada (abbreviated to Nationair from 1990 onwards ) was a Canadian airline that mainly operated charter flights. In addition, the company operated two scheduled flight routes to Europe and also used its wet-leased aircraft for other airlines.
history
On January 14, 1980, Robert Obadia, who had previously headed Quebecair 's charter flight division as Vice President , founded Nolisair International , based in Montréal-Mirabel . The company planned as a charter airline did not initially receive an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the Canadian Ministry of Transport . A corresponding official operating license was only issued in September 1983 as a result of the initiated deregulation of Canadian air traffic. Robert Obadia then converted Nolisair International Inc. into a holding company in 1984 and transferred the AOC to its newly founded subsidiary Nationair Canada , in which he held half.
Nationair Canada , based at Montréal-Mirabel Airport , began operations on December 19, 1984 with two Douglas DC-8-61 leased from Japan Air Lines . In the first financial year, the company regularly flew to 16 destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean in IT charter traffic . The company carried out its first transatlantic charter flights to Great Britain , France and Portugal in the summer of 1985. On May 28, 1985, Robert Obadia founded Aviation Technair , another subsidiary of the Nolisair International holding company , which took over the maintenance of Nationair's machines . In the spring of 1986, the competitor Quebecair withdrew from the charter market, whereby Nationair was able to secure additional orders. At that time the company operated five Douglas DC-8 machines and employed 250 people.
In addition to the charter flight operations, Nationair opened a line between Montreal and Brussels on May 3, 1987 , on which it competed against the established airlines at very low prices. A year later, scheduled services between Hamilton and London-Gatwick began . From June 1988, the company used two Douglas DC-8s in wet lease for the Spanish airline Hispania within Europe. In the following year, a similar leasing contract was signed with the French Union de Transports Aériens . With the commissioning of used Boeing 747s and the takeover of the charter airline Odyssey International together with its leased Boeing 757s , the company increased its fleet considerably from spring 1990. At the same time, the older Douglas DC-8s were being phased out. Thanks to its rapid expansion, Nationair became the third largest Canadian airline.
The crash of a fully occupied Douglas DC-8 on July 11, 1991 in Jeddah led to the company's economic decline. Frequent delays and technical flight cancellations increased the negative impression in the public and resulted in several tour operators not extending their charter contracts. On November 19, 1991, the flight attendants went on an indefinite strike to enforce better working conditions. The management then locked out all unionized flight attendants. At the end of the 16-month labor dispute in the course of which the scheduled flights to London-Gatwick were suspended, the company's financial situation had deteriorated considerably. In order to compensate for the decline in the charter business, Nationair offered very affordable scheduled flights from Montreal and Toronto to Ottawa from February 1, 1993 . At the same time, a new line connection between Ottawa and Brussels was set up.
The setting of the operations took place on 22 March 1993 after the company due landing fees and taxes of 60 million CAD could not pay. The liabilities of Nationair amounted at that time to a total of 87.6 million CAD or approximately US $ 70 million. Its largest private creditor was the US aircraft leasing company ILFC , which claimed outstanding outstanding amounts of $ 8.8 million. On March 31, 1993 bankruptcy proceedings were initiated. The company went bankrupt on May 12, 1993.
Incidents
- On August 7, 1990, two came engines of a Boeing 747 on fire while the pilot the machine after landing in London-Gatwick with the thrust reverser abbremsten. All 459 inmates survived the incident, some of them sustained minor injuries during the evacuation. The rapid intervention of the airport fire brigade prevented the fire from spreading to other areas of the aircraft.
- On July 11, 1991, a Douglas DC-8-61 ( registration number : C-GMXQ) crashed near Jeddah Airport in Saudi Arabia . The plane leased from Nigeria Airways was on Flight 2120 to bring Mecca pilgrims back to Sokoto , Nigeria . At the start in Jeddah, two tires on the left main landing gear burst and caught fire. After retracting the landing gear, the fire spread in the hull of the machine and destroyed the hydraulic lines . The pilots tried to turn back to Jeddah and reported problems with the controls. The aircraft crashed at 8:38 a.m. local time about three kilometers south of central runway 34 at a speed of 440 kilometers per hour and exploded on impact. All 261 occupants, including 14 Canadian crew members, were killed in the accident.
fleet
Nationair Canada has operated the following aircraft throughout its history:
At the time of the cessation of operations, the fleet consisted of six Boeing 747-200s and nine Boeing 757-200s.
See also
Web links
- Data about the airline Nationair Canada in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
- Nationair Canada airline photos on Airliners.net
- Reminder page of a Nationair Canada employee on the occasion of the accident in Jeddah
Individual evidence
- ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 93/94
- ↑ a b c d Flight International, March 24, 1993
- ^ A b c The Montreal Gazette, Two-plane airline is taking off, November 24, 1984
- ↑ Can1 business: Nolisair International Inc., Corporation Number: 339890
- ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 85
- ↑ a b Aero, issue 221, year 1987
- ^ Flight International, March 2, 1985
- ^ A b c d e B. I. Hengi: Airlines worldwide , Allershausen: Nara Verlag, 1991, ISBN 3-925671-11-0
- ^ Flight International, March 30, 1985
- ↑ Can1 business: Aviation Technair LTEE, Corporation Number: 1919601
- ^ Flight International, March 29, 1986
- ↑ JP airline-fleets international Edition 1991/92
- ^ Flight International, February 3, 1993
- ^ Flight International, March 31, 1993
- ^ The Edinburgh Gazette, April 6, 1993
- ↑ Nationair - some history on the web ( Memento from January 24, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- ^ Flight International, August 15, 1990
- ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of July 11, 1991 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
- ^ Aviation catastrophes , D. Gero, Stuttgart 1994
- ↑ JP airline-fleets international, annual editions 1984 to 1993
- ^ Flight International, March 24, 1993
