Quebecair

Quebecair
IATA code :	QB
ICAO code :	QBA
Call sign :	QUEBECAIR
Founding:	1946
Operation stopped:	1987
Seat:	Dorval , Quebec , Canada
Home airport :	Montreal-Dorval Airport
Fleet size:	15th
Aims:	National and international
Quebecair ceased operations in 1987. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

Quebecair was a Canadian airline based at Montreal-Trudeau Airport , which primarily served regular routes within Québec and also operated international charter flights.

history

A BAC 111-300 of quebecair in the 1971st

Quebecair emerged from the Rimouski Aviation Syndicate , founded in 1946 in Rimouski . After being renamed Rimouski Airlines , the company carried out on-demand flights in the province of Québec from 1947. The Quebecair name was adopted in 1953 after Gulf Aviation was acquired and incorporated into the company. Initially, Quebecair operated a regional scheduled flight network originating from Rimouski with aircraft of the types DHC-2 Beaver and Douglas DC-3 , into which the provincial capital Quebec was added in 1955 and Montreal in 1958 . In the same year, the company was first Turboprop machines of the type Fairchild F-27 , DHC-2 which replaced the smaller gradually Beaver. In the following years, the company expanded further and took over in April 1965 in Matane -based regional airline Matane Air Service and in May 1965, in Sept-Îles -based Northern Wings and their subsidiary Northern Wings Helicopters . Quebecair and four other regional airlines were selected by the state in 1966 as feeders for the two largest Canadian airlines Air Canada and Canadian Pacific Airlines . As a result of this agreement, the Province of Québec participated in the company. In 1969 Quebecair moved its headquarters to Montreal and acquired another regional airline, Royalair . In the same year, the company received the first two BAC 1-11 jet planes , which were used on national scheduled routes on weekdays, primarily between Montreal and Toronto , and on weekends on charter flights to Florida , Freeport and Montego Bay . Charter flights to Great Britain, Ireland and West Germany began at the end of 1974 with two Boeing 707-123B aircraft that came from American Airlines' stocks . The transatlantic flights were initially set in 1979 after a Boeing 707 had to be written off due to an accident and the second long-haul aircraft was sold. In the same year, the company received its first Boeing 737-200 , which was used on two newly established routes from Montreal to New York and Boston . From 1984 to 1986 Quebecair again operated charter flights to Europe. Leased Douglas DC-8-63 machines were used .

A BAC 111-400 painted in the early 1980s.

In the early 1980s, Quebecair ran into financial difficulties. In order to avert the threatened bankruptcy of the company, the province of Québec took a majority stake in the company in 1981 and sought an economic recovery. However, the company continued to operate in deficit even after the nationalization. As a result of the high losses and the beginning of the deregulation of Canadian air traffic , attempts were made to re-privatize the company in the mid-1980s. In 1986 the regional airline Nordair-Metro , a subsidiary of the Nordair airline , took over Quebecair and initially continued to run the company under its previous brand name. After Nordair was absorbed into the newly founded airline Canadian Airlines International on March 27, 1987 , the subsidiaries Quebecair , Nordair-Metro and Quebec Aviation were merged in November 1987 to form the regional airline Inter-Canadian , which was wholly owned by Canadian Airlines International .

fleet

(excluding aircraft from subsidiaries)

BAC 1-11 series 200, 300 and 400 Beechcraft 18 Beechcraft 99 Boeing 707-123 Boeing 727-100 Boeing 737-200 Curtiss C-46 Convair 540 and 580

de Havilland Canada DHC-2 de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Douglas DC-3 Douglas DC-8-54F and DC-8-63 Fairchild F-27 Fokker F28-1000 Hawker-Siddeley HS 748 Series 2A

Incidents

• On February 19, 1979, a Boeing 707-123 (C-GQBH) with 171 occupants got into a wind shear just before landing in Hewanorra on the island of St. Lucia . The machine crashed hard onto the runway from a height of six meters , with the nose landing gear tearing off and the aircraft dragging the underside of the fuselage over the runway. Due to the damage, the machine was written off as a total loss. People were not injured.

• On March 29, 1979, a Fairchild F-27 (CF-QBL) occupied with 21 passengers and three crew members crashed as a result of an engine explosion shortly after take-off in Québec . The crew and 14 passengers were killed in the crash (see also Quebecair flight 255 ) .

See also

• Former Airlines List (America)

Web links

Commons : Quebecair  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Photos of the Quebecair airline
• Quebecair's route network in the 1985 flight plan

Individual evidence

1. ^ World Airline Colors, Feltham 1985
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Flight International, 1973, Canadian regional - Quebecair ( PDF )
3. ↑ ^{a b} Quebecair ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia . Retrieved August 21, 2016.
4. ↑ Flight International May 19, 1969 ( PDF )
5. ↑ jp airline-fleets international, Edition 85/86
6. ↑ jp airline-fleets international, Edition 87/88
7. ↑ Flight International, November 7, 1987 ( PDF )
8. ↑ Aviation Safety Network, Quebecair Flight 714 [1]
9. ↑ Aviation Safety Network, Quebecair Flight 255 [2]