CP Air

CP Air, officially Canadian Pacific Air Lines but branded as CP Air since 1968, is a commercial airline in British Columbia offering scheduled domestic, continental and international services.

It is a subsidiary of the Imperial Pacific Transportation Co Ltd, which is in turn the BC subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway; IPTC is also the parent of CP Ships. As a result, the airline is a key component of a fully integrated transportation system - the first such system in the world - which also includes highway transport (CP Transport and CP Express), a chain of hotels (CP Hotels), and a telecommunications service, CP Telecom, which is one of the providers of mobile telephone service in BC.

CP Air serves 55 destinations (10 BC, 26 Canada, 6 continental, 13 international) in 16 countries.

History
The CPR purchased six airline and bush flying companies in British Columbia (Blaenau Air Lines, Ginger Coote Airways, Mackenzie Air Services, Peace Airways) and Alberta (Prairie Airways, Yukon Southern Air Transport) and merged them in 1942 to create Canadian Pacific Air Lines. Subsequently, between 1944 and 1947 CPAL acquired and absorbed other operators across Canada: Arrow Airways, Canadian Airways, Montreal & Dominion Skyways, Quebec Airways, and Starratt Airways.

CP Air acquired and absorbed Quebecair in 1987 and Wardair Canada in 1990.

Incidents

 * 20 December 1942 Lockheed 14 Super Electra VB-MXH (c/n 1488/1939), operating as Flight 305 from Prince George to Vancouver, crashed into the slope of Mount Cheam near Chilliwack whilst cruising at an altitude of 7,000 feet in marginal nighttime weather conditions; the aircraft had been about 75 miles off course. Search and rescue operations were suspended after five days with no trace of the aircraft nor the thirteen people aboard (three crew, ten passengers) being found; the wreckage was located by hunters in August 1943. Subsequent investigation led to the conclusion that the course deviation had been caused by a failure in the electrical system, leading to the crew not following the prescribed track after overflying Squamish.


 * 29 November 1944 DH.95B Flamingo VB-PAF (c/n C192/1941), operating as Flight 73 from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to Blaenau, crashed on final approach in a heavy snowstorm, after the white-out conditions caused the pilot to misjudge his approach. The aircraft burned and was written off; four of the fifteen passengers and crew were killed, including the pilot and co-pilot.


 * 9 February 1950 Canadair North Star VB-CPI Empress of Vancouver (c/n 148/1948), operating as Flight CP 307 from Vancouver to Hong Kong via stops at Cold Bay, Alaska and Tokyo, Japan, overran the end of the runway whilst landing at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, going through a sea wall and plunging into Tokyo Bay. There were no fatalities amongst the ten passengers and five crew, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair and was written off.


 * 22 December 1950 Douglas DC-3 CF-CUF (c/n 12855/1944), operating as Flight CP 4 from Vancouver to Penticton, crashed on approach to Penticton Airport. Aircraft approaching Penticton must remain at an altitude of at least 6,500 feet until passing the GREATA fan marker on Okanagan Mountain; after passing the marker, descent is rapid, approximately 700 to 800 feet per minute. Flying below minimum altitude as it approached the marker, the DC-3 made contact with trees on the mountain, resulting in the port tailplane being sheared off completely before the port wing struck another tree. The damaged aircraft rotated to the left and impacted the ground, sliding to a rest approximately 400 feet from the first contact with the trees. Both the pilot and co-pilot were killed, but the sole flight attendant and the fifteen passengers suffered only injuries.


 * 3 March 1953 De Havilland DH.106 Comet 1A CF-CUN Empress of Hawaii (c/n 6014/1952) crashed on its delivery flight to the airline. As the airline intended to use the aircraft to inaugurate its service between Sydney, Australia and Vancouver via Honolulu, Hawaii, it was to be flown to Sydney. The flight crew completed a jet conversion training course in the UK and were still inexperienced in operating the Comet when they departed for the ferry flight to Australia. Neither pilot had experienced a night takeoff in the jet, nor had they flown it with a heavy load; the leg from RAF Mauripur in Karachi, Pakistan to Seletar Airport in Singapore would be the crew's first nighttime take-off. The pilot lifted the nose too high during the take-off run, resulting in a partial stall and excessive drag which slowed the acceleration; the pilot realised this and lowered the nose again, but the remaining runway length was insufficient to reach rotation speed and the aircraft ran off the end of the runway. The starboard wheel struck a culvert of the perimeter drainage ditch, causing the aircraft to swerve and plunge into a dry canal, and the Comet impacted the forty-foot embankment on the far side of the canal at a speed over 138 mph. All five crew and six passengers aboard were killed in what was the first passenger jetliner ever involved in a fatal accident.


 * 11 May 1953 DHBC-1 Dove VB-CPD (c/n C221/1947), operating as Flight CP 323 from Prince George to Prince Rupert, bounced several times on landing; the third and final bounce was so severe that the nosegear collapsed. Of the three crew and sixteen passengers, the flight attendant and one passenger were killed.


 * 19 November 1954 DH.89C Dragon Rapide VB-GCA (c/n C103/1936), returning to Vancouver after a period working under contract to a work camp north of New Aiyansh, flipped over on landing in heavy snow at Quesnel and was written off.


 * 29 August 1956 Douglas DC-6B CF-CUP (c/n 43843/1953), operating as Flight CP 402 from Vancouver to Hong Kong via stops at Cold Bay, Alaska and Tokyo, Japan, crashed on approach to Cold Bay. Descending in a drizzly fog with a visibility of 1.5 miles, when the aircraft broke through the clouds the pilots realised they were too close in and too high; this, along with excessive ground speed due to a quartering tailwing, led the pilot-in-command to decide to go around. Power was applied and the flaps were raised fully instead of being retracted to 20 degrees, and the aircraft then struck the ground in a descending left turn and caught fire. Four of the eight crew and eleven of the fourteen passengers aboard were killed.


 * 8 July 1965 Douglas DC-6B CF-CUQ (c/n 43844/1953), operating as Flight CP 21 from Vancouver to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada via Prince George, Fort St John, Fort Nelson, and Watson Lake, Yukon, crashed after an explosion in flight. The DC-6B took off at 14:42 on an instrument flight plan for the first leg of the trip to Prince George via the Victor 300 and Blue 22 airways. At 15:29 the crew reported to Vancouver ATC that they had passed Ashcroft at 16,000 feet, estimating overhead Williams Lake at 15:48. At 15:38 Vancouver Centre called Flight 21 but received no reply; about two minutes later they heard three MAYDAY calls after an explosion had occurred in the left aft lavatory. According to a witness on the ground, smoke trailed the aicraft and the tail separated from the fuselage; the main portion of the fuselage assumed a nose-down attitude and spiralled leftwards until crashing into a wooded area near Dog Creek, about twenty miles west of 100 Mile House. Investigators found traces of explosives in the wreckage and concluded that a bomb caused the explosion; the crime remains unsolved. All 46 passengers and six crew were killed.


 * 4 March 1966 Douglas DC-8-43 CF-CPJ Empress of Edmonton (c/n 45761/1965), operating as Flight CP 402 from Hong Kong to Vancouver via Tokyo, crashed on landing. Flight 402 departed Kai Tak Airport at 16:14 Japan time bound for Tokyo, and at 19:08 it began its descent from FL250. Because of bad weather at Tokyo, the flight crew decided at 19:42 to wait fifteen minutes for improvement and the aircraft entered a holding pattern at FL140. Tokyo ATC reported the Runway Visual Range (RVR) to be 2,400 feet and cleared the DC-8 for an approach. The aircraft descended to 3,000 but as the weather had again worsened, the crew opted to divert to the alternate destination at Taipei, Republic of China.
 * At 20:05 the aircraft had reached 11,500 feet when Tokyo reported the RVR to have improved to 3,000 feet, and cleared Flight 402 for another GCA approach to Runway 33R. One mile from touchdown aircraft was twenty feet below the GCA glide path and was instructed to level off momentarily. The aircraft continued to descend however and struck the no. 14 approach light, 2,800 feet from the runway threshold. The plane then struck a number of other approach lights, crashed against a sea wall and caught fire; investigators concluded that the pilot had misjudged the landing approach in the unusually difficult weather conditions. Of the 72 passengers and crew aboard, there were only eight survivors.


 * 7 October 1970 Douglas DC-3 VB-CPH (c/n 4594/1942), operating as Flight CP 421 from Fort St John to Valemount, ran off the runway on landing; the right landing gear collapsed, causing damage to the wing. There were no fatalities amongst the three crew and twelve passengers, but the aircraft was written off.


 * 29 January 1971 Douglas DC-8-63 CF-CPL Empress of Lisbon (c/n 45928/1968), operating as Flight CP 301 from Vancouver to Sydney, Australia, collided on the runway with Trans-Australia Airlines DHBC Trident 7C VH-TJA (c/n C1174/1971) operating as Flight TN 592 from Sydney, Australia to Perth; both aircraft sustained substantial damage but were subsequently repaired. There were no injuries on either aircraft.
 * At 21:29 the crew of VH-TJA were cleared to taxi from the loading apron to the holding point for Runway 16. One minute twenty seconds later, the crew of CF-CPL called Sydney Tower having just passed 3,000 feet on an ILS approach to Runway 16; the crew were instructed to report again at the outer marker. Whilst CPL was on short final at 21:33:47, the crew of TJA informed the aerodrome controller that they were ready to take off; the DC-8 had been cleared to land, and TJA was instructed to line up on the runway behind CPL. After CPL was observed passing the threshold of the runway, the crew of the Trident proceeded to line up and await take-off clearance.
 * As the DC-8 neared the end of its landing run, the aerodrome controller instructed the crew to "...take taxiway right – call on 121.7", and this instruction was acknowledged; however, the CP crew stated to investigators that they read this instruction as "...backtrack if you like – call on 121.7", and proceeded to turn the aircraft about on the runway to taxi back directly towards the Trident. The landing run of CF-CPL finished directly opposite the extrance to Taxiway I, which leads off to the right from Runway 16. The turn was carried out opposite the entrance to Taxiway T and the aerodrome controller saw the landing run of CPL finish opposite the taxiway and the aircraft turn towards the taxiway. Believing that the DC-8 had entered the taxiway in accordance with his instructions and was now clear of the runway, he cleared the Trident for take-off. This clearance was given at 21:35:38, by which time the crew of CPL had changed to the radio frequency of surface movement control, 121.7, and were thus unable to hear the take-off clearance issued to TJA.
 * Soon after beginning to backtrack down the centre of the runway, the captain of the DC-8 noticed that the aircraft whose landing lights he had seen near the threshold of Runway 16 was coming towards him. He immediately increased power and began to turn his aircraft off the runway towards its eastern side. However, before he could vacate the runway, at about the same time that the nose of the DC-8 reached the edge of the runway the Trident - which the DC-8 captain watched rotate and lift off - flew over top of CF-CPL. He felt a jolt which he interpreted as either his nosewheel entering a depression off the edge of the runway or running over a runway light but with the immediate danger having passed, he steered back towards the centreline of the runway. The crew of VH-TJA did not notice the DC-8 until they had commenced rotation action at 131 knots, but deeming it too close to avoid by abandoning the take-off, the captain continued a normal take-off procedure, believing it the best way to clear the obstructing aircraft.
 * As CF-CPL manoeuvred towards the eastern edge of the runway to avoid the oncoming aicraft, the sweep of his landing lights was observed in the control tower and the surface movement controller, believing that the aircraft was commencing a turn from Taxiway V onto Taxiway A, which leads back to the runway, instructed the aircraft first to "hold position" and then to "continue straight ahead along the taxiway and cross Runway 07". By this time the DC-8 crew had observed the landing lights of a DC-9, Trans-Australia Airlines VH-TJN, which was approaching to land on Runway 16. The CP crew pointed this out to the surface controller, who then asked them to confirm they were on the taxiway, to which the crew responded, "negative, sir, we're on the runway, we were cleared to backtrack along the runway". The approaching DC-9 was immediately instructed to go around and the crew of CF-CPL were given new instructions to vacate the runway at the next taxiway on their left.
 * It was around this time that the crew of the Trident informed the aerodrome controller that they had struck the DC-8 during their takeoff and that they had lost hydraulic pressure in their "A" system; they proceeded to an offshore position to dump fuel before returning for a successful landing on Runway 16 at 22:16:30. The crew of CF-CPL was informed that the departing aircraft had struck them, but as there was no indication in the cockpit of abnormal operation, they continued to their parking position, where it was observed that substantial portions of the upper fin and rudder were missing from the aircraft.
 * Australian investigators concluded that "the cause of this accident was that the taxying clearance given after landing was misread by the flight crew of CF-CPQ and this error was not detected by the aerodrome controller, who cleared VH-TJA for take-off. The flight crew of VH-TJA, on detecting the obstructing aircraft, did not then adopt the most effective means of avoiding a collision."


 * 29 November 1974 Boeing 737-217 CF-CPC Empress of Montreal (c/n 19886/1986), operating as Flight CP 71 from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Edmonton, Alberta, was hijacked by a male passenger. He grabbed a flight attendant in the aft galley and threatened her with a knife, demanding to be taken to Cyprus. However, he soon surrendered and the plane landed at Saskatoon, Saskatchwan, and was escorted to the terminal building by the captain, where he was arrested by the RCMP; he eventually pleaded guilty to exercising control of an aircraft by force with intent to divert it from the original flight plan and was sentenced to seven years in the federal penitentiary at St Albert, Saskatchewan; there were no injuries amongst the passengers or crew, and the flight continued to Edmonton after the hijacker was removed.


 * 2 August 2019 Boeing 737-817 VB-CZZ (c/n 30540/2009), operating as Flight CP 566 from Vancouver to San Francisco, California was taxiing when its left wingtip collided with the tail of Swiss International Airlines A340-300 HB-JMF (c/n 561/2003), which had just arrived as Flight 11 from Zürich, Switzerland. Upon arriving to Gate 64, the A340 was marshalled into the gate area and signalled to stop and set the parking brake. After the engines were shut down, ground personnel connected a tug and were preparing to tow the aircraft to the final gate parking position whilst the 737 was taxiing westbound on Taxiway JA abeam Gate 64 when the left wingtip struck the tail of HB-JMF. There were no injuries on either aircraft, and both were quickly repaired and returned to service.

Fleet
CP Air operate a total of 199 aircraft.

Current

 * Airbus A220-200 - 12 (2018 to date), +21 on order to be delivered by 2025
 * Airbus A220-300 - 8 (2019 to date), +20 on order to be delivered by 2025
 * Airbus A320-200 - 5 (1991 to date), to be retired by 2024
 * Boeing 737-700 - 38 (2001 to date), to be retired by 2026
 * Boeing 737-800 - 24 (2002 to date), to be retired by 2026
 * Boeing 747-8 - 4 (2013 to date)
 * Boeing 767-400ER - 19 (2000 to date)
 * Boeing 777-300 - 12 (2015 to date)
 * Bombardier CRJ1000 - 16 (2014 to date), +12 on order to be delivered by 2025
 * Bombardier Dash 8 Q200 - 16 (2001 to date)
 * Bombardier Dash 8 Q300 - 28 (2001 to date)
 * Bombardier Dash 8 Q400NG - 22 (2012 to date)

Historic
Incomplete - not all aircraft inherited in 1947 listed.


 * Airbus A310-300 - 12 (1990–1996), inherited from Wardair
 * Airbus A320-200 - 8 (1991–2022)
 * Boeing 727-100 - 4 (1970–1977)
 * Boeing 727-200 - 2 (1975–1982)
 * Boeing 737-200 - 38 (1968–2006)
 * Boeing 737-300 - 18 (1985–2012)
 * Boeing 737-700 - 6 (2001–2019)
 * Boeing 737-800 - 3 (2001–2020)
 * Boeing 747-100 - 1 (1990–1994), inherited from Wardair
 * Boeing 747-200 - 4 (1973–1986)
 * Boeing 747-300 - 6 (1984–2015)
 * Boeing 747-400 - 5 (1990–2014)
 * Boeing 767-300ER - 27 (1988–2022)
 * Bristol Britannia - 8 (1958–1966)
 * Canadair North Star - 3 (1949–1951)
 * Curtiss C-46 - 5 (1955–1970)
 * De Havilland Comet 1A - 2 (1952–1953)
 * DHBC DH.84 Dragon 1B - 3 (1942–1951), inherited from Peace Airways
 * DHBC DH.84 Dragon 2B - 9 (1942–1953), inherited from Blaenau Air Lines (3), Mackenzie Air Services (2), Prairie Airways (1), and Peace Airways (1)
 * DHBC DH.89C Dragon Rapide - 8 (1942–1958), inherited from Ginger Coote (5), Mackenzie Air Services (2), and Peace Airways (1)
 * DHBC DH.90B Dragonfly - 1 (1942–1947), inherited from Yukon Southern
 * DHBC DH.95B Flamingo - 11 (1942–1962), six delivered new, five inherited from Blaenau Air Lines (1), Montreal & Dominion Skyways (2), Peace Airways (1), and Yukon Southern (1)
 * DHBC-1 Dove - 7 (1947–1971)
 * DHBC-5 Swan - 6 (1963–1996)
 * DHBC-7B Trident 7B - 5 (1987–1996), inherited from Quebecair
 * DHBC-7C Trident 7C - 5 (1987–2002), inherited from Quebecair
 * DHBC-7D Trident 7D - 26 (1975–2013)
 * DHBC-7E Trident 7E - 4 (1987–1990), inherited from Quebecair
 * DHBC-9A Kehloke 1 - 4 (1992–1999)
 * DHC-7 - 12 (1981–2009)
 * Douglas C-47 - 12 (1945–1978)
 * Douglas DC-4 - 4 (1951–1963)
 * Douglas DC-6A - 5 (1953–1969)
 * Douglas DC-6B - 13 (1953–1969)
 * Douglas DC-8-43 - 6 (1961–1981)
 * Douglas DC-8-53 - 1 (1966–1982)
 * Douglas DC-8-55 - 1 (1966–1978)
 * Douglas DC-8-63 - 5 (1967–1983)
 * Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra - 3 (1942–1949), inherited from Mackenzie Air Services
 * McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 - 3 (1983–1987)
 * McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 - 13 (1979–2001)
 * McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30ER - 1 (1979–2000)

BC-made aircraft
''Note: a green background indicates an aircraft in service, a yellow background indicates a retired aircraft, and a pink background indicates an aircraft lost in an accident.

Other aircraft
= Routes = CP Air operates the only direct service between BC and the PRC. These flights are always operated with aircraft carrying Canadian registration (C-xxxx); CP aircraft registered in BC are not used on this route.

Northern Thunderbird Air have a codeshare agreement with CP Air.

Entries with a green background indicates a destination in British Columbia. "Domestic" refers to services entirely within Canada or entirely within BC; "Continental" refers to services between NAFTA signatories (BC, Mexico, Canada, and the United States).