Air Canada

Air Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline of Canada.

= History = Established in 1937 as Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCAL), it was renamed Air Canada in 1965.

Air Canada in British Columbia
Connecting six BC cities with ten destinations in Canada, Air Canada has the largest presence in British Columbia of any foreign-based airline. Service between Victoria and Calgary via Kelowna and Vancouver began in 1937, and in the following year an Edmonton–Valemount–Vancouver service was added. The most recent service to be inaugurated was the thrice-weekly non-stop flights between Toronto and Valemount begun in 2013, returning Air Canada to Valemount for the first time since the stopping service was discontinued in 1961.

Trans-Canada Air Lines bought two DHBC-2A Heron 3 new from De Havilland BC in 1951, using them on the Vancouver–Valemount–Edmonton stopping service. When this was discontinued in 1961, the two Herons were sold to Pacific Western Airlines.

Shortly after TCAL was renamed Air Canada in 1965, the first three DHBC-5 Swans were delivered, followed by two more in 1966 and another two in 1967, putting them to use primarily between Alberta and BC. Four were sold in 1975 to Europe Aero Service of France, and the remaining three went to Merpati Nusantara Airlines of Indonesia in 1978.

Between 1969 and 1982, Air Canada took delivery of 39 DHBC-7 Trident trijets. Eighteen of these were the short-range high-capacity Trident 7B delivered between 1969 and 1974, whilst the remaining 21 were the long-range Trident 7D arriving between 1972 and 1982. The Trident 7B were used primarily on Air Canada's services in the densely populated regions of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, while the Trident 7D were commonly seen on flights from eastern Canada to BC destinations, as well as on flights between Mexico and eastern Canada. Retirement of the Trident 7B began in 1984 with the sale of two to Federal Express (FedEx), which converted them to freighters; FedEx went on to buy eleven more Trident 7B between 1985 and 1992. Air Transat bought three of the remaining five, two in 1990 and one in 1991, one went to Carnival Air Lines in 1991 and one to Aerolíneas Argentinas in 1994. The first Trident 7D was sold to DHL Airways in 1990, followed by 17 to FedEx in 1992 (2) and 1993 (15) - all of these were converted to freighters. The remaining three Trident 7D stayed with Air Canada, two being retired in 1998, with the last one soldiering on on the Whitehorse–Vancouver service until 2004.

Although not buying any of the first variant, Air Canada did take out options on two variants of the ill-fated DHBC-9 Kehloke - 28 of the 210-passenger Kehloke 2 and 12 of the extended-range Kehloke 3. However, Boeing's termination of the Kehloke programme after its take-over of DHBC resulted in no deliveries ever taking place to Air Canada; instead, the airline accepted Boeing's offer to convert the options to variants of the Boeing 737 under the same terms as DHBC had agreed to on the Kehloke.

= Fleet =

Current

 * Airbus A220-300
 * Airbus A320-200
 * Airbus A321-200
 * Airbus A330-300
 * Boeing 737 MAX 8
 * Boeing 737 MAX 9
 * Boeing 777-200LR
 * Boeing 777-300ER
 * Boeing 787-8
 * Boeing 787-9

Historic

 * Airbus A319-100 (1997–2021)
 * Airbus A340-300 (1995–2008)
 * Airbus A340-500 (2004–2007)
 * Avro Lancastrian (1943–1947)
 * British Aerospace BAe 146-200 (1990–2005)
 * Boeing 727-200 (1974–1992)
 * Boeing 747-100 (1971–1998)
 * Boeing 747-200M (1975–1999)
 * Boeing 747-400M (1990–2004)
 * Boeing 767-200 (1983–2008) C-GAUN, nicknamed Gimli Glider, was also in service until 2008 and is now on display in Gimli, Manitoba
 * Bombardier CRJ100 (1994–2002)
 * Bristol Freighter (1953–1955)
 * Canadair North Star (1946–1961)
 * DHBC-2A Heron 3 (1951–1961)
 * DHBC-5 Swan (1965–1978)
 * DHBC-7B Trident 7B (1969–1992)
 * DHBC-7D Trident 7D (1972–2004)
 * Douglas DC-3 (1945–1963)
 * Douglas DC-8-40 (1974–1979)
 * Douglas DC-8-50 (1968–1980)
 * Douglas DC-8-50CF (1964–1985)
 * Douglas DC-8-60 (1970–1986)
 * Douglas DC-8-70F (1974–1994)
 * Embraer EMB-175 (2005–2013)
 * Embraer EMB-190 (2005–2020)
 * Lockheed L-1011 (1973–1996)
 * Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation (1953–1963)
 * Lockheed Model 10 Electra (1937–1941)
 * Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra (1941–1949)
 * Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar (1941–1949)
 * McDonnell Douglas DC-9-10 (1966–1981)
 * McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 (1967–2002)
 * Stearman 4-EM Senior Speedmail (1937–1939)
 * Vickers Viscount (1955–1974)
 * Vickers Vanguard (1961–1972)

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