Air BC was a Canadian

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

headquartered in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, British Columbia, Canada. It later became part of Air Canada Jazz. This regional airline primarily flew turboprop aircraft but also operated jets as well as an Air Canada Connector carrier on behalf of Air Canada via a code share feeder agreement.

History

Air BC was established in 1980 after the merger (by the

Jim Pattison Group The Jim Pattison Group is a Canadian conglomerate based in Vancouver. In a recent survey by the Financial Post, the firm was ranked as Canada's 62nd largest company. Jim Pattison, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur, is the chairman, CEO, and sole ...

) of a number of west coast domestic airlines: Calumet Air Service, Canadian Air Transit, Flight Operation, Gulf Air Aviation, Haida Airlines, Island Airlines, Omineca Air Services, Pacific Coast Air Services and

West Coast Air Services West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

. A combined fleet emerged, including

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditio ...

capable de Havilland Canada

DHC-6 Twin Otters The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarte ...

with some Twin Otters being operated as float planes. In 1983,

capable

DHC-7 Dash 7 The de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, is a turboprop-powered regional airliner with short take-off and landing (STOL) performance. It first flew in 1975 and remained in production until 1988 when the parent company, ...

turboprop aircraft were delivered and then in 1986 DHC-8 Dash 8-100 turboprops were acquired. In 1987, Air Canada purchased 85% of Air BC, and Air BC became an Air Canada regional partner operating as Air Canada Connector. Air BC entered the jet age in 1988 with British Aerospace BAe 146-200 aircraft which was the only jetliner type ever operated by the air carrier. In 1994, the airline was operating British Aerospace Jetstream 31 propjets as part of their Air Canada Connector code share feeder services. Stretched DHC-8 Dash 8-300 turboprop aircraft were introduced as well. In March 1995, Air Canada purchased the remaining shares of Air BC. In January 2001, a newly merged carrier called Air Canada Regional Inc was established. A wholly owned subsidiary of Air Canada, this company combined the individual strengths of five regional airlines – Air BC, Air Nova, Air Ontario, Air Alliance and Canadian Regional Airlines. Consolidation of these five companies was completed in 2002 and was marked by the launch of a new name and brand: Air Canada Jazz.

Destinations

Air BC served the following destinations in the fall of 1991 in Canada and the U.S. according to the Air BC – Air Canada Connector November 3, 1991, system timetable route map; by 1999, Air BC had expanded its Air Canada Connector service and was flying BAe 146-200 jet service nonstop between Edmonton and Denver.http://www.departedflights.com, June 1, 1999 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Denver-Edmonton flight schedules Alberta *

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

— Calgary International Airport * Edmonton — Edmonton International Airport * Fort McMurray — Fort McMurray International Airport * Grande Prairie —

Grande Prairie Airport Grande Prairie Airport is a commercial airport located west northwest of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada. It is the largest airport in the Peace River Country of northwestern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia, having served 446,000 pass ...

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

— Lethbridge Airport * Lloydminster —

Lloydminster Airport Lloydminster Airport is located northwest of Lloydminster, Alberta, Canada. History Built in 1981 at a cost of $6.3 million to replace the previous Lloydminster Airport, the new airport serves as the largest airport in the region. Despite th ...

* Medicine Hat —

Medicine Hat Airport Medicine Hat Airport is located southwest of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. WestJet Link services the airport daily from Calgary. During World War II the site was used as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). Airlines an ...

British Columbia * Abbotsford —

Abbotsford International Airport Abbotsford International Airport is located in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, southwest of the city centre. It is the second largest airport in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, after Vancouver International Airport (YVR), ...

* Campbell River —

Campbell River Airport Campbell River Airport is located south of the city of Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency. CBSA officers at this airport ...

* Castlegar — West Kootenay Regional Airport * Comox —

Comox Valley Airport Canadian Forces Base Comox , commonly referred to as CFB Comox or 19 Wing, is a Canadian Forces Base located north northeast of Comox, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It is primarily operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air F ...

* Cranbrook — Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport * Dawson Creek — Dawson Creek Airport *

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

— Kamloops Airport *

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''ki� ...

— Kelowna International Airport *

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "H ...

— Nanaimo Airport * Penticton — Penticton Regional Airport * Powell River —

Powell River Airport Powell River Airport is located adjacent to Powell River, British Columbia, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into ...

* Prince George — Prince George Airport *

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...

— Prince Rupert Airport *

Quesnel Quesnel or Quesnell means "little oak" in the Picard dialect of French. It is used as a proper name and may refer to: Places * Le Quesnel, a commune the Somme department in France * Quesnel, British Columbia, a city in British Columbia, Canada ...

—

Quesnel Airport Quesnel Airport is on the east side of the Fraser River about north of central Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada. Earlier activity In October 1928, John M. Patterson landed a Yukon Airways and Exploration Co Alexander Eaglerock biplane at Jo ...

* Sandspit — Sandspit Airport * Terrace — Northwest Regional Airport Terrace-Kitimat * Vancouver — Vancouver International Airport * Victoria — Victoria International Airport * Williams Lake —

Williams Lake Airport Williams Lake Airport or Williams Lake Regional Airport is located northeast of Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada. Airlines and destinations See also *Williams Lake Water Aerodrome Williams Lake Water Aerodrome was located south ...

Manitoba * Winnipeg — Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport Saskatchewan * Regina — Regina International Airport * Saskatoon —

Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport is an international airport located north-west of downtown Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The airport is served by passenger, courier and air freight operators. It is named for John Diefenbaker, ...

United States * Denver, CO —

Denver International Airport Denver International Airport , locally known as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , it is the largest airport in ...

* Las Vegas, NV —

McCarran International Airport Harry Reid International Airport is an international airport in Paradise, Nevada, and is the main government airport for public use in the Las Vegas Valley, a metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Nevada, about south of Downtown Las Vegas. ...

* Portland, OR — Portland International Airport * Seattle, WA — Seattle–Tacoma International Airport

Fleet

Some aircraft flown by Air BC included:Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: History Search Result
for "Air BC" * British Aerospace BAe 146-200 – ''only jet aircraft type operated by Air BC'' * British Aerospace

BAe Jetstream 31 The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin-turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the British A ...

* Britten Norman BN-2A Islander *

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...

* de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 * de Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 Dash 8 (series 100 standard version) * de Havilland Canada DHC-8-300 Dash 8 (series 300 stretched version)

References

External links

Notice about Air Canada regional airlines merging
(2001) {{Defunct airlines of Canada Air Canada Defunct airlines of Canada Canadian companies established in 1980 Canadian companies disestablished in 2002 Airlines established in 1980 Airlines disestablished in 2002 Companies based in Richmond, British Columbia 1980 establishments in British Columbia 2002 disestablishments in British Columbia Former Star Alliance affiliate members Defunct companies of British Columbia