KF Aerospace is an approved maintenance organization (AMO) which operates two maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities in Canada, one at Kelowna International Airport in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

and the other at Hamilton International Airport in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. It is the parent company of

KF Cargo Kelowna Flightcraft Air Charter trading as KF Cargo and Kelowna Flightcraft trading as KF Maintenance and Engineering is a cargo airline based in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. It operates long term cargo charters for couriers and freight c ...

, which provides cargo aircraft charter and leasing services, and

KF Defence Programs KF Defence Programs, a division of KF Aerospace, operates the Contracted Flying Training and Support (CFTS) Training Centre located at Portage la Prairie/Southport Airport in Southport, Manitoba, Canada. KF Aerospace leads a joint partnership tha ...

, contract operator of the

Canadian Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

Contracted Flying Training and Support program.

History

The company was established as Kelowna Flightcraft on March 20, 1970 and the charter subsidiary

Kelowna Flightcraft Air Charter 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� ...

was established and started operating in June 1974. It is wholly owned by Barry Lapointe Holding. In 1996, Kelowna Flightcraft was operating Boeing 727-200 jets in scheduled passenger airline service on a contract basis for

Greyhound Air Greyhound Air was a short-lived Canadian discount airline. Launched by Greyhound Canada, the airline ceased 14 months later in September 1997, when Laidlaw acquired the Canadian bus line. Proposal Greyhound USA had suffered the incursion of the ...

, a Canadian-based new startup air carrier. Flightcraft's extensive history in maintenance work directed to the ubiquitous Boeing 727 "feederliner" series has led to their adaptation as the main type for cargo operations, with

Purolator Courier Purolator Inc. is a Canadian courier that is 91% owned by Canada Post, 7% owned by Rainmaker Investments Ltd. and 2% by others. The company was originally organized as Trans Canada Couriers, Ltd. In 1967, it was acquired by the US manufacturer ...

their main client. It was announced on February 19, 2014 that Flightcraft lost their contract with

as another carrier,

Cargojet Cargojet Inc. () is a scheduled cargo airline based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It operates cargo services in Canada and internationally, as well as full aircraft charters. Its main base is John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport. Car ...

, won the contract. On March 30, 2005, KF Aerospace was awarded a $1.77 billion contract to lead a team of Canadian companies called

to provide primary flight training for the

Air Command at Southport at the former CFB Base Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. KF Aerospace also undertakes maintenance and upgrades on the Convair CV-240 family, for which it owns the type certificate. KF Aerospace converts existing Convair CV-580s to the updated CV5800 configuration and provides conversions of the former Canadian Forces

CC-109 Cosmopolitan The Canadair CL-66 was a turboprop version of the civilian Convair CV-440 Metropolitan. The CC-109 Cosmopolitan or "Cosmo" in RCAF service became the standard VIP aircraft as well as replacing the Douglas Dakota and the North American B-25 Mitc ...

transport fleet into freighters and "fire-fighting" water/chemical bombers. KF Aerospace announced to partner with

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

to open two conversion lines for 737-800BCF at its Kelowna facility in 2023. The company adds two hangars at that facility. KF works with

WestJet WestJet Airlines Ltd. is a Canadian airline headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, near Calgary International Airport. It is the second-largest Canadian airline, behind Air Canada, operating an average of 777 flights and carrying more than 66,130 ...

, WestJet Encore, Swoop,

Sunwing Sunwing Airlines Inc. is a Canadian low-cost airline headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Sunwing Airlines offers scheduled and charter services from Canada and the United States to destinations within the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, ...

, and

Air Transat Air Transat is a Canadian airline based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1986, it is the country's third-largest airline behind Air Canada and WestJet, operating scheduled and charter flights serving 60 destinations in 25 countries. Air Transa ...

Aircraft

KF offers leasing of the following aircraft types: * Boeing 737 300/400 * Convair 580 KF offers maintenance for the following aircraft types: *

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

100/200 *Boeing 737 100/200 300/400/500 600 /700/800/900

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its mai ...

200/300 *

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...

200/300/300ER * Airbus A300 * Airbus A310 * Airbus A319/

A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

A321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was the first derivative of the ba ...

* Bombardier CRJ100/200 * de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 *

Embraer E-Jet The Embraer E-Jet family is a series of four-abreast narrow-body short- to medium-range twin-engine jet airliners designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer. The E-Jet was designed as a complement to the preceding E ...

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, ...

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

/ 4/ 6/ 8/ 9 *

McDonnell Douglas MD-80 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...

* Lockheed L382 * Convair 580 *

ATR42 The ATR 42 is a regional airliner produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR, with final assembly in Toulouse, France. On 4 November 1981, the aircraft was launched with ATR, as a joint venture between French Aérospatiale (now Airbus) and Ae ...

ATR72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture formed by ...

* Beechcraft Premier *

Beechcraft King Air The Beechcraft King Air is a line of American utility aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The King Air line comprises a number of twin-turboprop models that have been divided into two families. The Model 90 and 100 series developed in the 1960s ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

KF Aerospace
Aerospace companies of Canada Companies based in Kelowna