Pacific Coastal Airlines Ltd is a Canadian regional airline that operates scheduled, charter and cargo services to destinations in British Columbia. Its head office is located in the South Terminal of Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia. Its main base is Vancouver International Airport, with a hub at Port Hardy Airport.

History

Grumman G-21 C-GDDJ Pacific Coast VCR 04

The original Pacific Coastal Airlines was established in 1956 as Cassidair Services, operating from its base at Cassidy Airport, now Nanaimo Airport, south of

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 ...

. In early 1980, the airline was acquired by Jim Pattison Industries and absorbed into Airwest Airlines, also recently acquired by Pattison. At the time of the acquisition, Pacific Coastal was operating on the Nanaimo-Vancouver, Victoria-Nanaimo-Comox-Campbell River-Port Hardy, and Nanaimo-Qualicum-Port Alberni routes. On November 1, 1980, Airwest and several other local airlines recently acquired by Pattison were merged into Air BC. The current Pacific Coastal Airlines was established in 1987 by the merger of

Powell Air Powell Air was a Canadian airline based in Powell River, British Columbia. It was founded by Daryl Smith, Lynn Mulhall and George Percy in 1975 after acquiring Air West's Powell River operations. Charters were operated utilizing a combination of ...

and the Port Hardy division of Air BC. It acquired the shares and assets of Wilderness Seaplanes on April 1, 1998. As of 2015, it has over 300 employees. A new airline division, Wilderness Seaplanes, which started service on May 5, 2016 was established to take over the Pacific Coastal Airlines Seaplane Division and is based at Port Hardy and Bella Bella. On November 24, 2017, WestJet and Pacific Coastal announced a

code sharing In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...

agreement to operate Saab 340 aircraft under the WestJet Link brand commencing in June 2018. These aircraft are based at the WestJet hub at Calgary International Airport and serve destinations such as

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 ...

and Lloydminster with aircraft also being based at Vancouver International Airport with service to Cranbrook,

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 ...

and Comox.

Destinations in British Columbia

Pacific Coastal Airlines operates services to the following destinations in British Columbia:Pacific Coastal Airlines
Destinations
Retrieved September 2019 *

Anahim Lake :''The subject of this article should not be confused with Anaham, which is a different community located nine kilometres east of Alexis Creek, British Columbia, which is in the same area.'' Anahim Lake is a small community in British Columbia. ...

(

Anahim Lake Airport Anahim Lake Airport is located south of Anahim Lake, British Columbia, Canada. It is a year-round airport serving the West Chilcotin area, operated by Cariboo Regional District {{Infobox settlement , name = Cariboo , off ...

) * Bella Bella ( Bella Bella (Campbell Island) Airport) * Bella Coola ( Bella Coola Airport) * 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 ...

) * Comox (

Comox 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) *

( 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) * Masset ( Masset Airport) * Penticton (

Penticton Airport Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan and Skaha lakes. In the 2016 Canadian Census, its population was 33,761, while its census agglomeration population ...

) * Port Hardy ( Port Hardy 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) * Tofino ( Tofino/Long Beach Airport) * Trail ( Trail Airport) * Vancouver ( Vancouver International Airport) ''hub'' * 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 ...

)

Fleet

As of October 2020, Pacific Coastal Airlines had twenty-one aircraft registered with Transport Canada, plus six registered to Wilderness Seaplanes:,

Incidents and accidents

*On August 3, 2008, a Grumman G-21 Goose aircraft with seven passengers and crew crashed during a flight from Port Hardy to Chamiss Bay. The aircraft was completely destroyed by a fire. There were only two survivors.CBC
Investigators head to site of B.C. plane crash that killed 5
3 August 2008 *On November 16, 2008, a Grumman G-21 Goose aircraft with seven passengers and one pilot crashed on

South Thormanby Island South Thormanby Island (''sx̱welap'' in she shashishalhem) is an island off the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located 17 km west of Sechelt, and within the shared territories of the Tla'amin Nation and the shíshálh Natio ...

off British Columbia's

Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...

, during a flight from Vancouver International Airport to

Toba Inlet , image = Toba Inlet.jpg , image_size = 280px , alt = , caption = Looking southwest toward the mouth of Toba Inlet , image_bathymetry = Carte baies Desolation et Bute.svg , alt_bathymetry ...

, BC. The plane was flown into a hillside and exploded into a mass of burning wreckage according to the lone survivor, who was rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard.CBC
7 Dead In Plane Crash Off B.C. Coast
16 November 2008CTV
A look inside the doomed B.C. plane
17 November 2008

References

External links

* {{Airlines of Canada Airlines established in 1956 Airlines established in 1987 Canadian companies established in 1956 Canadian companies established in 1987 Regional airlines of British Columbia Air Transport Association of Canada Companies based in Richmond, British Columbia Seaplane operators 1956 establishments in British Columbia 1987 establishments in British Columbia