Northern Thunderbird Air Inc or NT Air is a Canadian

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...

and

medevac Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...

service based in

Prince George, British Columbia Prince George is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, with a population of 74,004 in the metropolitan area. It is often called the province's "northern capital" or sometimes the "spruce capital" because it is the hub city for ...

History

NT Air was formed in 1971 with the amalgamation of two of northern British Columbia's airlines: Northern Mountain Airlines and Thunderbird Airlines. Northern Mountain Airlines began operations at

Fort St. James Fort St. James is a district municipality and former fur trading post in northern central British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the south-eastern shore of Stuart Lake in the Omineca Country, at the northern terminus of Highway 27, which con ...

in 1959. By 1971, they were one of the larger airlines in British Columbia. With a mixed fleet of Cessnas,

DHC-2 Beaver The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engined high-wing propeller-driven short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft developed and manufactured by de Havilland Canada. It has been primarily operated as a bush plane and has been used ...

Beech 18 The Beechcraft Model 18 (or "Twin Beech", as it is also known) is a 6- to 11-seat, twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. Continuously produced from 1937 to November ...

Grumman Goose The Grumman G-21 Goose is an amphibious flying boat designed by Grumman to serve as an eight-seat "commuter" aircraft for businessmen in the Long Island area. The Goose was Grumman's first monoplane to fly, its first twin-engined aircraft, and i ...

, and helicopters; Northern Mountain served Northern Canada including

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

and Northwest Territories. By spinning off its airplane division to merge with Thunderbird in 1971, Northern Mountain was able to concentrate its efforts on helicopters only and did so through 2000. Thunderbird Airlines started in the early 1960s when it acquired the bush operations of

Pacific Western Airlines Pacific Western Airlines Ltd (PWA) was an airline that operated scheduled flights throughout western Canada and charter services around the world from the 1950s through the 1980s. It was headquartered at Vancouver International Airport in Ri ...

in Prince George. From its base at Tabor Lake, Thunderbird operated Cessnas, Beavers and

DHC Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada. It was conceived to be capable of performing the same roles as the earlier and h ...

s on floats and skis servicing the new town of

Mackenzie Mackenzie, Mckenzie, MacKenzie, or McKenzie may refer to: People * Mackenzie (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Mackenzie (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Clan Mackenzie, a S ...

and the northern villages and logging camps of

Williston Lake Williston Lake is a reservoir created by the W. A. C. Bennett Dam and is located in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Geography The lake fills the basin of the upper Peace River, backing into the Rocky Mountain Trench which is ...

. In the early 1970s, Thunderbird secured a subcontract from Pacific Western Airlines to service the smaller communities of B.C. to feed that traffic into PWA's jet aircraft at Prince George, Kamloops and Kelowna. The need for a hangar on the

Prince George Airport Prince George Airport (abbreviated in initials as PGA) is an airport that serves Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, and the surrounding area. It is located just within the southern boundary of the city, southeast, and is run by the Princ ...

to fulfill this contract was the catalyst for the merger talks that resulted in the formation of Northern Thunderbird Air in 1971. Since its inception, Northern Thunderbird Air has adapted with the times and economic cycles with a fleet of 18 aircraft, three bases, 21 scheduled points and over 100 employees.

Sister airline

Northern Thunderbird Air is the sister airline of Central Mountain Air, utilizing their large aircraft capability and bases in British Columbia and Alberta.

Services

*British Columbia ** Prince George ** Prince Rupert **

** Ospika ** Tsay Keh **

Fort Ware Kwadacha, also known as Fort Ware or simple Ware, is an aboriginal community in northern British Columbia, Canada, located in the Rocky Mountain Trench at the confluence of the Finlay, Kwadacha and Fox Rivers, in the Rocky Mountain Trench upstrea ...

Smithers Smithers is a surname of English origin. It derives from the Middle English term "smyther", referring to a metalsmith, and is thus related to the common occupational surname Smith. The name Smither is related. People *Alan Smithers (born 1938 ...

Dease Lake Dease Lake is a small community located in the Cassiar Country of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is located a few hours south of the Yukon border on Stewart–Cassiar Highway (Highway 37) at the south end of the lake ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

** Sandspit *Alberta ** Calgary **

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Fleet

As of November 2022, Northern Thunderbird Air has the following aircraft registered with

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transporta ...

: The Northern Thunderbird Beechcraft 1900D's bear the NTA paint scheme and logo but are dual registered with sister company Central Mountain Air.

Incidents and accidents

* On October 27, 2011, a Beechcraft King Air, serial number B-36, registered C-GXRX, crashed on Russ Baker Way next to

Vancouver International Airport Vancouver International Airport is an international airport located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, serving the city of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland region. It is located from Downtown Vancouver. It is the second busie ...

Richmond, British Columbia Richmond is a coastal city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. It occupies almost the entirety of Lulu Island (excluding Queensborough), between the two estuarine distributaries of the Fraser River. Encompassing the adja ...

as it was attempting to make a landing, killing the pilot, 44-year-old Luc Fortin. It had departed the airport earlier but turned around due to indications of an aircraft malfunction (the engine oil pressure indicator); it crashed about 900 metres short of the runway. Five of the nine passengers were seriously injured. On November 16, 2011, the co-pilot of the flight, 26-year-old Matt Robic, died as well. * Two pilots died in 2005 when a twin-engined Northern Thunderbird King Air 200 (BB-190, C-FCGL) crashed near Squamish when the plane was transitioning from Vancouver to Prince George. The pilot flew up a valley and was in a steep climb trying to avoid terrain when the plane crashed. * In 2001, a Northern Thunderbird single-engine Cessna 185 crashed north of Prince George while under government charter to do a wildlife survey. The pilot and passenger survived.

References

External links

NT Air WebsiteFlightSource.ca photos of NT Air aircraft
{{Airlines of Canada Regional airlines of British Columbia Companies based in Vancouver Prince George, British Columbia Smithers, British Columbia 1971 establishments in British Columbia Airlines established in 1971 Air ambulance services in Canada Canadian companies established in 1971