Saskatchewan Aviation Chronology 2000-
2004 - October: after two years of work, several trips Down Under by Saskatchewan government officials and at least $50,000 in expenditures, the government indicated that an ambitious plan to share firefighting aircraft with an Australian state had collapsed.
The original plan involved Saskatchewan entering a contractual relationship with an Australian state in order to create a not-for-profit corporation to buy and operate a fleet of firefighting tankers.
Behind this proposal was the knowledge that Australia's fire season begins when Saskatchewan's ends, which would have allowed the governments to share the fleet and its cost.
The provincial government said a number of options existed to replace the current water bomber fleet. Source: Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, June 5, 2004
2005 - Feb. 24: As part of a system-wide restructuring, Air Canada announced it was withdrawing its mainline service from Regina and Saskatoon, turning over its daily flights to the two Saskatchewan cities from Toronto to its subsidiary, Air Canada Jazz.
The decision made front-page news, but airport officials pointed out that Air Canada had long since shifted its prairie routes to Jazz, which promised to replace its Dash 8 turboprops with news Bombardier Regional Jet aircraft. As well, it promised to add an additional flight to and from Toronto to each of the Saskatchewan cities.
In all, nine cities lost Air Canada mainline service in addition to Regina and Saskatoon: Charlottetown, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Quebec City, Whitehorse and Thunder Bay.
See "Staff, routes switched to Jazz", The Leader-Post, Feb. 25, 2005 and "Air Canada to cut service from 9 cities", The National Post, Feb. 25, 2005 (See "Air Canada to leave", by Barb Pacholik and Neil Scott, The Leader-Post, Feb. 25, 2005).
2008, September 2 – Skywest, the regional connecter connector arm of Chicago-based United Airlines, began twice-a-day flights between Denver and Saskatoon, using Canada/Bombardier CRJ-50 aircraft. Ten months later, United began similar twice-daily service to Regina. Sources: “Denver connection”, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, 03 September 2008, Page 28 and “United lands in Regina”, Regina Leader-Post, 18 March 2009, Page 25.
2015, November: West Wind Aviation completed arrangement to buy the landplane operations, two hangars and seven aircraft (a Beechcraft King Air 200, a pair of Beechcraft 1900s, and four de Havilland Twin Otters) of La-Ronge-based Osprey Wings. That brought West Wind's fleet to 35. (See Saskatoon StarPhoenix, December 1, 2015.)
2017, Dec. 13: A West Wind Aviation ATR42 aircraft carrying 24 passengers and crew crashed shortly after takeoff from Fond du Lack. Nobody was killed that day, but several people were injured and the crash left a trail of debris at least 80 feet long.One passenger died in hospital several weeks later. C-GWEA was one of five ATR42s in the company's fleet. In the aftermath of this tragedy, Transport Canada suspended West Wind's operating certificate. The suspension still was in place in mid-April when Pat Campling Jr. took over as CEO and president. Campling had been a former owner of Transwest Air when the former was bought by West Wind in 2016. (See "Transwest Air founder takes over top job at West Wind", the Regina Leader-Post, April 14, 2018.) Mid-March saw West Wind lay off 10 first officers — almost 20 per cent of its 52 pilots. The firm's air operation certificate was restored May 8, Transport Canada announced on that day. (See"West Wind cleared to resume flying five months after crash," by Alex MacPherson, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, May 8, 2018.)
2018, April 15 - a late-night fire destroyed a 1940-vintage hangar, offices and several aircraft belonging to Transwest Air at the Prince Albert Airport. No Transwest Air personnel were at the hangar at the time of the fire and all staff were declared safe..See "Fire destroys planes, helicopters, Transwest Air office at Prince Albert airport", Saskatoon StarPhoenix, published to the web on: April 16, 2018.
2023 - 17 February - WestJet announced it would start 737 jet service from Saskatoon to Minneapolis/St. Paul, one of Delta Air Lines' largest hubs, effective June 19. The flight would take place three times a week and would be supported by a provincial government subsidy of up to $2.2 million per year. See " Saskatchewan government subsidizes WestJet Minneapolis flight" Global TV, 17 Feb. 2023 and "WestJet announces Saskatoon to Minneapolis flights', the Regina Leader-Post, Feb. 18, 2023
February 15, 2024 – Toronto-based Porter Airlines announced it would begin daily jet flights (using Embraer 195s) from Pearson International airport to Saskatoon, and return. This marked the first entry of this innovative carrier into Saskatchewan.
October. 24, 2024 -- Flair Airlines announced it will suspend all flights out of Saskatchewan, ending its thrice-weekly service from Saskatoon to Toronto in November 25, while the budget airline concentrates on “high-demand routes” like Vancouver-Toronto and Calgary-Toronto.
Flair first started flying out of Saskatoon in 2020. In 2022, the airline stopped its flights out of Regina, and in 2023 it cancelled its Saskatoon to Calgary service.
In a statement, the Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport called the move unfortunate.
“While it is unfortunate that the airline has made the decision to suspend the flights, we continue to actively discuss and pursue the effective return of Flair to Saskatoon,” it said.
“Currently Flair operates only the Toronto route three days per week and therefore this route remains well served by other airlines (seasonally and year-round) to ensure connectivity for our community to these important hub destinations.
Flair Airlines said it is looking to add more aircraft to its fleet in 2025, allowing it to revisit the routes in highest demand across Canada.
Flair has struggled for years to stay solvent and within regulatory lines, as the airline repeatedly crossed paths with the courts.
In January, Flair CEO Stephen Jones said he was putting expansion plans on hold for at least a year as it contends with plane delivery delays and hefty debts, including $67.2 million in unpaid taxes owed to the federal government.
In 2023, Flair saw four of its planes repossessed in the middle of the night after aircraft leasing manager Airborne Capital claimed that the company had regularly missed rent payments that amounted to millions of dollars over the preceding five months. Source: https://www.ckom.com/2024/10/26/flair-suspends-final-saskatchewan-service/, consulted on 27 Oct. 2024.
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