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Pacific Coastal Airlines

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Pacific Coastal Airlines Ltd.
A Beechcraft 1900 at Victoria International Airport
IATA ICAO Call sign
8P PCO[1] PASCO[1]
Founded1987; 37 years ago (1987)
AOC #Pacific Coastal 2870,[2]
Wilderness 18449[3]
HubsVancouver International Airport
Fleet size28[4]
Destinations18[5]
HeadquartersSea Island, Richmond, British Columbia
Key peopleSmith family
Websitewww.pacificcoastal.com
www.wildernessseaplanes.com

Pacific Coastal Airlines 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.[6] Its main base is Vancouver International Airport.[5]

History

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Grumman G-21 Goose of Pacific Coastal Airlines now operated by Wilderness Seaplanes at Vancouver International Airport in 2008.

The original Pacific Coastal Airlines was established in 1956 as Cassidair Services,[7] operating from its base at the airport in Cassidy, now Nanaimo Airport, south of Nanaimo.[8] In early 1980, the airline was acquired by Jim Pattison Industries and absorbed into Airwest Airlines, also recently acquired by Pattison.[9] At the time of the acquisition, Pacific Coastal was operating on the Nanaimo-Vancouver, Victoria–Nanaimo–Comox–Campbell River–Port Hardy, and Nanaimo-Qualicum Beach–Port Alberni routes.[10] On November 1, 1980, Airwest and several other local airlines recently acquired by Pattison were merged into Air BC.[11]

The current Pacific Coastal Airlines was established in 1987 by the merger of Powell Air and the Port Hardy division of Air BC.[12] It acquired the shares and assets of Wilderness Seaplanes on April 1, 1998.

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.[13][14]

On November 24, 2017, WestJet and Pacific Coastal announced a capacity purchase agreement for Pacific Coastal to operate Saab 340 aircraft under the WestJet Link brand commencing in June 2018. These aircraft were based at the WestJet hub at Calgary International Airport and served destinations such as Lethbridge and Lloydminster with aircraft also being based at Vancouver International Airport with service to Cranbrook and Comox. On May 13, 2024, WestJet announced that its aircraft capacity purchase agreement with Pacific Coastal was completed, and would not be renewed. Consequently, the airline announced that WestJet Link would be shut down on October 26 of that year and all operations would be transferred to WestJet Encore by no later than the following day.[15]

Destinations in British Columbia

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Pacific Coastal Short 360 on the ground at Bella Bella, British Columbia
Pacific Coastal Beechcraft 1900C landing at Vancouver International Airport

As of July 2024, Pacific Coastal Airlines operates services to the following 18 destinations in British Columbia:[5]

Fleet

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As of July 2024, Pacific Coastal Airlines had twenty-one aircraft registered with Transport Canada, plus seven registered to Wilderness Seaplanes:[4]

Pacific Coastal Beechcraft 1900C
Pacific Coastal Airlines fleet
Aircraft Number Variants Notes
Beechcraft 1900 10 2 - 1900C, 8 - 1900D 19 passengers, based in Vancouver
Cessna 185 Skywagon 1 C-185F 3 passengers, based in Port Hardy, operated by Wilderness Seaplanes
de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver 3 DHC-2, DHC-2 MK. I 4 passengers, based in Port Hardy, two operated by Wilderness Seaplanes and one by Pacific Coastal (not on website)
Grumman G-21 Goose 4 G-21A 9 passengers, based in Port Hardy, includes three craft operated by Wilderness Seaplanes and one by Pacific Coastal (not on website)
Saab 340 10 2 - 340A, 8 - 340B 30 or 34 passengers, based in Vancouver and Calgary (June 2018). Previously operated for WestJet Link[16]
Total 28

Incidents and accidents

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  • 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.[17]
  • On November 16, 2008, a Grumman G-21 Goose aircraft with seven passengers and one pilot crashed on South Thormanby Island off British Columbia's Sunshine Coast, during a flight from Vancouver International Airport to Toba Inlet. 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.[18][19][20][21]

References

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  1. ^ a b "ICAO Designators for Canadian Aircraft Operating Agencies, Aeronautical Authorities and Services" (PDF). Nav Canada. May 4, 2023. p. 6. Retrieved February 26, 2023. Pacific Coastal Airline: PCO, PASCO
  2. ^ Transport Canada (September 2, 2019), Civil Aviation Services (CAS) AOC. wwwapps.tc.gc.ca.
  3. ^ Transport Canada (September 2, 2019), Civil Aviation Services (CAS) AOC. wwwapps.tc.gc.ca.
  4. ^ a b "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Quick Search Result for Pacific Coastal Airlines". Transport Canada. Retrieved July 24, 2024., "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Quick Search Result for Wilderness Seaplanes". Transport Canada. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c "Destinations". Pacific Coastal Airlines. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  6. ^ "Contact Us". Pacific Coastal Airlines. Retrieved January 8, 2023. Pacific Coastal Airlines Head Office Vancouver International Airport - South Terminal 4440 Cowley Crescent Unit 204 Richmond BC V7B 1B8
  7. ^ "Cassidair Services". Airline History. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  8. ^ Flight International. March 20, 1976. p. 703. {{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ^ "Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle". Ladysmith, British Columbia. February 6, 1980. p. 17.
  10. ^ "North Island Gazette". Port Hardy. February 20, 1980. p. 15.
  11. ^ Flight International. November 7, 1981. p. 1388. {{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. ^ Schofield, Jack (2010). A Pilot's Journey Log: Daryl Smith and Pacific Coastal Airlines. Mayne Island, BC: CoastDog Press. ISBN 978-0981313917.
  13. ^ "Announcing Wilderness Seaplanes". January 24, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  14. ^ "About Us - Bases". Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  15. ^ "WestJet transitions WestJet Link routes to WestJet Encore for fall 2024". www.westjet.com. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
  16. ^ "Pacific Coastal Airlines starts WestJet Link operations". World Airline News. June 20, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  17. ^ "Investigators head to site of B.C. plane crash that killed 5". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. August 3, 2008. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  18. ^ "7 Dead In Plane Crash Off B.C. Coast". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. November 16, 2008. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  19. ^ "Thick fog may be to blame for B.C. crash". Vancouver Sun. November 18, 2008. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012.
  20. ^ "Victims of Thormanby Island plane crash identified". Daily Commercial News. November 19, 2008. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011.
  21. ^ "A look inside the doomed B.C. plane". CTV Television Network. November 17, 2008.
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