Canadian Airlines International

Photos © R.Leeuw

Seen at Calgary-YYC on 28Aug99 is Boeing 737-275(A) C-GAPW (c/n 20922 / 370).

Canadian Airlines Int'l was formally established on 01Jan88, though it was formed in the previous January and the name came into use in March 1987.
Prior to that the former Canadian Pacific Airlines (1986-1988; before that: CP Air, 1965-1986; before that: Canadian Pacific Airlines, 1942-1965) had been taken over by the slightly smaller Pacific Western Airlines, which had already absorbed Eastern Provincial Airways and Nordair during the preceding year. In 1989, in order to strengthen its position against Air Canada, it also took over Canada's largest private airline, Wardair.
Canadian received its first Boeing 767 in 1988 and in the later part of 1990 its first Boeing 747-400; the Airbus A320 was also added to the fleet.
Following approval by the Canadian regulatory authorities in 1995, AMR Corporation (the parent of Anerican AL), took a 33 percent shareholding in Canadian Airlines Corporation, Canadian's parent company (which also had holdings in various other Canadian regional operators: e.g. Time Air, Air Atlantic, Ontario Express and Canadian Regional).
A seperate division of the airline, Canadian North, served the wide expanses of Canada's remote Northern areas. During the later part of 1999 there were fierce takeover battles between the major Canadian airlines. Together with its partner AMR, Canadian tried to acquire a majority in the national carrier Air Canada, but eventually the battle was won by Air Canada with help from its financially strong Star Alliance partners, taking 82 percent of the shares in Canadian...
Thus CAI became a mere subsidiary of Air Canada, a long fought battle finally lost !
During the first part of 2000, there was a redistribution of routes and responsibilities between the two airlines. Canadian continued to operate independently, but its aircraft were repainted into an Air Canada colourscheme.
In 2001 the famous CP-prefix disappeared from the aviation scene
The fleetlist in 2000 counted 44 Boeing 737-200s, 7 Airbus A320s, 14 Boeing 767-300s, 8 McDonnell-Douglas DC-10-30s and 4 747-400s.
One of the Boeing 747-400s was named after Grant McConachie, founder of CP Air. The others were also named after famous aviation pioneers: Maxwell W.Ward, T.Russ Baker and Rhys T. Eyton (former President & CEO of Pacific Western AL)

Boeing 737-275(A) C-GCPM (c/n 20959 / 395) in a simple but fabulous special livery, that of the Canadian Goose.

Canadian Airlines International on Airliners.net

Back to Airlines Remembered
Back to Gateway to Jetliners