1977). During the summer of 1975, the Oakland, California-based FBO
Marine Aviation sets up an operating division to provide scheduled passenger and cargo commuter service. A Piper PA-31-310 Navajo is secured and revenue flights commence in October, linking the company’s base with Truckee and with Redding via Chico.
Frequencies are maintained until the unit goes out of business in the fall of 1977.
CALIFORNIA AIR SHUTTLE: United States (1990). President Steven Lay forms CAS at Oxnard in early January 1990 as a reincarnation of failed Qwest Air; a code-sharing agreement is signed with America West Airlines on January 7. Employing a single Fairchild Metro II, the new entrant inaugurates services in February to Las Vegas, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, and Bullhead City.
Although plans are made to expand services to additional California cities, the bankruptcy of Fairchild ends efforts to acquire new Metrolin-ers. When Iraq invades Kuwait in August, fuel prices skyrocket. A lack of capacity combined with higher expenses conspires to put the small regional out of business by year’s end.
CALIFORNIAAIRFREIGHT. See AAXICO AIRLINES
CALIFORNIA AMPHIBIAN TRANSPORT: United States (1980-1982). CAT is set up at Long Beach, California, in the late spring of 1980 as a division of All Seasons Air Pacific. Employing a Piper PA-31-310 Navajo and a Grumman Mallard, the company inaugurates scheduled passenger and cargo services to Avalon, on Santa Catalina Island, on June 13.
Services are maintained until January 15, 1982.
CALIFORNIA CENTRAL AIRLINES: United States (19471954). Colonel Charles Sherman founds CCA at Burbank in 1947 to offer low-fare intrastate service to Oakland. Meanwhile, an associate concern, Airline Transport Carriers, is also formed and comes to offers relatively scheduled services between Burbank and Oakland until the CAB forces it to stop them.
Col. Sherman, meanwhile, assembles a fleet of 6 Douglas DC-3s and 2 DC-4s, and $9.99 one-way revenue flight operations commence between Burbank and Oakland on January 2, 1949. Flying under jurisdiction of the California Public Utilities Commission, Cal Central’s aircraft, in their red, white, and blue livery, become very attractive to travelers. Flights to San Diego are initiated in 1950 as enplanements exceed 100,000.
Indeed, the $9.99 one-way fare is so popular that the company has to acquire new equipment in 1951 just to keep up with demand.
Two C-54Ds, each with three crew, collide over Oakland Range at 3,000 ft. on November 17. The empennage of the Overseas National Airways (1) Curtiss is torn off and it crash-lands on a highway and catches fire; all three aboard are killed and eleven persons on the ground are injured. The CCA aircraft is able to complete a successful emergency landing.
The entire Douglas fleet is now traded to Northwest Airlines for 5 Martin 2-0-2s.
In 1952, Sherman’s carrier enjoys 137,000 passenger boardings, but the bottom falls out in the following year. Reequipment and operational costs do not allow enough return on the small fares charged.
By the end of 1953, CCA, which has leased a Lockheed Constellation to enhance its Martinliner fleet and is suffering from a bad case of financial mismanagement, is $1 million in debt. To cover the bills, the 2-0-2s are put on the auction block and, in February 1954, the airline voluntarily shuts its doors.
Ironically, during its 1958-1962 second life, this time as a temporarily certified Supplemental Air Carrier, Airline Transport Carriers employs the California Central moniker as a marketing title.
CALIFORNIA EASTERN AIR LINES (1): United States (19461948). CEA begins irregular Douglas C-47 transcontinental cargo and passenger charter flights in May 1946, increasing its flights to four per day in 1947.
Caught in economic difficulty, it ceases service in May 1948, almost two years to the day of start-up.
CALIFORNIA EASTERN AIR LINES (2): United States (1953-1954) . CEA-2 is reborn on January 6, 1953, when its owners sign a 10-year agreement with Japan Internal World Airways Company,
Ltd. to operate the Japanese line’s Douglas C-54s on a route from Tokyo to Sao Paulo, Brazil. It also prepares to operate its own Douglas transports on contracts received from the U. S. Military Air Transport Service (MATS). The company begins training crews for JIWA on January 8 and, on February 22, a DC-4 is leased to AVENSA (Aerovias Venezue-lanas, S. A.).
En route to Honolulu and Tokyo on March 27, a Douglas R5D-1 with three crew and one passenger ditches into the ocean off San Francisco after suffering engine failure; there are no fatalities.
A C-54 chartered to MATS crashes into the Pacific on takeoff from San Francisco for Honolulu and Tokyo on May 2; four aboard are rescued after six hours on a raft. Like many other irregulars, CEA-2 is unable to make a profit. Consequently, on July 26, 1954, a merger is announced with U. S. Airlines.
CALIFORNIA NEVADA AIRLINES: United States (19761977). California Nevada is set up at Stateline, Nevada, in late 1976 to provide scheduled passenger and cargo commuter flights to Las Vegas and to Oakland, Concord, Reno, and Lake Tahoe. Aero Commander 500 revenue flights commence, but cannot be maintained.
CALIFORNIA SEABOARD AIRLINES: United States (19851986). Newport Beach, California-based Catalina Seaboard Airlines is renamed in 1985. Employing Piper PA-31-310 Navajo equipment, the company provides scheduled daily passenger and cargo flights linking its base with Catalina Island, Orange County Airport at Santa Ana, and Palm Springs.
When Washington State-based Aeronautical Services, Inc. is offered a contract by UPS (United Parcel Services) in 1986, it purchases and merges CSA, making the airline its California branch. AS flies its parcels back and forth with a pair of Beech 18s.
CALLENS FLYING SERVICE. See ROSWELLAIRLINES
CALM AIR INTERNATIONAL, LTD.: 90 Thompson Drive Thompson, Manitoba R8N 1Y8, Canada; Phone (204) 778-6471; Fax (204) 778-6954; Http://www. calmair. com; Code MO; Year Founded 1961.
Based at Lynn Lake in Manitoba and the Keewatin District in the Northwest Territories, Calm Air is founded by Mr. and Mrs. C. Arnold Morberg in 1961 to provide lightplane services to a variety of small communities. Land is acquired at Black Lake in northern Saskatchewan where a fishing camp is built and the remote location is maintained by Morberg’s small planes. In 1962, Morberg receives a charter license to fly passengers from nearby Stony Rapids to their lodge.
Chupika Air, Ltd., formed by Fred Chupika at Lynn Lake, is purchased in 1969; the Morbergs move to Lynn Lake, commuting by air to Black Lake during the summers that follow. Scheduled services are inaugurated.
The first large aircraft are purchased in 1971, a Shorts SC-7 Skyvan and a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter. Service continues apace over the next three years and, in 1975, flights commence to Churchill, which is known as Manitoba’s “Arctic Seaport.” A DHC-2 Beaver is acquired in 1976.
Transair, Ltd.’s Twin Otter operation at Rankin Inlet and in the Kee-watin are acquired in 1977. A metal building is put up and the area gains its first year-round airline. A second DHC-6 is acquired in 1978.
A second Skyvan is purchased in 1979 and also a Hawker Siddeley HS 748 leased from Gateway Aviation, Ltd. The turboprop is employed to replace Transair’s turbine-powered service in the Keewatin area.
The SC-7s are both sold in January 1980. Airline employment in 1981 is 56. Manitoba destinations visited by Chairman Gordon Brooker and President/General Manager Morberg’s carrier from its principal Lynn Lake base plus branches at Thompson and Leaf Rapids include South Indian Lake, Brochet, Lake Brochet, Tadoule Lake, Coop Point, Flin Flon, Wollaston Lake, and Granville.
From a base at Rankin Inlet, the company flies to Whale Cove, Eskimo Point, Chesterfield Inlet, Coral Harbour, and Repulse Bay. The fleet now comprises the leased HS 748,4 DHC-6s, 1 Beech King Air 90,
1 DHC-2 Beaver, and 1 Cessna 185.
To allow additional all-cargo capacity, 2 Douglas DC-4s are purchased in January-February 1982. One of the primary destinations visited by the Skymasters is the Cullaton Lake Gold Mine, W of Arviat in the Northwest Territories.
On March 19, the leased HS 748 is badly damaged in a landing accident. While it is being rebuilt, a similar aircraft is leased for a year from New Zealand’s Mount Cook Airlines, Ltd. The refurbished HS 748 returns to service in August 1983.
A Beech King Air 90 arrives in February 1984, but it is lost in a December 22 crash at Sanikiluaq. Meanwhile, in September, a second HS 748 Series 2B, refurbished and rebuilt after a decade of experimental use by Hawker Siddeley, joins the fleet.
At the beginning of the second quarter of 1985, company headquarters are transferred to Thompson, Manitoba. A Beech Super King Air 200 arrives in May and a DC-4 is sold in July.
During the summer of 1986, CAI becomes a Spirit commuter affiliate of Pacific Western Airlines, Ltd. In September, the carrier begins three new HS 748 routes out of Winnipeg—to Thompson and Lynn Lake, to Thompson and Flin Flon, and to The Pas and Flin Flon.
A Douglas DC-3 joins the fleet in February 1987. In June, PWA Corporation, owner of Canadian Airlines International, Ltd., purchases 45% shareholding; the former PWA Spirit associate now becomes a member of the Canadian Partner team.
While landing at Hidden Bay, Saskatchewan, after a service from Kasba Bay on June 16, the last DC-4, with four crew, undershoots the runway; the right main landing gear strikes the edge of the runway and then the wing fails. Although the Douglas is badly damaged, there are no fatalities. The hull will be withdrawn for scrap in October.
The decade-old DHC-2 is sold in July and 3 new aircraft are added in September—2 Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftains and 1 HS 748. They are followed into the fleet by 3 more Pipers in October.
A pair of Eastern Provincial Airways, Ltd. (EPA) HS 748s are purchased in March 1988 and employed to inaugurate new services from Winnipeg to Brandon and Lynn Lake in April. The fleet now includes 4 748s, 3 DHC-6s, 6 Piper Chieftains, 1 Beech King Air 200, and 1 DC-3.
The company suffers intense competition in the Northwest Territories and in northern Manitoba during 1989 and is consequently forced to downsize to 23 destinations. The workforce is cut and the fleet is stabilized on 14 aircraft. Revenues fall 23.4% to C$13.2 million.
Operations continue apace in 1990 with the 4 748s, King Air 200,
2 DHC-6-100s and 1 DHC-6-200. A DHC-6-100 is withdrawn in 1991, but is reinstated the following year. In 1992, Chairman Gordon Brooker and President Morberg oversee a workforce of 144 employees. Hubs are maintained at Winnipeg, Thompson, and Churchill. The fleet now includes 4 HS 748s, 2 DHC-6-100/200s, and 1 PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain.
Airline employment is increased to 180 in 1993, as scheduled services are maintained over a regional network in northern Manitoba and throughout the Keewatin district of the Northern Territories.
The fleet in 1994 includes 4 HS 748s, 2 Beech Super King Air 200s, and 1 each DHC-6-100 and DHC-6-200. The Navajo Chieftain is withdrawn in the fall when orders are placed for 2 SAAB 340B+s, the first of which arrives in December.
The new SAAB enters service on January 15, 1995, flying from Winnipeg to the Pas, Flin Flon, and Thompson.
Following the arrival of the second SAAB 340B+ in December, the carrier places its new Swedish-made turboprop into Canadian Partner service to Dryden, Thunder Bay, Gillam, and Churchill.
A third SAAB 340B is delivered in 1996. Represented by CUPE, the company’s flight attendants begin to negotiate for a new labor contract.
Airline employment stands at 230 in 1997. In addition to feeding CAI, the company continues to serve 29 communities in northwest Ontario, northern Manitoba, and throughout the Northwest Territories.
Coming to the brink of a strike on March 14, the carrier’s management and pilots, the latter represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), agree to the intercession of a conciliator from the National Mediation Board (NMB).
Flights continue in 1998-2000.
World History
