AIR LABRADOR, LTD.: Box 310, Goose Bay, Labrador A1A 1S0, Canada; Phone (709) 753-1240; Fax (709) 753-7787; http:// Www. airlabrador. com; Code WJ; Year Founded 1983. Gander-based Newfoundland Airways, Ltd., together with the FBO Labrador Aviation Services, Ltd., is purchased in 1983 by Provincial Investments, Inc. owner Roger W. Pike and is renamed. The company base is transferred to Goose Bay where Mr. Pike becomes chairman/CEO, with W. G. Pike as executive vice president and B. L. Pike as director.
Floatplane charters continue and, in 1985, a new hangar is constructed at the carrier’s base. There, a Transport Canada Maintenance facility is established, one of only three in the province.
Service is maintained over the next 12 years during which time scheduled flights throughout Newfoundland and Labrador are introduced, while charters are continued. Captain Harold G. Oake, a noted flyer who has served as chief pilot and operations manager, becomes vice president-operations in 1990.
Operations continue in 1991-1995, during which years the company becomes a Canadian Partner affiliate of Canadian Airlines International. A year after his 1995 retirement, on December 5, 1996, 56-year-old Capt. Oake dies.
In 1997, Chairman Pike’s fleet includes 4 de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otters, 3 Shorts 330s (1 employed only for freight), and 2 DHC-8s.
Destinations visited include Black Tickle, Cartwright, Charlottetown, Davis Inlet, Deer Lake, Fox Harbour, Goose Bay, Hopedale, Makkovik, Mary’s Harbour, Nain, Port Hope, Simpson, Postville, Rigolet, St. Anthony, St. John’s, and Wabush.
A new C$6.5-million Beech 1900D enters service as fleet flagship on May 1, the same day a new nonstop return service is introduced from St. John’s to St. Anthony. Simultaneously, new early-morning roundtrips commence from Goose Bay to Deer Lake and St. John’s, along with new evening service with a second flight from Wabush, Goose Bay, and St. John’s.
In a special May 4 Goose Bay ceremony, the carrier’s new Beech flagship is christened Captain Harold Oake.
Flights continue apace during the remainder of the year and throughout 1998.
On February 1, 1999, the company enters into a major marketing and code-sharing agreement with InterCanadian Airlines, Ltd. Under terms of the arrangement, the company inaugurates an enhanced schedule of weekday Canadian Partner flights: four-times-a-day roundtrips between St. John’s and Goose Bay; daily service from Goose Bay to Deer Lake and twice-daily departures from Deer Lake to Goose Bay; twice-daily roundtrips from St. John’s to St. Anthony and from St. Anthony to Goose Bay; daily roundtrips between St. John’s and Wabush and Deer Lake, between Deer Lake and Wabush, between Deer Lake and Blanc-Sablon, between Blanc-Sablon and St. John’s, and between Blanc-Sablon and Goose Bay.
Flights continue apace during the remainder of the year, during which the last Shorts 330 and a DHC-8 are retired as an additional Beech 1900D arrives.
The company is not immediately impacted by the January 2000 acquisition of Canadian Airlines, Ltd. by Air Canada, Ltd., except that it becomes, at least indirectly, an affiliate of both.
Beech 1900D dual designator service with the two majors begins on May 23 from Quebec City to Moncton via Charlo and Miramichi.
The northern New Brunswick schedule is altered on October 15 to better assist business customers; the three principal destinations visited continue to include Quebec City, Miramichi, and Charlo.
World History
