With mail added later in the year, a weekly passenger and cargo route is inaugurated for 10 weeks, beginning on January 11, 1929, Water-ways-Fort Simpson via Fort Chipewyau. These are the first WCA flights to the Arctic Circle. On March 6, pilot C. H. “Punch” Dickins extends his Fort Simpson route to Fort Good Hope on the Mackenzie River.
On June 1, The Pas-Kississing route is superseded by new twice-weekly service from Cranberry to Kississing. On July 1, Punch Dickins lands a float-equipped aircraft at Aklavik on the Mackenzie River, becoming the first pilot to reach a point along western Canada’s Arctic coastline. On August 5, General Manager W. Leigh Brintnell, flying a Fokker Model 8 seaplane in a remarkable service, proceeds from Winnipeg to Fort McMurray, Great Bear Lake, Aklavik, Dawson City, White Horse, Skagway, Prince Rupert, Prince George, Edmonton, The Pas, and back to Winnipeg.
The 9,000-mile flight, which has delivered a variety of passengers and cargos en route, requires 94 hours flying time and the rest of the month. At unknown dates during the year, a variety of additional small operations are flown in the Patricia District and throughout the northern portions of Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
Flying a Fokker Model 4, C. M. G. Farrell on March 3-4, 1930 begins the first scheduled commercial air operation in Canadian history. A contract mail route is that night opened Winnipeg-Regina-Saskatoon-Calgary and Regina-Edmonton via Saskatoon and North Bittleford. Collectively, these services are known as the Prairie Air Mail.
The Aviation Corporation of Canada and Western Canada Airways in the fall enter into negotiations with the Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway. The result of the talks is the November 25 merger of the air transport companies into a new Canadian Airways, Ltd.
World History
