Third PCA is established by Carl Strombitski at Newport Beach, California, in 1989 to provide scheduled passenger service in local markets with 3 Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftains. Revenue flights of the privately owned company commence in January 1990. As with other private airlines, neither traffic nor financial figures are publicized.
Employing two Piper Chieftains (including one new unit), PCA inaugurates scheduled flights to three Oklahoma destinations during 1991. Operations continue apace in 1992 and the workforce in 1993 totals 25. In serious financial trouble, the company, now operating just one Chieftain, is forced to shut its doors at year’s end.
PACIFIC COASTAL AIRLINES, LTD.: Suite 117, 2440 Cowley Crescent, Richmond, British Columbia, V7B 1B8, Canada; Phone (604) 273-8666; Fax (604) 273-6864; Http://www. pacific-coastal. com; Code 8P; Year Founded 1986. In October 1986, the TransProvincial Airlines, Ltd. division of Air BC, Ltd., along with recently acquired Powell Air, Ltd., is sold to a group headed by TPA’s former chief pilot Gene Story. Included in the deal are two Twin Otters and the carrier’s Prince Rupert base. Air BC, Ltd. owner Jim Pattison retains 1 Grumman G-21 Goose, 2 de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beavers, and 1 DHC-6 Twin Otter and the former TPA base at Port Hardy, where Clayton Hutchings is named manager.
The dormant name of Pacific Coastal Airlines, Ltd., one of the original merger partners forming Air BC, Ltd. back in 1979, is reactivated and the new subsidiary is granted both Class 3 scheduled and a Class 9/4 charter licenses. Scheduled services are inaugurated between Bella Bella and Vancouver as well as between Port Hardy, Bella Bella, and Rivers Inlet. Charters are undertaken in support of the logging, commercial fishing, and sport fishing industries.
Operations continue apace into the 1990s. From a headquarters at Vancouver Airport’s South Terminal, President Daryl Smith’s company by 1994 employs a staff of 90, which increases to over 120 during busy summer months.
Just after takeoff from the logging camp at Fish Egg Inlet on a service to Pruth Bay in April, the DHC-6-100 with two crew and two passengers stalls and crashes into the water 100-ft. offshore and sinks (three dead). The lost aircraft is replaced with three Beech 99s and a King Air 100.
Two Shorts 360-300s join the fleet in 1995, along with two Gooses purchased from the Macmillan Blodel timber company. A Twin Otter is reacquired in 1996 while, the same year, a fourth G-21 is purchased from an owner in the U. S. Logging interests and local First Nation Native American communities continue to be major customers.
Flights continue in 1997. In June, the carrier begins to provide replacement flights for Canadian Regional Airlines, Ltd. between Vancouver and Nanaimo. So pleased is the Canadian Airlines International, Ltd. parent that, on October 14, it signs a code-sharing agreement with Pacific Coastal. Employing the “CP” code, Pacific Coastal takes over the CRA route on its own as of November 1. Customers are also able to take advantage of the Canadian Plus frequent flyer program and joint fares.
Although Canadian Airlines International, Ltd. is renamed Canadian Airlines, Ltd. and sold to Air Canada, Ltd. in 1998-1999, the regional initially maintains its relationship with the major, operating subcontracts on behalf of the CA affiliate, Canadian Regional Airlines, Ltd.
With four Gooses in service, PCA, at the beginning of 2000, is one of the largest operators of the type in the world. Once the sale of the Canadian franchises is completed in early January, the Pacific Coastal arrangement is cancelled. Air Canada, Ltd., in order to rationalize its new acquisitions, particularly its enlarged commuter responsibility, has been required to ax commitments to several western Canada airlines. Immediately after the cancellation, all Air Canada regional code-shares in the area are transferred to AirBC, Ltd., which move leaves a bitter feeling with PCA CEO Daryl Smith and other affected operators.
World History
