BC News round up - week 25

A round up of aviation news in BC/YT and with major airlines who serve BC.  All photos my own unless stated.  

If anyone has any news or photos - particularly from elsewhere in BC or Yukon - please comment or send to me via email cangloballog@gmail.com

NEW DELIVERIES

12th June ... C-FBIJ ... Air Tractor AT-802A ... Conair Group [Abbotsford]

15th June ... C-FSIP ... Boeing 737-8 MAX ... Air Canada Rouge ... transferred from AC

17th June ... 295514 ... Airbus CC-295 Kingfisher ... RCAF - 418 Squadron [CFB Comox]

CANCELLATIONS

None

ACCIDENTS

None

NEWS OF THE WEEK

15th June ... Various news outlets including Radio Canada and CBC report that Quebec City [YQB] based Air Liaison sue Smithers [YYD] based Central Mountain Air accusing them of unfair competition and the illegal use of confidential information due to the poaching of a former Air Liasion operations chief to gain an unfair advangtage following CMA's expansion into the Lower North Shore region in Quebec.

18th June ... finally after many stays of execution due to delays with delivery of the third and final ATR72 replacement, the final KF Aerospace Convair 5800 departed to home base Kelowna [YLW] for the last time to enjoy well earned retirement.  The venerable propliner has served for Purolator Courier in BC for over 30 years.  This particular aircraft was built in 1955 and is therefore a remarkable 72 years young.

Photo by Brandon Siska on Flickr on her final departure to Kelowna

18th June ... while not exactly YVR related but there will be connections, Jim Liu of AeroRoutes reports Etihad A/W are bringing forward their Abu Dhabi [AUH] service to Calgary to 25th October (from 3rd November) operating 4x weekly with 787-9.

20th June ... Jim Liu also reports that Icelandair will replace the 737-8 with A321LR from Keflavik [KEF] next summer, from 4th June 5x weekly and 6x weekly from 1st July - 11th September.

20th June ... Airport Day at Pitt Meadows [YPK].  Would not get the pulses racing of most spotters, but there were some interesting aircraft there for the GA fan and it was a great atmosphere with some interesting stands yielding interesting information such as the Langley based Museum of Flight new plot will be on the current unoccupied grass area on Baynes Road between the public helipads and Coast Dog / Apron 2 and they won't be moving for at least 4 years.  It was a bit more of a farm market vibe with non fast food or aviation related stands, live band and beer trucks for the adults and lots of activities for kids and interactive opportunities with aircraft and emergency vehicles.  The aviation hi-lights would be a pair of WW2 era Grumman Widgeon seaplanes and local Falcon 900.  I will produce a dedicated blog post on the event when I get time.

Entrance gate on Baynes Road

CF-WVV ... Grumman G-44 Widgeon ... Private [Chilliwack]

Local companies selling their trade

Kids entertainment in front of the terminal building

Canadian Museum Of Flight [Langley] tent selling models and merchandise

C-FOBZ ... de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver I ... Blue Sky Aviation Enterprises

C-FQFD ... Bell 47G-2B-2 ... Private [Abbotsford]

C-FXOO ... Dassault Falcon 900 ... Influence Air

CF-LOK ... Grumman G-44A Widgeon ... Private [Boundary Bay]

21st June ... Jim Liu of AeroRoutes reports that Alaska A/L will begin a codeshare agreement with Starlux A/L from 1st July on their routes to Taipei [TPE] from Seattle as well as Los Angeles and San Francisco.

FOR THE DIARY - from YVR unless stated

25th June ... Harbour Air commence downtown Vancouver Coal Harbour [CXH] to Ucluelet [AN3].

27th June ... Delta Heritage Airpark fly in between 0900-1400.

29th June ... one off upgrade on BA86/87 from London Heathrow [LHR] to 787-9.

1st July ... BA86/7 second London Heathrow [LHR] flights changes from 787-8 to 777-200ER until 1st September when it reverts to 787-8 until final flight 1st October.

6th July ... BA84/5 from London Heathrow [LHR] changes from 777-200ER to A350-1000 until 8th September when it reverts back for winter season.

6th July ... Harbour Air commence downtown Vancouver Coal Harbour [CXH] to Campbell River, The Spit water aerodrome [YHH] opposed to YBL.

25th July ... Vanderhoof airshow, also 26th for a two day event celebrating 100 years of Vanderhoof.

1st August ... Air Canada weekly AC315/6 787-9 service to Honolulu [HNL] until 7th September.

4th August ... Canadian Snowbirds display in Victoria.

7th August ... Abbotsford Airshow, also 8th and 9th incl Canadian Snowbirds.

12th August ... Canadian Snowbirds display over White Rock - the last time in BC

15th August ... Chilliwack Flight Fest.

22nd August ... Air North resume seasonal Yellowknife [YZF].

28th August ... final Sun Country A/L Minneapolis St Paul [MSP] seasonal flight

29th August ... Langley Regional airport Air Fare between 1000 - 1700.

31st August ... final summer seasonal ANA service from Narita [NRT] NH135/6 arr 1040 dep 1230.

1st September ... BA86/7 reverts from 777-200ER back to 787-8.

8th September ... BA84/5 from London Heathrow [LHR] switches from A350-1000 to 777-200ER.

18th September ... final British A/W BA2278/9 summer seasonal from London Gatwick [LGW].

1st October ... final British A/W BA86/7 summer seasonal from London Heathrow [LHR].

22nd October .... final summer seasonal Edelweiss Air from Zurich [ZRH].

24th October ... Aviation Expo at South Arm United Church 11051 No 3 Road between 1100-1600.

25th October ... Lufthansa from Frankfurt [FRA] switches from 747-400 to 787-9.

25th October ... final summer seasonal Condor from Frankfurt [FRA].

26th October ... KLM from Amsterdam [AMS] switches from 777-300ER to A330-200.

21st November ... Delta A/L twice daily from Los Angeles [LAX] with A319 DL3192 arr 1140 dep 1250 and DL3184 arr YVR 1810 dep 1930.

1st December ... Air Canada AC1314/1317 to Cancun [CUN] upgrades to 787-9.

December ... new Air Canada (Rouge) seasonal services : 3rd Monterrey [MTY], 7th Puerto Escondido [PXM], 13th Liberia [LIR], 15th Mazatlan [MZT] and 17th Sapporo-Chitose [CTS] (mainline).

INTERESTING VISITORS - foreign registered, special liveries and rare non scheduled visitors

15th June ... C-GASB ... DHC Dash 8-102 ... Summit Air [Yellowknife NT]

Photo by Brandon Siska on Flickr - complete with tail colors of North Star Air of Thunder Bay ON covering for Pacific Coastal during unscheduled Saab maintenance

15th June ... N383DZ ... Airbus A321-211 ... Delta A/L [Atlanta GA]

Updgrade on the daily DL2366 from Minneapolis St Paul and since operated a couple of times since during the world cup, the type is very uncommon at YVR - you can also see the newly erected fence to further ruin photographers lives from the platform...

16th June ... C-GZCN ... Boeing 737-36N (QC) ... Canadian North [Yellowknife NT]

Photo by Brandon Siska on Flickr - brought in police officers from Calgary for the football tournament 

16th June ... C-FXHC ... Bombardier CRJ-200LR ... Voyageur A/W [North Bay ON]

Photo by Brandon Siska on Flickr - arriving from Moncton and Montreal via Winnipeg

16th June ... T-061 ... Airbus A330-243MRTT ... RNLAF / NATO MMF [Eindhoven]

Arriving from Brussels on a tech stop on to Haneda, seems to be the new routing avoiding Mid East

17th June ... C-FHNI ... Boeing 737-7CT ... Canadian North

Photo by Brandon Siska on Flickr - arriving from Edmonton bringing in police officers for the football tournament

17th June ... 9H-BIG ... Airbus A340-312 ... AirX Charter [Malta]

Photo by Brandon Siska on Flickr - arriving empty from Houston IAH to take the Australian football team to SeaTac, it has only 100 J seats

17th June ... N162WC ... Boeing 737-7BC (BBJ) ... The Washington Co's [Missoula MT]

Photo taken back in 2011, this time it arrived from Shannon Ireland and the passengers transferred to their Twin Otter N167WC which has been at Harbour Air as is customary in preparation for the summer season.  Their business jets have also been visiting regularly this week too.

18th June ... D-AXTM ... Bombardier Global 6000 ... FAI Rent-A-Jet [Nuremberg]

Photo by Rob Reid

18th June ... A7-CGG ... Gulfstream G650ER ... Qatar Executive [Doha]

Arrivng on a previous visit 5 years ago, this time it arrived from Mexico City and departed to Boston

18th June ... 144620 ... Bombardier CC-144D Challenger ... RCAF 412 Squadron [CFB Trenton ON]

Photo by Brandon Siska on Flickr - PM Mark Carney arriving for the football match against Qatar and some property announcements including a new school for Tumbler Ridge.  He continued to Nanaimo, departing 21st June

18th June ... A7-HHE ... Boeing 747-8 (BBJ) ... Qatar Amiri Flight [Doha]

Photo by Brandon Siska on Flickr - arriving from Paris CDG with the Emir of Qatar to watch his country play Canada - he probably wishes he hadn't... it departed to Los Angeles

18th June ... A7-HHM ... Airbus A330-202 ... Qatar Amiri Flight [Doha]

Photo by Brandon Siska on Flickr - back up aircraft operated a roundtrip from Los Angeles

19th June ... N249BZ ... Airbus A220-300 ... Breeze A/W [Salt Lake City]

Photo by King Hui on Flickr - arrived from Spokane WA with the Egypt football team

19th June ... B-18007 ... Boeing 777-309 (ER) ... China A/L [Taipei]

Photo by King Hui on Flickr - Boeing house livery on CI32 from Taipei

19th June ... N775JB ... Airbus A320-232 ... JetBlue [New York JFK]

Photo by King Hui on Flickr - vets in blue livery now modified to include 250 anniversary decals on the summer seasonal Boston flight

21st June ... N581UW ... Airbus A321-231 ... American A/L [Dallas DFW] - Piedmont retro livery

Photo taken by Hamza on Flickr in Calgary 2 years ago - operated DFW roundtrip flight AA1415

21st June ... A7-CGI ... Gulfstream G650ER ... Qatar Executive [Doha]

Photo by Rob Reid - departed to Los Angeles flying FIFA president Gianni Infantino

Shout out to Tim Martin in Victoria [YYJ].  On 15th June he saw 106178 Bombardier Global 6500 (Tp106) of the Swedish Air Force 75th State Aviation Squadron [Stockholm Arlanda] and on 17th June OE-IKG Gulfstream G550 of Skyside [Vienna].

106178 arriving from Melsbroek AFB in Belgium

OE-IKG G550 arrived from Oakland CA and departed to Gothenburg

Also on 16th June Victoria saw a pair of USAF Sikorsky HH-60W Jolly Green II's 22-14534 and 21-14530 with 305th RQS of Davis-Monthan AFB AZ.

Photo taken by Mike Killin on Facebook - returning from Red Flag exercises in Alaska out of Elmendorf and Eielson AFB's

16th June ... Chilliwack saw 295516 Airbus CC-295

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