Air Labrador
{{Short description|Defunct Canadian regional airline}}
{{Infobox airline
|airline=Air Labrador
| image =
|IATA=WJ
|ICAO=LAL
|callsign=LAB AIR
| aoc =
|hubs=Goose Bay Airport
|focus_cities=Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon Airport, Quebec
|frequent_flyer=None
|alliance=None
| parent =
| num_employees =
|logo=Air Labrador logo.png
|logo_size=240
|founded=1948
|headquarters=Goose Bay Airport
|key_people= Philip Earle (President)
Brent Acreman (Director of Flight Operations)
Dan Michelin (Chief Pilot)
|website=
|ceased= June 2017
}}
Labrador Airways Limited, operating as Air Labrador, was a regional airline based at the Goose Bay Airport in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It operated scheduled daily passenger and freight services throughout Labrador and Quebec, as well as charter operations with the options of landing in remote and off strip destinations with skis, wheels and floats. The airline's main base was Goose Bay Airport, with a secondary hub at Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon Airport, Quebec.{{cite news|title=Directory: World Airlines|work=Flight International|page=59|date=2007-03-27}} Its motto was "The Spirit of Flight" (French: "Esprit du vol").
History
The airline was established and started operations in 1948, as Newfoundland Airways operating float-equipped aircraft from a base in Gander, Newfoundland on charter, mail and freight work to northern Newfoundland and Labrador. Since then the base of the company has moved to Goose Bay. It was purchased in 1983 by Provincial Investments Inc., owned by Roger Pike, along with associate company, Labrador Aviation Services Ltd. Air Labrador was owned by the Pike Family, but then taken over by Philip Earle in 2010. Air Labrador conducted a fantasy flight in the 1990s with a Santa Claus visit on board while it taxied the tarmac.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KXR0M761B0| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129123747/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KXR0M761B0| archive-date=2016-01-29 | url-status=dead|title=Flight to the North Pole| website=YouTube |date=2007-12-17|access-date=2009-10-18}} In March 2009, the company announced they were ceasing flight service to Montreal due to financial trouble. Airline service ended in Newfoundland in May 2009, two months after announcing the shut down of Montreal operations. The airline later continued to fly within Labrador and Quebec, as well as St. Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador until its merger in 2017.
On February 3, 2012, the company announced that the Nunatsiavut Government had bought a 51% share in Air Labrador.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/inuit-company-buys-controlling-stake-in-air-labrador-1.1252835|title=Inuit company buys controlling stake in Air Labrador; CBC News|date=2012-02-04|access-date=2012-02-05}}
In June 2017 Air Labrador merged with Innu Mikun Airlines to form Air Borealis.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/new-labrador-airline-air-borealis-1.4163935|title=Innu, Inuit join forces to create new airline for Labrador|date=2017-06-16|access-date=2017-09-16}}
Destinations
Air Labrador operates services to the following domestic scheduled destinations (as of February 2017):{{cite web
|title=Air Labrador Destinations
|publisher=Air Labrador
|url=http://www.airlabrador.com/home/destinations.htm
|access-date=2016-01-15
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185612/http://www.airlabrador.com/home/destinations.htm
|archive-date=2016-03-03
}}
=Newfoundland and Labrador=
=Quebec=
- Blanc-Sablon (Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon Airport)
- Chevery (Chevery Airport)
- Kegaska (Kegaska Airport)
- La Romaine (La Romaine Airport)
- La Tabatière (La Tabatière Airport)
- Natashquan (Natashquan Airport)
- Saint-Augustin (Saint-Augustin Airport)
- Sept-Îles (Sept-Îles Airport)
- Tête-à-La-Baleine (Tête-à-La-Baleine Airport)
Fleet
File:Air Labrador-01 (xndr).jpg
As of July 2017 Transport Canada listed 9 aircraft registered to Air Labrador.{{TCregister|AIR+LABRADOR|Air Labrador|2016-01-15}}
| class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="2" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|+ Fleet | |||
| bgcolor=lightblue
!Aircraft | No. of aircraft | Variants | Notes |
| Beechcraft 1900 | 2 | 1900D | Up to 19 passengers |
| Beechcraft King Air | 1 | 100 Series | Up to 9 passengers |
| De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter | 6 | |300 Series | Up to 19 passengers |
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
{{Portal bar|Canada|Companies|Aviation}}
{{Defunct airlines of Canada}}
Category:Defunct airlines of Canada
Category:Defunct companies of Newfoundland and Labrador
Category:Companies based in Newfoundland and Labrador
Category:Airlines established in 1948
Category:Airlines disestablished in 2017