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| Founded | 1985 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceased operations | 2007 | ||||||
| Operating bases | Toronto Pearson International Airport | ||||||
| Founder | Dennis Chadala | ||||||
| | |||||||
| |||||||
| Founded | 1985 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceased operations | 2007 | ||||||
| Operating bases | Toronto Pearson International Airport | ||||||
| Founder | Dennis Chadala | ||||||
The airline was founded in 1985 by Dennis Chadala, a former captain, director of marketing, and assistant to Carl Millard, owner of the defunct airline Millardair. The company commenced operations with one Super Beech 18 Model E purchased from Bradley First Air.
Air 500 Limited was the first airline to receive a licensing and operating certificate at Toronto's Pearson International Airport following the deregulation of the aviation industry in Canada in 1985. The airline originally grew rapidly, adding an aircraft at a rate of one every six months. By 1989 it had acquired almost all of the business flying ad hoc charter out of Toronto for Chrysler, Ford, GM, and many others formerly serviced by Millardair. At the time, Air 500 was an exceptional success story, operating 3 Super Beech 18 aircraft, 2 Cessna 310s, 1 DC3, 1 Super DC (C117), 1 Piper Cheyenne, and 1 Mitsubishi Mitsubishi MU-2 Marquise.
In the early 1990s, Air 500's fleet continued to grow. adding 2 more Mitsubishi MU-2 aircraft, 2 Citation 500 business jets, and 1 Citation 2 business jet. In 1995, Pearson airport was privatized, and came under the direction and control of the GTAA (Greater Toronto Airport Authority). At the same time, Chadala acquired Hangar #7, the newest hangar facility at Pearson Airport, with 40 years remaining on its then-current land lease.
Air 500 had contracts in the courier industry, Air Ambulance, Services, and Aircraft Management, as well as a base of operations at the Esso Avitat in Ottawa, where 2 Mitsubishi Marquise MU2 aircraft were stationed. One was operating an exclusive long-term contract for Nordion (formerly Atomic Energy of Canada) flying radioactive isotopes to numerous destinations in the United States for medical purposes, while the other was a designated charter aircraft. Hangar #7 was large enough to lease out half the facility to Air 500 Limited and the other half to Execaire/Innotech Aviation; they remained tenants of the hangar until November 1998.
After their tenancy, Execaire/Innotech struck a deal with Chadala to purchase the hangar, all his aircraft, and Air 500 Limited itself. Air 500 was melded into Execaire, and became part of that operating group, taking advantage of the synergies available to it.
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Jazz Aviation LP, commonly shortened to Jazz, is a Canadian regional airline based at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, in Enfield, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chorus Aviation. Jazz Aviation provides regional and charter airline services in Canada and the United States, primarily under contract to Air Canada using the brand name Air Canada Express, and also as Jazz Charters.
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CanJet was a Canadian low-cost airline headquartered in Enfield, Nova Scotia and based at Halifax Stanfield International Airport. In addition to initially flying scheduled passenger service, CanJet operated charter flights using its own brand as well as flying contract and ad hoc charters for other tour operators and airlines throughout Canada and the United States. CanJet was wholly owned by IMP Group International and had 572 employees as of March 2007. The airline ceased operations in 2015.
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Quebecair was a Canadian airline that operated from 1947 until 1986. Quebecair was headquartered in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, now a part of Montreal.
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Vistajet was a Canadian low-cost airline based in Windsor, Ontario established in April 1997. Vistajet operated a fleet of leased Boeing 737-200 aircraft, but the airline ceased operations in September 1997, due to lower than expected passenger traffic.
Porter Airlines is a Canadian airline headquartered at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario. It is the third largest airline in Canada, behind Air Canada and WestJet. Owned by Porter Aviation Holdings, formerly known as REGCO Holdings Inc., Porter operates regularly scheduled flights from its bases in Eastern Canada, primarily Toronto and Ottawa, to locations across North America using a fleet of Canadian-built De Havilland Canada DHC-8-400 turboprop aircraft and Embraer E195-E2 jet aircraft.
National Air Cargo Group, Inc., also operating as National Airlines, is a U.S. airline based in Orlando, Florida. It operates on-demand cargo and passenger charter services. It added scheduled passenger service on December 16, 2015, from its hub at Orlando Sanford International Airport, Orlando.
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Millardair Ltd. was a Canadian airline that operated from 1963 until 1990 and from the 1990s to 2012 was an aircraft maintenance and servicing firm Millard Air Incorporated. Formerly based in Mississauga, Ontario, Millard Air moved their operations to Breslau, Ontario in 2012 and ceased MRO activities after Wayne Millard's murder in December 2012.
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Skycraft Air Transport Inc. was a Canadian airline based at Oshawa Municipal Airport in Oshawa, Ontario, that operated between 1979 and 1994.
Pem-air from was an aviation company based out of the Pembroke Airport.
