Air Creebec Inc. is a

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

-owned

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

based in

Val-d'Or Val-d'Or ( , , ; meaning "Golden Valley" or "Valley of Gold") is a city in Quebec, Canada with a population of 32,752 inhabitants according to the 2021 Canadian census. The city is located in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region near La Vérendrye ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. It operates scheduled and

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

services to 16 destinations in Quebec and

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. Its main base is Val-d'Or Airport, with a hub at Timmins Victor M. Power Airport. As part of its charter operations, the airline operates a medical charter service in conjunction with the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay to provide access to medical specialists and services in the South to Quebec Cree.

History

The airline was established in June 1982 and started operations on 1 July 1982.

Billy Diamond Billy Diamond (May 19, 1949 – September 30, 2010) was the Chief of the Waskaganish, Quebec Cree from 1970 to 1976, the Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees from 1974 to 1984, and a successful businessman who founded Air Creebec. Diamon ...

, first and former Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Cree is credited with the founding of the airline. At that time the Cree owned 51% of the company and Austin Airways owned the remaining 49%. In 1988 the Cree purchased all the airline assets in the largest commercial deal to that date performed by any Indigenous group in Canada, making Air Creebec owned entirely by the Cree. According to Cree sources, during negotiations to launch the airline, Quebec Premier of Quebec

René Lévesque René Lévesque ( ; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to seek, ...

muttered "Indians don't run airlines Billy" to which founder Billy Diamond replied "Well, this Indian is going to." On 23 March 2012, Air Creebec discontinued its service to

La Grande Rivière Airport La Grande Rivière Airport is an airfield location about south southwest of Radisson, Quebec, Canada. It is used mostly to shuttle Hydro-Québec personnel between Radisson and the larger cities in Quebec, but it is also served by regular sch ...

. In 2023 the airline appointed its first female CEO Tanya Pash, succeeding outgoing CEO Matthew Happyjack. Prior to her appointment Pash served as COO for 10 years.

Destinations

Air Creebec operates services to the following Canadian domestic scheduled destinations (as of August 2019):

Interline agreements

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada, by size and passengers carried. Air Canada is headquartered in the borough of Saint-Laurent in the city of Montreal. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and cha ...

Fleet

Transport Canada Transport Canada () is the Ministry (government department), department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, Policy, policies and Public services, services of road, rail, marine and air Transport in Canada, tra ...

listed 22 aircraft and Air Creebec listed 18

Affinity programs

The airline offers

Aeroplan Aeroplan is the frequent-flyer program owned by Air Canada, Canada's flag carrier. The Aeroplan program was created in July 1984 by Air Canada as an incentive program for its frequent flyer customers. In 2002 it was spun off as a separate corpor ...

rewards points, both to collect and to redeem.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Airlines established in 1982 Canadian companies established in 1982 Air Transport Association of Canada Cree Indigenous owned businesses in Canada Companies based in Quebec Regional airlines of Quebec Val-d'Or 1982 establishments in Quebec