R1 Airlines Ltd., formerly known as Regional 1 Airlines, is a

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 Nort ...

based in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada.

History

It was established and started operations in August 2003 as Westpoint Airlines and renamed to Regional 1 Airlines the following year operating scheduled services in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

. On September 11, 2005, the airline ceased providing scheduled operations and focused entirely on providing business charter services, workforce transportation and ACMI operations. R1 Airlines under Order No. 2019-A-52 had its operating certificates suspended, on April 8th 2019 by the Canadian Transportation Agency. Reason for suspension is listed as "The Licensee has ceased to meet the requirement to hold a valid Canadian aviation document under subparagraphs 61(a)(ii) and 73(1)(a)(ii) of the Canada Transportation Act, S.C., 1996, c. 10, as amended (CTA)". On February 20th 2020, Determination No. A-2020-30 was issued by the Canadian Transportation Agency as The Licensee has requested that the licences remain suspended and not be cancelled. The Canadian Transportation Agency stated that the licences will be automatically cancelled, if they are not reinstated within one year from the date of this Determination.

Destinations

Prior to September 11, 2005, the airline served the following five cities in western Canada: *Alberta **

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

, Red Deer Regional Airport *British Columbia **

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, ...

Kamloops Airport Kamloops Airport , also known as Fulton Field or John "Moose" Fulton Airfield, is a regional airport located west northwest of Kamloops, British Columbia, a city in the Thompson region of Canada. It is owned by the Kamloops Airport Authority S ...

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ' ...

Kelowna International Airport Kelowna International Airport is a Canadian airport located approximately 10 minutes or northeast of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, on Highway 97. The single runway airport operates scheduled air service to Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a ...

Vancouver International Airport Vancouver International Airport is an international airport located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, serving the city of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland region. It is located from Downtown Vancouver. It is the second busies ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Victoria International Airport Victoria International Airport serves Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is north northwest of Victoria on the Saanich Peninsula, with the bulk of the airport (including the passenger terminal) in North Saanich, British Columbia, North Saa ...

It used to operate one aircraft in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, flying for the

World Food Programme The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен� ...

, under the auspices of

United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or MONUSCO, an acronym based on its French name , is a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which was estab ...

. The company also operated two

Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

and two

DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...

aircraft for Flamingo Air in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

, until operations were halted after the fall of former President

Jean-Bertrand Aristide Jean-Bertrand Aristide (born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince ...

. Police fleeing insurgents in

Cap-Haïtien Cap-Haïtien (; ht, Kap Ayisyen; "Haitian Cape"), typically spelled Cape Haitien in English and often locally referred to as or , is a commune of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the department of Nord. Previousl ...

hijacked one Dash 8 on the ramp and forced the crew to fly them to

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is defin ...

, and during the takeoff roll the aircraft came under fire but was not damaged. R1 offers fleet and services to the oil and gas industry, mining, peacekeeping and humanitarian missions, the construction industry, energy and utilities and forestry.

Fleet

Current fleet

The R1 Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of September 2019). All aircraft are listed under Regional 1 Airlines:

Former fleet

The airline previously operated other models of the aircraft listed above and the

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then rest ...

.Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: History Search Result
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Joint venture with Air Georgian

On November 15, 2013, Regional 1 and

Air Georgian Air Georgian Limited was a privately owned charter airline based at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Between 2000 and 2020 its main business was its operation as Air Canada Express on a Tier III codeshar ...

completed a joint venture through the creation of a parent company, Regional Express Aviation Ltd. (REAL), based in Calgary, Alberta and then rebranded under the name of R1 Airlines Ltd. Its new ownership structure gives the subsidiary additional clout in both the domestic and international aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) business charter markets. One of the immediate benefits delivered through the launch of REAL was Air Georgian's 15-strong fleet of Beech 1900D turboprops, which are now being offered by R1 on both new and existing ACMI contracts in addition to its regular scheduled work for Air Canada. Through its links with Air Georgian and Avmax, R1 Airlines now has access to the world's largest private fleet of Dash 8 and CRJs, while the addition of the 18-seat Beech 1900Ds mean it can now serve far smaller markets that had been inaccessible to its larger types. The arrangement also provides more than $100 million in spare parts and domestic maintenance bases in Halifax, Montreal, Kingston, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. International deployments are supported through Avmax facilities in Great Falls, Montana, Jacksonville, Florida, Nairobi, Kenya and N’djamena, Chad.

References

{{Portal bar, Canada, Companies, Aviation Regional airlines of Alberta Airlines established in 2003