Orca Airways Explained

Airline:Orca Airways
Fleet Size:20
Destinations:6
Iata:OR
Icao:ORK
Callsign:ORCA
Parent:Integra Air
Founded:2005
Ceased:April 30, 2018
Headquarters:Vancouver, British Columbia
Hubs:Vancouver International Airport
Focus Cities:Tofino
Website:http://www.flyorcaair.com/

Orca Airways was a scheduled and charter airline based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The airline provided scheduled commercial service, cargo and charter services, and aircraft management in Canada and the western United States. Orca operated a fleet of that includes 14 Piper PA-31-350 Chieftains, 1 Fairchild SA227s and 2 Beechcraft Model 100 King Air. The company operated from the south terminal at Vancouver International Airport.

History

Orca Airways was a family-owned airline which was founded in January 2005, and began operations in July 2005. At the time it only operated routes from Vancouver International Airport to Tofino-Long Beach Airport operating one Piper Navajo on this route. It soon began expanding to provide charter service and cargo service. Orca Airways had the largest Navajo fleet airline in Canada and continued to expand providing scheduled and cargo routes across British Columbia.

On 27 February 2009 the airline acquired the small regional carrier Airspeed Aviation which was established in 1986 and based in Abbotsford, British Columbia.[1]

On March 15, 2018 Transport Canada suspended the airline's operating certificate citing its "repeated non-compliance with aviation safety regulations".[2] [3]

Destinations

As of April 2018, Orca Airways flew to the following destinations:[4]

Fleet

As of May 2018 Orca Airways fleet was still listed with Transport Canada:

Orca Airways Fleet
AircraftNo. of AircraftVariantsNotes
Beechcraft Model 991
Beechcraft King Air2Model 100, Model A100
Beechcraft Super King Air1Model 200
Learjet 35135A
Piper PA-31 Navajo14PA-31-350 Chieftain
Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner1SA227-AT

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Airspeed Aviation . Airline History . 27 July 2020.
  2. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/transport-canada-suspends-orca-airways-operator-certificate/article38290101/Transport Canada suspends operator certificate of Orca Airways
  3. https://www.bclocalnews.com/news/orca-airways-closes-shop-after-13-years-in-business/ Orca Airways closes shop after 13 years in Business
  4. Web site: Flight schedule . 2008-08-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100521005004/http://www.flyorcaair.com/flight-schedule.php . 2010-05-21 . dead .