Pacific Coastal Airlines flight C-FPCU preparing for take off at South Vancouver airport BC Canada. SCO 11,290.
The original Pacific Coastal Airlines was established in the 1960s, operating from its base at Cassidy Airport, now Nanaimo Airport, near Nanaimo. In early 1980, the airline was acquired by Jim Pattison Industries and absorbed into Airwest Airlines, also recently acquired by Pattison. At the time of the acquisition, Pacific Coastal was operating on the Nanaimo-Vancouver, Victoria-Nanaimo-Comox-Campbell River-Port Hardy, and Nanaimo-Qualicum-Port Alberni routes. On November 1, 1980, Airwest and several other local airlines recently acquired by Pattison were merged into Air BC. The current Pacific Coastal Airlines was established in 1987 by the merger of Powell Air and the Port Hardy division of Air BC. It acquired the shares and assets of Wilderness Airlines on April 1, 1998. As of 2015, it has over 300 employees. Originally designated the SF340, the aircraft first flew on 25 January 1983. When Fairchild exited the aircraft manufacturing business in 1985 after about 40 units, Saab dropped the name Fairchild from the project and continued aircraft production under the designation Saab 340A and 159 A models were built. An improved version, the second generation 340B, introduced more powerful engines and wider horizontal stabilizers in 1989 and the later 340Bs also had an active noise control system. 200 aircraft were built. The final third generation version, the 340B Plus, was delivered for service in 1994 and incorporated improvements that were being introduced at the same time in the Saab 2000. 100 aircraft were built adding up to a total of 300 B models. The Saab 340 typically seated between 30 and 36 passengers, with 34 seats being the most common configuration. The last two 340s built were constructed as older configuration 36-seat aircraft for Japan Air Commuter.
Size: 5716px × 4281px
Location: South Vancouver Airport. British Columbia. Canada.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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