Great Lakes Airlines, the predecessor of Air Ontario, was formed in 1958 and based in Sarnia, becoming Air Ontario Ltd. in 1983 and Air Ontario Inc. in June 1987.[3][1] In 1969, Great Lakes was only operating between Sarnia and Toronto as an independent air carrier with just two roundtrip nonstop flights primarily flown on weekdays with Douglas DC-3 aircraft.[4] Also in 1969, the airline began acquiring Convair 440 piston powered airliners configured with 44 passenger seats in order to replace the DC-3 aircraft and also to expand scheduled passenger service to other destinations in Ontario province such as London, Ottawa, Kitchener and Peterborough.[5]
However, by 1975 Great Lakes was in financial trouble which resulted in the Sarnia - Toronto route being the only scheduled passenger service operated at this time and also led to the airline being purchased by a partnership consisting of a group of Toronto businessmen including James Plaxton, who brought in new capital from the DeLuce family when he merged Great Lakes with their Austin Airways operation. In 1977, the airline moved its headquarters from Sarnia to London, Ontario and also purchased Flightexec Ltd. which was based in London and operated executive charters with Piper Aztec twin prop business aircraft with Great Lakes continuing to operate Flightexec as a separate air carrier.[5] During the late 1970s, the airline had once again expanded and was serving five cities in Ontario province including Toronto, Ottawa, London, ON, Peterborough, ON and Sarnia with up to ten roundtrip nonstop flights being operated every weekday on the core Toronto - London route in 1977.[6][7][8] By early 1981, Great Lakes was still operating as an independent air carrier with service to four cities in Ontario province including Toronto, Ottawa, London and Sarnia with all flights being operated at this time with Convair 580 turboprops configured with 55 passenger seats.[9][10]
By the fall of 1981, the airline had changed its name and was operating as Air Ontario which in turn continued to serve Toronto, Ottawa, London, ON and Sarnia as an independent air carrier operating Convair 580 turboprops.[11][12] In the summer of 1986 Air Ontario was serving eleven destinations in Canada as an independent regional air carrier including Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Windsor, ON, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Sudbury, ON, North Bay, ON, London, ON and Sarnia plus two destinations in the U.S., being Cleveland and Hartford with the airline also ordering new de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 turboprops at this time.[13][14] Also in 1986, Air Canada and Pacific Western Airlines equally split 49% of the shares of Air Ontario. In 1987, Air Canada and Austin Airways split the Air Ontario shares in a 3:1 ratio upon its Canadian incorporation.[15] Both Air Ontario and Austin Airways were operating Air Canada Connector (now known as Jazz Aviation) services on behalf of Air Canada in 1987 with Air Ontario flying Convair 580 and new Dash 8 turboprops at this time.[16]
By the late 1980s, Air Ontario was operating Fokker F28 Fellowship jets as well as Dash 8 turboprops on Air Canada Connector services.[17][18] According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), one of the first F28 jet routes operated by Air Ontario on behalf of Air Canada was nonstop service between Toronto and Sault Ste. Marie, ON with four roundtrip F28 flights being operated every weekday in December 1988.[19] Also according to this same Dec. 1, 1988 OAG, these nonstop Air Ontario F28 flights between Toronto and Sault Ste. Marie had replaced Air Canada's mainline jet service on the route with Air Ontario competing at this time with Canadian Airlines International mainline Boeing 737-200 nonstop jet service between the two cities. By early 1989, the airline was also operating Air Canada Connector service with an F28 jet on a roundtrip routing of Thunder Bay - Dryden - Winnipeg with this flight being involved in fatal accident on take-off from Dryden in March of that year (see Accidents and incidents section below).
In December 2000, Air Ontario was amalgamated into Air Canada.[20]
In January 2001, a newly merged carrier called Air Canada Regional Inc. was established. A wholly owned subsidiary of Air Canada, this company combined the individual strengths of four regional airlines—Air BC, Air Nova, Air Ontario, and Canadian Regional Airlines. Consolidation of these four companies was completed in 2002 and was marked by the launch of a new name and brand—Air Canada Jazz.[15]
Air Ontario was operating a small fleet of Convair 580 turboprops (later replaced by Fokker F28 Fellowship jets beginning in late 1988[19] and also by new Dash 8 turboprops) as an independent air carrier in 1984 with scheduled passenger service to the following destinations in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec as well as to two destinations in the United States:[25]
Air Ontario was operating Air Canada Connector service via a code sharing agreement with Air Canada to the following destinations in Canada and the United States in 1992;[26] by 1995, Air Ontario had added nonstop Air Canada Connector service between Toronto and Baltimore and was operating all flights system-wide with de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 turboprop aircraft.[27]
Air Ontario was operating a hub at the Toronto Pearson International Airport in the spring of 2000 as an Air Canada Connector code sharing air carrier on behalf of its owner Air Canada and had greatly expanded its transborder services to the United States. The following cities in Canada and the U.S. were being served at this time primarily via nonstop service to and from Toronto with all flights being operated with Dash 8 turboprops.[28]
On March 10, 1989, Air Ontario Flight 1363, a Fokker F28-1000 Fellowship twin jet, registration C-FONF, crashed near Dryden, Ontario immediately after take-off en route from Dryden to Winnipeg with this flight having previously departed from Thunder Bay. The aircraft crashed after only forty-nine seconds after liftoff from the Dryden Regional Airport because it was not able to achieve enough altitude to clear the trees beyond the end of the runway due to ice and snow on the wings. This caused the death of 21 of 65 passengers and 3 of 4 crew members. Some of the survivors were able to escape from the plane on their own but the others were carried to safety. The accident happened because the APU (auxiliary power unit) did not work, so the crew had to keep one of the engines running at Dryden. However, the necessary de-icing was only authorised if both the main engines are stopped. Air Ontario's policies forbid de-icing if one of the engines was running due to the possibility of the fumes being sucked into the air conditioning system and harming those in the cabin. Furthermore, if the pilots had shut down the engines, with no APU and with Dryden airport not having the equipment required to restart the engines, the plane would have been stranded. This situation was exacerbated by an extended wait on the taxiway while priority was given to an incoming Cessna. However, it is possible that de-icing would not have prevented this accident, as the type of fluid commonly used at the time was not intended for long wait times. Additionally, the de-icing process would be completed at the terminal, and not on the runway, reducing the time that the fluid would be effective after application. Recommendations made in the accident report included use of better de-icing fluid, more frequent maintenance of Air Ontario's planes, and de-icing directly on the runway, as well as prioritizing planes that had been de-iced due to the narrow window remaining for take-off. Following the crash, Air Ontario subsequently removed the remaining F28 jet (registration C-FONG) from its fleet later in 1989 and thus became an all Dash 8 turboprop operator at that time.[30]
^ ab"Air Ontario & Its Tragic Pair Of F28 Fellowships". Yesterdays Airlines. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2016. By 1975 the airline was in trouble and was purchased by a partnership including Mr James Plaxton who would later become the 100% owner.
^ abDec. 1, 1988 OAG Pocket Flight Guide, North American Edition, Air Canada Connector F28 service operated by Air Ontario, Toronto (YYZ)-Sault Ste. Marie (YAM) flight schedules
