Ontario Express

Ontario Express was a regional airline in Canada.

Ontario Express

IATA ICAO Call sign 9X OEL PARTNER
Commenced operations	July 15, 1987 (1987-07-15)
Ceased operations	April 1993 (1993-04) (merged with Time Air to form Canadian Regional Airlines)
Hubs	Toronto Pearson International Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Canadian Plus
Parent company	Canadian Airlines International
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario, Canada

History

Ontario Express first started operations on July 15, 1987 as a regional feeder airline for Canadian Airlines based at the Toronto Pearson International Airport. It began service to Hamilton in March 1989. This was a way to apply the newly designed commercial aviation strategy at the time: use smaller aircraft to gather passengers from various locations and "feed" the main airline which would then carry those passengers worldwide. The term "feeder airline" became a standard in all commercial aviation. The other term employed was a "spoke and wheel" type of organization, the spoke being the centre where all the feeder airlines would fly in the passengers from around the area. Operations started with 4 Jetstream 31 aircraft, manufactured by British Aerospace. ATR 42 aircraft, built by a Franco-Italian consortium Avions de transport régional, were added to the fleet in 1988. Ontario Express was the first airline to import and operate those 2 aircraft in Canada. The first cities that were connected to Toronto were: Windsor, Sault Ste. Marie, Sarnia, London, Kingston, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, and Sudbury.

Further reading

• Oum, Tae Hoon; Stanbury, W.T.; Tretheway, Michael W. (1991). "Airline Deregulation in Canada and Its Economic Effects". Transportation Journal. 30 (4): 4–22. JSTOR 20713095.
• Oum, Tae; Stanbury, William; Tretheway, Michael (2017). "Airline deregulation in Canada". Airline Deregulation. pp. 124–187. doi:10.4324/9781315212036-5. ISBN 978-1-315-21203-6.
• Hanlon, Pat (2007). "Mergers and alliances". Global Airlines. pp. 287–322. doi:10.1016/B978-0-7506-6439-4.50012-2. ISBN 978-0-7506-6439-4.
• Marchildon, Lori; Marchildon, Lori (2020). The Effects of Airline Acquisitions in the Canadian Airline Industry. 29th Annual Canadian Transportation Research Forum, Vancouver, British Columbia, May 15–18, 1994. doi:10.22004/ag.econ.306063.
• Snider, Bradley; Snider, Bradley (2020). Seasonality and Economic Efficiency in the Canadian Airline Industry: Performance in Air Fares Since Deregulation. 29th Annual Canadian Transportation Research Forum, Vancouver, British Columbia, May 15–18, 1994. doi:10.22004/ag.econ.305994.
• Conboy, Alan (16 December 2013). "Air Transport Industry". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
• "Ontario Express history from Americas, Canada". Airline History.
• Romain, Ken (2 December 1987). "Ontario Express orders six new Jetstream aircraft". The Globe and Mail. p. B.13. ProQuest 386022550.
• Benzing, Karen (24 June 1987). "Canadian Airlines' new commuter service finally christened". The Ottawa Citizen. p. A19. ProQuest 239114424.