A big piece of Saskatoon airline history departing for Lethbridge

A relic aircraft of Canada’s airline history will soon be taking a trip away from Saskatoon, but it won’t be by air.

Rik Barry, chairman of the Time Air Historical Society based in Calgary and Lethbridge, Alta., said they’ll be in Saskatoon over the next three days disassembling an aircraft that they’ll be transporting back to Lethbridge.

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The C-FTAV, a 1976-built Fokker F-28-1000, will be used by the society to celebrate early airline history in Canada.

The plane has been stored at the Saskatoon Airport since 2002. Barry explained there were roughly 25 aircraft retired at that time.

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“Air Canada retired them in 2002 and, because of the history of Norcan Air and their experience with the F-28, decided to mothball the whole fleet here where they have stayed for the last 22 years,” Barry said.

Norcan Air was a Saskatoon-based airline back in the day, with Barry saying that Time Air had purchased the company back in 1987.

“Later, Time Air was renamed Canadian Regional to better align with its parent company, which was Canadian Airlines.”

He said this move was the start of an airline museum dedicated to the history of Canadian airlines.

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Barry said there were close to 40 airlines throughout Canada’s history that eventually came to form Canadian Airlines before Air Canada took over.

He said any similar remaining aircraft in Saskatoon will be scrapped over the coming years.

Jesse Millington, operations coordinator with Time Air Historical Society,  explained the process — including the removal of the wings — involved in moving an airplane by truck and trailer.

“The wings are actually bolted. There’s about 300 plus really annoying bolts,” Millington said.

The body of the plane sits on one trailer, while the wings get hauled on another.

He said that this was not an easy process to get this aircraft, adding that this moment was four years in the making.

“It means a lot just to everybody here, everybody who is involved, and hopefully it will mean something to future generations that see the plane.”