On Thursday, August 3rd, Buffalo Airways took delivery of their very
first jet aircraft - a Boeing 737-300 Freighter!
This plane marks a huge new step for the company which is famous for their fleet
of classic aircraft like the Douglas DC-3, Curtiss C-46, Lockheed Electra,
and more. Based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Buffalo operates cargo and
charter flights throughout the NWT and into Nunavut, as well as aerial firefighting.
Now their cargo operation includes various contracts from UPS, FedEx, and DHL, but the
majority of that freight actually comes from Buffalo’s in-house courier Buffalo Air Express.
At the moment, most of that gets trucked from Edmonton up to Hay River and then
flown into Yellowknife from there. The 737 will streamline that process significantly,
and the plan is to fly it every weekday between Edmonton and Yellowknife to meet
this demand for next-day freight to the North.
The 737 acquisition was announced about a year and a half ago,
and after a successful test flight a few weeks back, the plane was ferried from Bournemouth,
UK to Edmonton. It’ll spend a few weeks here undergoing some
avionics modifications before it gets its Canadian registration and enters service.
Once it arrived in Edmonton though, the plane was greeted with this water cannon salute from
the Edmonton International Airport, and then brought into North Cariboo Air's hangar and
opened up to the public! Buffalo, YEG, and North Cariboo all put on a wonderful
event where we got a rare opportunity to poke around this newest addition to Buffalo's fleet.
It was a genuine treat to be part of this historic day and everyone involved did a
fantastic job, so a huge congratulations to Buffalo Airways, and enjoy the video!