Good morning from Victoria International Airport!
My name is Alex, and welcome to this trip report.
Today, I’m flying with Air North, on what may be the shortest commercial 737 flight
in all of Canada - a 63 kilometre hop over the Strait of Georgia to Vancouver!
Air North is a Northern Canadian airline which mainly serves the Yukon Territory, from its
capital and largest city of Whitehorse.
They fly a fleet of Boeing 737s and ATR 42s, and are also the only commercial operator
of the 737-500 variant in the country.
Air North flies to Victoria as part of a triangle routing, flying from Whitehorse to Victoria,
then to Vancouver, and then back to Whitehorse, or in the opposite direction.
The Victoria to Vancouver leg can be booked, and I managed to grab a ticket for just over
$100 CDN.
My first experience with Air North back in December of 2018 was actually taking advantage
of one of these triangle routings, flying their 737-500 from Edmonton to Calgary.
At the time this was filmed, back in August of 2020, Air North had unfortunately scaled
back a fair bit, having cut their services to Calgary, Edmonton, Yellowknife, and Ottawa.
Air North’s route between Whitehorse and Vancouver though, is one of their busiest,
and this triangle routing with Victoria lets them sell a few more seats for Vancouver Island travellers.
Last summer, BC residents were able to travel to Yukon without having to quarantine for
14 days, and as much as I would’ve liked to continue on and visit Whitehorse again,
that exemption didn’t apply to Alberta residents like myself.
We’ll be departing from one of Victoria’s four jetway gates today, and here’s our
aircraft arriving from Whitehorse - a 27 year old Boeing 737-500 registered as...
This aircraft was first delivered to Norwegian airline Braathens in 1993, then flew with
Xiamen Air, Aeroflot-Nord, and Nordavia, before joining Air North in 2010.
As we board, I just wanted to give a quick thank you to my channel members for their
ongoing support.
Flights in Canada aren’t exactly cheap, as seen by the fact that I’m paying 100
dollars for a 20 minute flight, and that support really helps me continue making videos like this.
My seat for this short flight is 3A.
As most of you already know, I’m quite tall, so the legroom here is just fine for today,
since it’s only a 20 minute flight.
At the time this was recorded, Air North was blocking the middle seats on their 737s, and,
impressively, they still do that to this day.
That left plenty of extra space for me and my neighbour in the aisle.
In the seatback pocket, you’ll find a safety card for the 737-500, an air sickness bag,
and unfortunately no in-flight magazine for the moment.
The tray table is also a good size, but doesn’t quite fit over my knees.
I’ve noticed the legroom tends to vary from row to row on Air North’s aircraft, and
the back half of the 737-500s do have a bit more legroom.
I picked this seat for the engine view though, and I’d say it was worth some discomfort.
With that, we pushed back as the cabin crew gave the safety briefing.
Here’s our departure from Victoria, taxiing and taking off from runway 27.
As we climbed out from Victoria, turning eastbound towards the mainland, we were treated to the
usual stunning scenery of southeast Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.
We climbed up to just 4,000 feet initially, before descending back down to 3,000 as we
approached the Strait of Georgia.
As is often the case in BC, the weather in Vancouver was much different than Victoria’s,
and we entered the clouds about halfway across the Strait.
We stayed in them until our final approach into Vancouver, so unfortunately the views
pretty much stopped at that point.
Air North’s Boeing 737-500s seat 122 people in their standard all-economy configuration.
There are two lavatories on the 737-500, one in the front, and one in the back.
I should point out, these clips were filmed on different Air North flights.
The seatbelt sign stayed on for the whole Victoria to Vancouver flight, as you’d expect.
As you’d also expect, there was no food or drink service on board since the flight
was so short.
Prior to the pandemic though, Air North was known for their fantastic onboard service,
including complimentary meals, drinks, and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
Eventually, after a few more minutes, we popped out of the clouds on final approach for Vancouver
International Airport’s runway 26L.
So, that was one of Canada’s shortest 737 flights!
From takeoff to touchdown, we were in the air for just 18 minutes!
All in all, this was a pretty fun experience - Victoria Airport is really nice to fly through,
it’s easy to navigate with a super short walk to the gate.
The Air North staff in Victoria were wonderful, as were the crew on board, though again, we
didn’t see much of them.
After this flight though, I couldn’t help but think back to my 2019 trip to Whitehorse,
and remembered how much I enjoyed my time there.
I’m really hoping I’ll be able to see more of Canada’s North this year, and maybe
try out an Air North ATR when I can.
As always, thank you so much for watching this trip report.
Stay safe, take care, and I will see you next time.