The Boeing 737-200 Combi is a plane that’s almost synonymous with Canada’s North.
These early versions of the 737 were produced from the late 1960s until the late 1980s,
and many of these were flown by Canadian carriers over the years.
Now the 737-200 is unique in that it’s one of the few jet-powered aircraft that can be
fitted with a gravel kit, allowing it to use unpaved runways.
Quite a few of those Canadian -200s were also combi aircraft, able to carry a flexible number
of passengers and cargo pallets on the main deck.
That makes this plane extremely useful for serving northern Canadian communities, and
they’ve done so for decades.
That gravel runway and combi capability in itself is why these planes can still be seen
flying around Canada today, long after being retired by the major airlines.
Unfortunately though, one of Canada’s remaining operators has since announced the retirement
of the type.
Canadian North Airlines was the last scheduled operator in the Western Arctic, and flew their
final scheduled flights with the 737-200 this past week.
Over the last year or so, this one plane had been based in Yellowknife, NWT, and flew exclusively
to the communities of Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk, both of which have gravel runways.
Regrettably, I wasn’t able to be there for that very last flight, but given the significance
of this one plane, I paid a visit to Yellowknife about two weeks ago to fly on it one last
time.
It ended up being quite the classic aviation adventure, so I hope you enjoy.
Yellowknife Airport has undergone a few renovations since I was last here, and Canadian North
naturally takes up most of the check-in area.
Our flights today would take us along the whole triangle route, heading to Cambridge
Bay first, then Kugluktuk and back to Yellowknife, although sometimes they’d fly it in the
opposite direction.
To make things even more interesting though, both of those communities are above the Arctic
Circle, at 69 and 67 degrees North respectively.
As a result, the normal fares for these flights could be quite expensive, and so I was very
glad that Canadian North has a partnership with Aeroplan.
Those points certainly came in handy to make this even happen at all.
Our plane for today was the sole remaining 737-200 in the Canadian North fleet, this
43-year-old -200 Combi registered as Charlie Golf Delta Papa Alpha.
This plane was delivered in April of 1980 to Calgary-based oil company Dome Petroleum,
before moving to Pacific Western Airlines in 1984, Canadian Airlines International in
1987, Air Canada in 2001, and finally Canadian North later in 2001.
This flight is also a personally significant one for me.
The first time I ever flew on a 737-200 was in 2018 with Canadian North from Edmonton
to Yellowknife.
As bittersweet as this is knowing it’ll be my last trip on one of these with Canadian
North, I am glad to be here.
That said, we had a nice reminder that the type isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Nolinor Aviation is the largest operator of the 737-200 in the world, and they do have
one based here in Yellowknife.
They, as well as Air Inuit, Chrono Aviation, and Glencore Canada will still be flying these
for the foreseeable future.
Like most flights up North, there isn’t actually any security screening before boarding,
and so the gate area for this flight is also the arrivals area for others.
Eventually, we were off across the ramp to this ride on a piece of Canadian aviation history.
My seat for the first of the three flights is 17F.
17F is in the last few rows of the cabin, with some amazing legroom, and this great
view of the wing and thrust reverser.
I suspect it’s because of that fact, that the window is a bit murky.
Not to worry though, I had some much better windows on the later flights!
We’d be flying with 3 pallets and 60 seats today, and already I was super excited just
to be on board.
This plane being 43 years old, a cancellation or swap to an ATR for maintenance reasons
was a very real possibility, so I was over the moon that things were going to plan!
Soon enough, we were pushing back, and here’s the departure from Yellowknife, off of runway 16.
One of the many things I love about the 737-200 is that takeoff power just drowns out every
other noise in the cabin!
17F is also just far back enough to hear that iconic crackle as we climbed.
This first leg to Cambridge Bay takes us 850 kilometres northeast with a flight time of
just over an hour.
Cambridge Bay itself is actually located off of mainland North America, on Victoria Island.
It is someplace I’ve wanted to visit for a while, partly because of just how remote
it is.
Besides, not a ton of people can say they’ve been above the Arctic Circle!
As you might imagine with a plane from 1980, the seat tour is pretty basic.
You’ve got your tray table right in front, and this pretty large seatback pocket.
In there was the safety card for the 737-200, which unfortunately never got to see this
livery.
All red JT8Ds would’ve looked good.
Also there was an air sickness bag, and a pamphlet promoting Canadian North’s new
Calgary to Yellowknife flight, which just launched back in February.
And yes, that is the flight I took to get to Yellowknife, it was very surprising…
In a good way!
[Video on that soon]
A few minutes later, our cabin crew began the in-flight service.
Canadian North is one of those airlines that really sets the bar high for domestic Economy
class meals, and on today’s flight, we got this actual meal tray.
Here, we had this chicken salad sandwich, which came with a carrot salad, and this small
dessert too.
The fact that this is still a domestic Canadian flight just blows me away.
That said, the sandwich was a little dry, but the carrot salad and the dessert were
both pretty decent, and this all came with free beverages too.
It’s a bit hard to see, but I could just make out some of the landscape as we started
the descent.
It is a very bizarre sight getting closer and closer to the ground without any terrain
features to go by.
Here’s the arrival into Cambridge Bay, landing on runway 31 True, with, you guessed it, a
bit of a dust storm!
We had about an hour’s stop here in Cambridge Bay, and so I took the opportunity to take
a look around what is by far the northernmost place I’ve ever been to!
The hamlet of Cambridge Bay is home to approximately 1700 people, and it’s the administrative
centre for the Kitikmeot Region of western Nunavut.
It’s also the largest stop for ships traversing the Northwest Passage.
With that, there is, according to the hamlet’s website, “an impressive list of Arctic explorers”
that have used Cambridge Bay’s waters as a winter haven.
I stepped outside for a bit to take in the sights, and it was a brisk minus 18.
With everything around us still being frozen, it is honestly quite a beautiful sight just
looking at snow in every direction.
As much as I would’ve liked to stay a night here, there was a good chance of weather potentially
derailing things.
Given my past experiences in the north, I knew it would probably be a safer bet to do
the whole triangle route in one day instead.
I’m still personally counting this as a visit to Nunavut though, and I’m sure I’ll
be back at some point!
Now, one thing you might’ve noticed is that the runway signs up here look a bit different.
That’s because in Canada’s Northern Domestic Airspace, that is, basically most of Nunavut
and a bit of the Northwest Territories, runways are numbered in relation to the geographic
North Pole, as opposed to the magnetic North Pole everywhere else.
Just before leaving, I made sure to get a printed copy of my boarding pass as a keepsake.
That turned out to be a wise decision, since they didn’t have scanners here and my online
one wasn’t going to be of any use.
So, I said goodbye to Cambridge Bay for now, and hopped back on board for the rest of the journey.
For this next one, I sat a bit further back in row 18, which did indeed have a slightly
cleaner window.
Like I was saying before, I had a good reason for taking this route all in one day, and
that became very clear as boarding finished up.
With that, we were starting up again for departure to, hopefully, Kugluktuk.
Just before I boarded though, I actually ran into a viewer of mine named Casey, who very
kindly offered to take some video of the departure for me!
So, please enjoy this dual view as we depart Cambridge Bay, off of runway 31 True.
A sincere thank you to Casey for that insane footage, and for getting blasted by a cloud
of dust for me.
It was definitely a surprise to run into someone who watches these videos, so thanks so much
again for offering and for stopping to say hi!
This second flight to Kugluktuk would span another 433 kilometres, taking about 40 minutes
in the air.
That was still long enough for our crew to give out these shortbread cookies, which are,
funny enough, the exact same ones that Porter gives out now!
That also came with yet another drink.
Pretty soon, we were descending through the clouds once again, and, spoiler alert, here’s
the arrival into Kugluktuk, landing on runway 30 True.
The town of Kugluktuk is home to just under 1400 people, and is the westernmost community
in Nunavut, served through this terminal building.
On this stopover, I opted to stay on board after asking if there was any chance of a
flight deck visit at some point today.
Fortunately, we had a stellar crew flying today and they were nice enough to let me
have a look.
It was a real treat to be able to sit up front here for a couple of minutes, just looking
around, and talking about the plane a bit.
Canadian North never did go for the avionics upgrade that some of Canada’s other operators
did, and so the newest thing here is really just the GPS.
It really does show how much aviation has changed in the 43 years this plane has flown
for.
There are a couple of gravel kit-specific details too, like the switch on the overhead
panel, and this extra bit on the gear handle.
I’m told that’s a tactile reminder for pilots of the different landing gear speeds
due to the gravel kit.
That’s mainly because of the big deflector plate on the nose landing gear, which obviously
causes a bit more drag than a non-gravel kit 737.
It’s little details like those that I love learning about, so I can’t thank our crew
enough for making this flight one to remember.
We also got to look through the cargo hold, which was obviously empty except for this
ballast at the front since all the passengers are at the back.
Now there was one more treat in store.
I had brought my GoPro along, and had the idea to mount it somewhere further up in the
empty cargo area to get a view looking back at the engine.
Fortunately, our pilots were cool with that, and I was so happy that worked out since it’s
an angle you can’t really get when half the plane is cargo.
I also chatted with the cabin crew a bit, and it turns out that one of them also watches
these!
Thanks again for making this a super fun flight.
As boarding started once again, I made my way to another new seat in 14F, and we were
soon off on the last flight back to Yellowknife.
Please enjoy these multiple angles and JT8D engine sounds as we depart runway 12 True.
The final leg is basically a straight shot southbound, covering another 600 or so kilometres
and bringing an end to this fantastic joyride with Canadian North.
We were given another meal tray with the same chicken salad sandwich, plus another complimentary
drink, and thankfully has some clearer views below.
Unlike the other 737-200 airlines, Canadian North’s, at least on the two planes of theirs
I’ve flown, have the best looking bulkheads.
I love that they went to the effort of making it look nice with these photos!
The rest of the cabin is also full of little details too, like the old “seriously northern”
branding, and these galley bins with the names of long-gone airlines like Air Canada’s
Zip and Canadian Regional.
Those were all unfortunately before my time as an avgeek, so seeing stuff like that now
is really cool.
As we continued southbound though, reality unfortunately began to sink in.
With the retirement of this plane, Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk officially no longer have
scheduled jet service.
The 737-200’s cargo capabilities will instead be replaced with two ATR 72 Freighters, with
ATR 42s taking on the passenger component.
It’s hard to deny that this really is the end of an era in Canadian aviation.
The 737-200s in general aren’t going anywhere obviously, but losing another scheduled operator
of the type leaves just Air Inuit as the sole remaining one that the public can actually
fly on.
There’s also the sheer amount of history associated with the 737-200, the Canadian
North name, and all the airlines that came before it.
I’m not 100% sure where this aircraft will end up just yet, but apparently it still has
a good number of cycles left on it.
Hopefully it stays somewhere in the country.
Still, it was an absolute privilege to be able to fly on this iconic plane one last
time, and it is thanks to our fantastic crew today for making this a genuinely special flight.
But, for all of those reasons, the Canadian North 737-200 combi will be dearly missed.
So long, 737-200, and thanks for watching.