The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a British turboprop airliner developed in the 1950s.
Originally the Avro 748, it became the HS 748 following the company’s merger with
Hawker Siddeley.
From the outset, the HS 748, sometimes called the “Hawker” was envisioned as a Douglas
DC-3 replacement, able to carry between 40 and 48 passengers.
With that in mind, the HS 748 was designed as a simple, rugged airframe that could easily
use short, unpaved runways.
It saw service with countless operators around the world, including many in remote areas.
The last HS 748s were produced in 1988, with 262 built in the UK, plus another 89 under
license in India.
Compared to today’s turboprops, one of the most arguably distinctive qualities of these
planes is the sound of the two Rolls Royce Dart engines that power the type.
Today, it remains in military service with several countries, and a considerable number
still fly with the Indian Air Force.
When it comes to civilian operators though, the HS 748 is trickier to find.
Of course, as with many rare airplanes featured on this channel over the years, a few of them
are still flying in Canada.
Unlike some other rarer types in the country though, these planes aren’t found as far
north as you’d think, but the destinations they serve are still very remote.
As of late 2022, there are just two airlines still flying the HS 748 in Canada.
One of those is Wasaya Airways of Ontario, which has four of the type on the Canadian
aircraft register.
The other is Air Creebec, which flies in both Ontario and Quebec, with three HS748s registered.
Two of those still fly on a regular basis.
In the case of both airlines, the HS 748s are exclusively used for cargo, with a maximum
payload of “around 12,500 pounds”.
Wasaya flies theirs out of Red Lake and Pickle Lake in Ontario, serving 25 First Nation communities
in Northwestern Ontario as well as Northern Manitoba.
One of their HS 748s is dedicated to hauling fuel, and can deliver 7500 litres at a time.
Air Creebec, on the other hand, flies their Hawkers to communities along the James Bay
coast.
Both planes operate from Air Creebec’s base in Timmins, Ontario.
These First Nation communities served by both airlines often have no year-round access by
road, if any road access at all.
In that way, Air Creebec and Wasaya’s Hawkers, along with their other aircraft types, are
well and truly a lifeline.
On top of that, the runways in these communities are almost all 3 to 4,000 feet long and mostly
made of gravel, and so the HS748’s rugged design and short takeoff and landing capabilities
really shine.
In addition to the Hawker’s impressive performance, both airlines have at least one of the type
with a large cargo door.
That makes it ideal for flying bulky pieces of cargo like construction materials.
Given how capable these planes are, it’s not hard to see why a few have remained in
service, especially here in Canada.
The HS 748 has a storied history with many Canadian airlines such as West Wind, Calm
Air, First Air, Air Inuit, and until surprisingly recently, Air North.
Air North was the last operator of the type in the Territories, having first added the
HS 748 to the fleet back in 1998.
True to their original purpose, these replaced DC-3s at the airline and could carry double
their payload.
For the next two decades, the HS748 served Yukon’s communities, often as combis carrying
both passengers and cargo.
For their last couple of years at Air North, they, too, were flying cargo only.
Air North’s last two airworthy HS748s left Whitehorse for good in December 2020 and January
2021.
Both planes were flown to Thunder Bay via Edmonton to join Wasaya, and one of them is
still in service.
Now, as useful as the Hawkers are, the 5 or so currently flying in the country date back
to the late 1960s and 70s, and the time has since come to start considering their replacement.
Air North opted to replace their Hawkers with a small fleet of ATR 42s, with 3 passenger
ATR 42-300s, and a 4th one used as a freighter.
Meanwhile, Wasaya has made it no secret that the Hawkers are expensive to operate.
Considering the type has been out of production for almost four decades, parts are difficult
to come by, with their CEO saying in 2016 that the wait for certain parts had been months
at a time.
Operating costs are no doubt another major concern.
In 2017, Wasaya added a Dash 8-100 Package Freighter to their fleet, and at the time,
that aircraft was stated to be 40% the operating cost of the Hawker.
According to Wasaya, the Dash 8-100 can carry a pretty comparable payload of 10,000 pounds,
but with obviously much less volume and without that larger cargo door.
That being said, in May of this year, Wasaya announced the acquisition of two ATR 72-200
Freighters with large cargo doors, and will use these to partially replace the Hawkers.
The two ATR 72s were formerly flown for Hawaiian, and were expected to enter service this fall.
In the case of Air Creebec, as far as I can tell, nothing’s been said publicly about
a replacement for their Hawkers.
Anecdotally though, it’s rumoured that one of the two will be retired and likely used
for parts at some point.
Air Creebec does have a significant Dash 8 operation and flies over a dozen of them,
so it’s possible that a Dash 8 freighter of some sort may be their solution.
On that note, former HS 748 operator Air Inuit went a different route.
Initially, their Hawkers were replaced with two cargo-only Dash 8-300s that kept the same
cargo door as the passenger version.
With the wide variety of cargo that gets flown to northern communities though, not having
the Hawker’s larger door made things challenging.
So, Air Inuit’s solution was to modify one of their Dash 8-300s with a “Large Freighter
Door” and a second Dash 8 is expected to receive this modification, too.
Given all this, it seems that the HS 748’s days in Canada are unfortunately numbered.
Nevertheless, it’s a testament to the fine work of Avro and Hawker Siddeley that the
type has persisted for as long as it has.
Well over half a century after it left the drawing board, the Hawker Siddeley HS 748
still has an important role to play for countless communities.
Thank you for watching, and I’ll catch you next time!