Good morning everyone, my name is Alex, and welcome to another trip report.
Today I’m trying out a new airline, one that hasn’t been covered much here on YouTube -
Central Mountain Air, from Calgary to Edmonton.
Central Mountain Air, or CMA, is a Canadian regional airline that flies mostly within
Alberta and British Columbia.
They fly a fleet of Dash 8s, Beech 1900s, and Dornier 328s - which is why I’m here.
I haven’t given these aircraft as much attention as I should over the years, but it is pretty
unique these days.
Central Mountain Air is one of just a few operators flying these in North America, and
I believe the only one flying it commercially in Canada
Central Mountain Air’s check-in area here in Calgary is pretty discreet, and sandwiched
between Air Canada, Air Transat, and Flair in the domestic terminal.
I had already checked in online, which I did a full day before the flight, because seat
selection only opened 24 hours in advance.
So naturally, I did that as early as I possibly could, although you’ll soon see it wasn’t
going to be an issue.
Security was pretty quick today, I was pleasantly surprised to be done in less than 5 minutes.
Much like Air Georgian used to, Central Mountain Air also uses the remote gates here in Calgary.
Gate C64 is a bus gate, so I’ll head to a better spot first to get a look at my aircraft,
and some breakfast.
Unfortunately, the plane didn’t show up as early as I thought it would.
My boarding pass says to be at the gate at 9:20, so I’d better get down there.
This is one of the few parts of YYC I haven’t actually departed from before! Gates 61 through
65 are all remote boarding gates.
These days, the gates are now used by Air Canada’s Dash 8-300s as well as all of Central
Mountain Air’s aircraft.
It’s not a bad place to sit and wait, there’s plenty of seating and washrooms nearby, and
boarding started not long after.
So like I said earlier, I don’t think the seat selection is gonna be an issue.
There are just four passengers on today’s flight, including myself!
It’s worth noting that this flight continues on to Prince George, so maybe (and hopefully)
they picked up a few more passengers in Edmonton.
After that brief tour of the ramp, here is today’s aircraft, C-FHVX, a Dornier 328-100!
I originally picked 3A on today’s flight for a better engine view which had lots of
knee space, but since there were so few people on board, I was moved to the back for weight
and balance purposes.
The exit row in the back, seat 9A was VERY roomy!
Being 6 foot 8, there is a ton of space to stretch out.
The seats don’t have adjustable headrests, but they’re quite comfortable.
With just four of us on board, boarding was done in a matter of seconds!
Here’s us starting up, taxiing, and taking off from runway 35L.
Not long after takeoff, the very friendly cabin crew member on today’s flight gave
me a can of Pepsi, a bag of pretzels, as well as some cookies and some water, which is honestly
a lot more than I expected for such a short flight!
The tray table for the exit row is in the armrest, as you’d expect.
In the seatback pocket is the usual safety card,
...an air sickness bag,
... and Central Mountain Air’s inflight magazine.
It’s worth noting that I definitely can’t stand up straight, but that’s usually the
case for anything smaller than a 737.
In the rest of the cabin, there are a few more seats on the left side, as well as a
galley on the right and a lavatory which...
I’m not even going to try and fit into!
The other seats in the cabin are industry standard, and you can definitely see how much
better that exit row is!
The overhead bins are only on the 2 seat side, since there is pretty much zero usable space
on the other.
Other than that, not a ton to do on this short flight but admire the prairie landscape below.
After what seemed like just a few minutes at cruise, we started our descent into Edmonton,
landing on runway 12.
Despite being airborne for just 35 minutes, I really enjoyed the Central Mountain Air experience!
It was great to cross the Dornier 328 off of my list, along with Central Mountain Air
as another one of Canada’s regional airlines.
It does help that it felt like a private jet on this particular flight, but everyone was
very friendly anyway, from the customer service agents to the crew on board.
Seats 3A and 9A are some of the best on the Dornier.
Overall, it really was an enjoyable trip with Central Mountain Air, and I’d be more than
happy to fly with them again sometime in the future.
Thank you very much for watching this trip report.
Let me know in the comments below what you think of the Dornier 328.
Leave a like if you enjoyed, subscribe if you’re new,
and as always, I will see you in the next one.