It has been with great sadness that we have waved goodbye to many of the remaining Queens
of the Sky this year- her exit hastened by unforeseen events. However, for Air Canada,
the last 747 left the airline as long as fifteen years ago.
On February 11th, 1971, Air Canada received its first 747-100 with registration C-FTOA. The plane
stayed with the airline for 11 years, before moving on to a number of airlines including:
Malaysia Airlines, Middle Eastern Airlines (MEA),
FedEx, and finally, before being taken out of service, the First Security Bank of Utah.
It is confirmed as scrapped; however, no date or year is specified.
Air Canada took delivery of its 2nd 747, registration C-FTOB,
on March 18th, 1971. It remained with the airline for 14 years before going to Iberia for roughly
six months. It later served with, among others, MEA, Nigeria Airways, and Saudi Arabian Airlines.
Finally, it went to Air Atlanta Icelandic in 1999 before being ferried over to Marana
Pinal Airpark in Arizona. Stored there for four years, it was taken apart in 2003.
Three more 747-100s followed; C-FTOC, C-FTOD, and C-FTOE. These jets remained
in Air Canada’s service until they were taken apart at various boneyards in 1999.
Between 1979 and 1999, Air Canada also operated three 747-200s. One jumbo stayed with the airline
until it was flown to Pinal Airpark. There it was stored for 14 years before being scrapped in 2013.
The second to join the fleet was C-GAGB, which did so on January 31st, 1979.
Apart from a brief stint as a lease to Garuda Indonesia in 1997,
it only few with Air Canada. It was withdrawn from use in 1999 with the exact destination unknown.
C-GABC came to Air Canada from Qantas in 1998. It is unclear exactly when the
aircraft was taken out of service, but it was not broken up until 2011
at Pinal Airfield (Arizona), having reached the tender age of 33 years.
As for 747-400s. C-GAGL was the first, arriving in 1991. It was then converted to carry cargo,
and went to Guggenheim Aviation Partners in 2004.
It served with a number of cargo operators before being stored at Liege in Belgium in 2019,
where it remains. C-GAGN was also converted to become a freighter and has gone on to fly with
various cargo operators including Moldavian operator Aerotranscargo.
A 747 that is still listed as active is C-GAGM, which was delivered to Air Canada in 1991 and
spent some time flying for Air India before joining Dubai Air Wing, the paramilitary
airline of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Here it serves as a VIP transport aircraft.
C-FBCA and C-GMWW, previously flew for Canadian Airlines International and joined the fleet in
2001.They exited only four years later and spent seven years with Aerolineas Argentinas before
going to Arizona, and taken apart in 2013. C-FGHZ too arrived from Canadian Airlines
International in 2001. A lease from GECAS, it went to Philippine Airlines only two years later.
The aircraft ended its days at the boneyard of the Greenwood-Leflore Airport in Mississippi in 2013.
Did you have a chance to fly on one of Air Canada’s 747s? Let us know in the comments.