Nolisair was a Canadian company, the parent company of Nationair Canada, a Canadian airline, and of Technair, an aircraft maintenance company. The company was owned by Robert Obadia. The headquarters was located in the Nationair Canada Building on the property of Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, Quebec.[1]
Nationair was not related a separate defunct airline based in the U.S. with a similar name, Nations Air, which was not established until after Nationair had ceased operations.
Nationair Canada operated charter as well as scheduled passenger services in the late 1980s and early 1990s from bases in Montreal and Toronto, with seasonal bases in Quebec City as well as flights out of Hamilton, Ontario to London, England. At one point, Nationair Canada was Canada's third largest airline, after Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International.
Destinations during the winter months consisted mostly of sunny destinations in Florida, California, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Summer destinations included Vancouver and Calgary but had a heavy emphasis on European destinations - mainly England, Scotland, Portugal and France. The airline also had year-round scheduled service between Montreal Mirabel Airport and Brussels, Belgium, serving the route up to daily. In 1988, the airline was operating nonstop service on a scheduled basis between Toronto and London Gatwick Airport.[2] According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), in 1989 Nationair Canada was operating scheduled nonstop service from Hamilton to London Gatwick as well as nonstop flights from Montreal Mirabel to Brussels with both services being flown with Douglas DC-8 ( stretched "Super DC-8") aircraft.[3]
The airline also tried going head to head with Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International operating scheduled flights between Toronto and Montreal, offering low fares and flexible ticketing conditions. However, this scheduled domestic service was fairly short-lived.
During shoulder periods and in order to maximize use of its aircraft, Nationair Canada did a number of sub-contracts. These would sometimes, but not always, include flight attendants as well. This enabled Nationair Canada aircraft to see duty in the Middle East during the run up to the Gulf War doing evacuations, work for the United Nations moving troops into Namibia as well as flights for Nigerian Airways in 1991, in which one flight ended in disaster.
Nationair Canada operated a number of sub-contracts all over the world, including Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 for Nigeria Airways which crashed at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 11 July 1991, killing all 261 on board, including 14 Canadian aircrew. It was and remains the worst aviation disaster involving a Canadian airline and a McDonnell Douglas DC-8.[4]
The cause of the crash was found to be under-inflated tyres, which in turn caused overheated tyres to catch fire, and failure of hydraulic systems and eventual in-flight break-up of the aircraft short of making an emergency landing.[5]
The safety of the airline was often called into question but the president, Robert Obadia, vehemently denied the accusations. Eventually, it would be discovered that the airline often flew aircraft that were unairworthy, and that Transport Canada knew this, but did nothing about it, "losing" a safety review that cast the airline in a negative light.[citation needed] It was later found that the aircraft that crashed in Saudi Arabia had been unairworthy for several days prior to the crash, and that staff had altered documentation in order for the flight to depart on time. In an interview for an episode of Mayday covering the accident, Nolisair executive William Fowler opined that the project managers Nolisair assigned to charter operations, including Flight 2120 victim Aldo Tetamenti, had unintentionally degraded safety culture by placing excessive pressure on maintenance crews.[6]
By the time it was publicly disclosed that the cause of the crash was negligence on the part of the company, it had already undergone bankruptcy and dissolution for several years.
The aircrash, combined with Nationair Canada's poor reputation for on-time service and mechanical problems led to serious problems with public image and reliability among tour operators. These difficulties were compounded when Nationair Canada locked out its unionized flight attendants and proceeded to replace them with strikebreakers on November 19, 1991. The lockout lasted 15 months and by the time it ended in early 1993, Nationair Canada found itself in severe financial trouble, and filed for bankruptcy protection.
The company went bankrupt in the spring of 1993 after it was discovered that it owed the government millions of dollars in unpaid landing fees. Creditors began seizing airplanes and demanded cash up front for services.
The company was declared bankrupt in May 1993, owing CAD$75 million.[7] In 1997 Robert Obadia pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraud in relation to the company's activities.[8]
^The Europa World Year Book, 1989. Europa Publications, August 1, 1991. 667. Retrieved from Google Books on June 11, 2012. "Nationair Canada: Nationair Bldg, Cargo Rd Al, Montreal International Airport (Mirabel), Mirabel, Que J7N 1A5"
nolisair, nationair, redirects, here, confused, with, nations, national, airlines, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, . Nationair redirects here Not to be confused with Nations Air or National Airlines This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Nolisair news newspapers books scholar JSTOR February 2012 Learn how and when to remove this template message Nolisair was a Canadian company the parent company of Nationair Canada a Canadian airline and of Technair an aircraft maintenance company The company was owned by Robert Obadia The headquarters was located in the Nationair Canada Building on the property of Montreal Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel Quebec 1 Nationair CanadaIATA ICAO CallsignNX NXA NATION AIRWAYSFounded1986Ceased operations1993Operating basesMontreal MirabelToronto PearsonFleet size30HeadquartersMontreal Mirabel International AirportMirabel QuebecA Nationair Canada Douglas DC 8 63 in 1987 at EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg in the old livery Nationair was not related a separate defunct airline based in the U S with a similar name Nations Air which was not established until after Nationair had ceased operations Contents 1 Nationair Canada 2 Accidents and incidents 3 Bankruptcy 4 See also 5 Fleet 6 References 7 External linksNationair Canada Edit A Nationair Canada Boeing 747 200 at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in April 1990 in the new livery Nationair Canada operated charter as well as scheduled passenger services in the late 1980s and early 1990s from bases in Montreal and Toronto with seasonal bases in Quebec City as well as flights out of Hamilton Ontario to London England At one point Nationair Canada was Canada s third largest airline after Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International Destinations during the winter months consisted mostly of sunny destinations in Florida California the Caribbean Mexico and South America Summer destinations included Vancouver and Calgary but had a heavy emphasis on European destinations mainly England Scotland Portugal and France The airline also had year round scheduled service between Montreal Mirabel Airport and Brussels Belgium serving the route up to daily In 1988 the airline was operating nonstop service on a scheduled basis between Toronto and London Gatwick Airport 2 According to the Official Airline Guide OAG in 1989 Nationair Canada was operating scheduled nonstop service from Hamilton to London Gatwick as well as nonstop flights from Montreal Mirabel to Brussels with both services being flown with Douglas DC 8 stretched Super DC 8 aircraft 3 The airline also tried going head to head with Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International operating scheduled flights between Toronto and Montreal offering low fares and flexible ticketing conditions However this scheduled domestic service was fairly short lived During shoulder periods and in order to maximize use of its aircraft Nationair Canada did a number of sub contracts These would sometimes but not always include flight attendants as well This enabled Nationair Canada aircraft to see duty in the Middle East during the run up to the Gulf War doing evacuations work for the United Nations moving troops into Namibia as well as flights for Nigerian Airways in 1991 in which one flight ended in disaster Nationair Canada also did a number of sub charters for airlines such as Hispania Lineas Aereas Garuda Indonesia Union des Transports Aeriens UTA and LTU International LTU Nationair Canada had been operating some flights for UTA in 1989 during the period where UTA Flight 772 was destroyed inflight Accidents and incidents EditMain article Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 Nationair Canada operated a number of sub contracts all over the world including Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 for Nigeria Airways which crashed at Jeddah Saudi Arabia on 11 July 1991 killing all 261 on board including 14 Canadian aircrew It was and remains the worst aviation disaster involving a Canadian airline and a McDonnell Douglas DC 8 4 The cause of the crash was found to be under inflated tyres which in turn caused overheated tyres to catch fire and failure of hydraulic systems and eventual in flight break up of the aircraft short of making an emergency landing 5 The safety of the airline was often called into question but the president Robert Obadia vehemently denied the accusations Eventually it would be discovered that the airline often flew aircraft that were unairworthy and that Transport Canada knew this but did nothing about it losing a safety review that cast the airline in a negative light citation needed It was later found that the aircraft that crashed in Saudi Arabia had been unairworthy for several days prior to the crash and that staff had altered documentation in order for the flight to depart on time In an interview for an episode of Mayday covering the accident Nolisair executive William Fowler opined that the project managers Nolisair assigned to charter operations including Flight 2120 victim Aldo Tetamenti had unintentionally degraded safety culture by placing excessive pressure on maintenance crews 6 By the time it was publicly disclosed that the cause of the crash was negligence on the part of the company it had already undergone bankruptcy and dissolution for several years Bankruptcy Edit A Nationair Canada Boeing 757 200 The aircrash combined with Nationair Canada s poor reputation for on time service and mechanical problems led to serious problems with public image and reliability among tour operators These difficulties were compounded when Nationair Canada locked out its unionized flight attendants and proceeded to replace them with strikebreakers on November 19 1991 The lockout lasted 15 months and by the time it ended in early 1993 Nationair Canada found itself in severe financial trouble and filed for bankruptcy protection The company went bankrupt in the spring of 1993 after it was discovered that it owed the government millions of dollars in unpaid landing fees Creditors began seizing airplanes and demanded cash up front for services The company was declared bankrupt in May 1993 owing CAD 75 million 7 In 1997 Robert Obadia pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraud in relation to the company s activities 8 See also EditList of Canadian disasters by death toll Douglas DC 8 List of defunct airlines of CanadaFleet EditAircraft No NotesDouglas DC 8 50CF 1 Sole aircraft used as a freighter for the airline Douglas DC 8 60 10 C GMXQ DC 8 61 was written off as Flight 2120 while operating for Nigeria Airways N22UA and N23UA were leased from United Aviation ServicesBoeing 747 100 5Boeing 747 200 4 N303TW and N304TW were leased from Trans World AirlinesBoeing 757 200 10Total 30References Edit The Europa World Year Book 1989 Europa Publications August 1 1991 667 Retrieved from Google Books on June 11 2012 Nationair Canada Nationair Bldg Cargo Rd Al Montreal International Airport Mirabel Mirabel Que J7N 1A5 http www timetableimages com Nov 1988 Nationair timetable http www departedflights com 1989 Official Airline Guide OAG London Gatwick amp Brussels flight schedules The Internet Movie Database Mayday Season 11 Episode 9 Under Pressure The Internet Movie Database Mayday Season 11 Episode 9 Under Pressure The Internet Movie Database Mayday Season 11 Episode 9 Under Pressure Nationair plie bagages Souvenirs Les Archives de Radio Canada Robert Obadia doit verser 234 000 a ses creanciers Radio Canada Nouvelles Archived 2013 12 24 at the Wayback MachineExternal links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nationair Nationair Canada History on the Web Fleet and Code informationPortals Canada Companies Aviation Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Nolisair amp oldid 1131657227, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
