Nolinor is proud to announce the selection of 4 employees for its 2021 cohort of the Become a Pilot program. This program allows our employees to realize their dream of becoming a pilot at our expense.
Despite the pandemic, Nolinor’s operations have not slowed down. This year, we have decided not to limit ourselves to 2 candidates, but to extend the selection to 4 employees who have distinguished themselves by their determination and passion.
Carrie, Technical Records Specialist, Marc, Ramp Agent, Nicola, Avionics Technician and Darragh, Safety Investigator, will begin their pilot training in the coming week.
We are confident that these employees will represent Nolinor with flying colors. We look forward to flying on their wings.
Please join us in congratulating Carrie, Marc, Nicola, and Darragh!
MIRABEL, QC, Aug. 5, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ – A year after its arrival in the Quebec aviation market, OWG, the newest division of Nolinor Aviation, is getting ready to bounce back from the pandemic by adding its first Boeing 737-800 to its fleet. On the eve of a return to “normalcy“, this acquisition will provide a positive flying experience to more travelers allowing them to fly longer distances and support the creation of more than 20 specialized jobs.
“Our team spent the past year planning this moment and we look forward to flying again when it will be safe to do so. With this new 737-800 aircraft, OWG will offer the HIGH LOVE experience towards more destinations. It is the next logical step for us”, declared Mr. Marco Prud’Homme, President of Nolinor Aviation.
For OWG, adding this type of aircraft represents an opportunity to offer destinations further away than what is currently possible. It also demonstrates the company’s commitment to continued growth. The new destinations offered by OWG will be announced in the coming weeks. As for the Boeing 737-800 that was acquired, it was purchase from a special purpose corporation wholly-owned by Frank DeMarinis and is expected to be in service in 2022, once its cabin has been modified to OWG’s image and standards.
“OWG will continue to reinvent the travel experience by ensuring that we always have the interests and needs of our travelers at heart,” concluded Mr. Prud’Homme,
About the Boeing 737-800 :
Passengers on board: 189
Distance: 5765 km
Maximum cruise speed: 946 km/h
Optimum cruise speed: 842 km/h
About OWG
OWG is the newest division of Nolinor Aviation. The airline was launched in 2020 and offers scheduled flights to selected Caribbean destinations with a fleet of three 156-passenger Boeing 737-400s and one 189-passenger Boeing 737-800. Additional destinations will be offered in a near future. For more information, visit owg.com.
While the past year has seen the rise of the ‘preighter’, cargo-passenger combination aircraft have slowly declined. With a history spanning over half a century, how many Boeing 737 Combi airplanes are still active in the skies today?
Most civilian 737 Combis still in operation are flying to remote locations in the north of Canada. Photo: BriYYZ via Wikimedia Commons
The Boeing 737 was the world’s best-selling aircraft for decades before the Airbus A320 overtook it in total orders in November 2019. It was the first commercial jet ever to surpass the 10,000 milestone in 2012, and as of April 2021, Boeing had received a total of 14,693 orders for the 737 family.
Boeing also offered a few of its versions in a combi variant. The plane maker produced a total of 125 of the 737-200C, 737-300C, 737-400C, and eventually the 737-700C. However, only a handful of operators of the Boeing 737 Combi remain.
Government missions
According to data retrieved from the ch-aviation database, 13 carriers are operating a total of 36 active Boeing 737 Combi aircraft. Nearly half of these, all 737-700Cs, are the military version known as the Boeing C-40 Clipper and operated by the United States Navy.
Another two, both Boeing 737-400Cs approaching 32 years old, are in the care of the United States National Nuclear Security Administration, a federal agency ‘responsible for safeguarding national security through the military application of nuclear science’.
The remaining 19 Boeing 737 Combis are in service with carriers operating in remote locations, the majority of them located in Canada. With its main base at Kujjuaq Airport in Quebec, Air Inuit has three active 737-200Cs in its fleet, all close to or just over 40 years. Air Inuit operates domestic services to Labrador, Nunavik, and Nunavut.
Canadian North operates one 737-200C and two 737-400Cs. It acquired the latter two when merging with First Air in November 2019. The holly Inuit-owned airline also operates scheduled passenger services to communities in the Northwest Territories, Nunavik, and Nunavut, with a slogan reading ‘Fly the Arctic’.
Charter airline Chrono Aviation, based out of Québec City International Airport, also has a 38-year-old 737-200C in its fleet. Two Combi 737-200s are also deployed by Canadian commodities corporation Glencore.
Meanwhile, Montreal-based charter carrier Nolinor is still operating as many as four 737-200 Combi aircraft. Two are just over four decades old. However, one has passed the 45 mark, while another is still just over 36. The youngest of the group is a 737-200QC, which allows for conversion for either 130 passengers or a combination of passengers and cargo.
Canadian North operates three 737 combis, two of which it inherited from the merger with First Air. Photo: Gordon Leggett via Wikimedia Commons
In service of the UN
In other parts of the world, Philippino leisure carrier SEAir International owns one active 737-200C, delivered just this January after a 40-year long history with FedEx, Alaska Airlines, and South African carriers Bionic Aviation and Fair Aviation.
Meanwhile, in Africa, Aviatrade Congo still operates a 737-200C over half a century of age. A younger model, a 28-year-old 737-400C, is owned by South African Safair but leased to the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service.
The inaugural revenue flight of new Canadian airline OWG has taken off from Toronto’s Pearson International airport, headed to Santa Clara Abel Santamaria airport in Cuba.
The airline is a project of Canadian passenger and freight charter carrier Nolinor Aviation, which announced plans to launch the new brand in July, in the middle of the coronavirus crisis.
According to flight tracking website Flightaware.com, flight N5730 left Montreal’s Trudeau International airport at 11:11 local time, arriving in Toronto at 12:08 local time. It then left Toronto at 13:23 local time, and is due to land in Cuba about three hours later. It was unclear if the flight from Montreal to Toronto was also a revenue flight or if the aircraft had been repositioned.
An OWG representative confirmed by email this is the airline’s first scheduled flight, but further details were not immediately available.
Source: OWG / Nolinor Aviation
OWG launches initial scheduled flight from Canada to Cuba
The Montreal-based carrier, which has been operating charter and specialty flights across Canada’s far north for almost three decades, said on 7 July that it was looking to take a slice of the holiday travel market from Canada’s established market leaders.
Nolinor said at the time that it had acquired several Boeing 737-400s with 158 seats earlier this year for OWG, and on 6 July received permission from the government of Canada to launch international service. The airline had been “secretly working since 2018 to create a new airline that will position them in the tourist flight market”. It said it had invested “more than $1 million in a think tank to reinvent the way things are done in this industry”.
The result is an airline called OWG, which stands for “off we go”.
OWG’s planned launch date had been pushed back due to the global health pandemic. Initially, the company said flights would begin on or near 31 August.
Montreal, October 8, 2020 – The Montreal Alouettes and Nolinor Aviation announced on Wednesday that they will be teaming up for the next ten years, as Nolinor remains the club’s official charter flight partner. This new deal goes even further than the previous one as a Boeing 737 plane was personalized with the team’s logo and colours.
Montreal therefore becomes the first Canadian Football League team to have it’s own personalized plane. The Boeing 737 was specifically configured and personalized to accommodate all of the travelling members of the team and to transport all of its equipment to road games.
“We are very proud to continue our partnership with Nolinor Aviation, a local company. Their proposition is very original. On top of counting on their transportation service for our travels, we can do so while sporting our colours,” declared Alouettes President Mario Cecchini. “This partnership offers us many advantages. We have a greater flexibility for our traveling schedule, on top of continuing to work hand in hand with a partner that offers an excellent service, and whose staff is always in good spirits.”
The Alouettes will travel on board of a personalized plane to all of their road games. The charter service allows the organization to choose its departure times, which is an undeniable asset in the team’s weekly preparation.
“For this second partnership with the Alouettes we wanted to offer a unique service that would not only allow the team to shine, but that would also outline our know-how in personalized air transportation service. Offering personalized travelling solutions has been our strength for over 25 years,”
The plane has already been in circulation for a few weeks and has become the subject of a few social media posts in whatever region it finds itself. One of the plane’s first mission consisted in delivering medical equipment to areas in need at the beginning of the pandemic. A video has been made to present the paint process which allowed Nolinor Aviation to transform the plane.
MIRABEL, QC, July 7, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ – Against all odds, a new airline called OWG will soon take off in Quebec, offering flights to Southern destinations. This new initiative is the fruit of Nolinor Aviation’s continued expansion into a new market. For the past 27 years, Nolinor has offered charter transportation solutions, mainly to the Far North, with its fleet of some ten Boeing 737s. The Nolinor Aviation team has been secretly working since 2018 to create a new airline that will position them in the tourist flight market. The company invested more than $1 million in a think tank to reinvent the way things are done in this industry. They analyzed the best airlines in the world to establish the values and mission behind the new OWG brand.
A new airline called OWG will soon offer flights to Southern destinations on its fleet of Boeing 737-400 aircrafts. (CNW Group/Nolinor Aviation)
As OWG President Marco Prud’homme explains, “The flight portion of your trip should be an integral part of your vacation. Traditional airlines have chosen to cut the quality of their services year after year with no regard for the passenger experience. Our goal is to win the hearts of Quebecers with a new airline whose mission is to get travellers excited again.”
A unique travel experience for vacationers Early this year, the carrier acquired a fleet of Boeing 737-400s and began to transform them so they meet the company’s high service and safety standards. Unlike many airlines, the aircraft used by OWG will be tracked in real time using a sophisticated communication system. In order to offer competitive rates, OWG has opted for the proven Boeing 737-400 aircraft (158 seats). The interior of each plane was refurbished with new, lighter and sturdier seats. All of this work represents an investment of several millions of dollars.
In addition to these technological innovations, the new brand is counting on the quality of its team to provide a travel experience that will exceed customer expectations. With respect to in-flight protection standards against COVID-19, the OWG crew will benefit from the expertise developed by Nolinor Aviation during the crisis, while they continued to serve certain northern destinations by applying the highest standards in terms of health and safety.
OWG is reinventing the travel experience by placing its passengers at the heart of its actions and the company logo’s design perfectly represents this brand spirit. OWG will begin operations in the coming months and the destinations will be announced shortly. OWG received the authorization from the Minister of Transport to provide regular international flight service on July 6th 2020. You can follow the OWG launch on our website, OWG.com
About OWG OWG is a new airline established by Nolinor Aviation. OWG will offer regular flights to some destinations in the Caribbean with its fleet of Boeing 737-400 that can accommodate 158 passengers. For more details, visit OWG.com or follow @owg on Instagram.
Despite the COVID-19 crisis, the airline is expanding its fleet
Mirabel, May 12, 2020 – Nolinor Aviation, who recently made headlines with the Antonov225 flight in Mirabel, is announcing the addition of three Boeing 737-400 aircraft to its fleet, allowing the carrier to increase its capacity and to offer more flexibility to its clients during the economic recovery. Nolinor Aviation has been proactive since the beginning of the crisis and used its fleet of Boeing 737-200s to repatriate Canadians this past March.
“The Boeing 737-400 is a major addition to our fleet. It’s a way to modernize our services and improve energy efficiency. When the crisis is over, Nolinor Aviation will be in a favourable position at the starting line,” said Marco Prud’Homme, President of Nolinor Aviation.
With this announcement, Nolinor, which has been based in Mirabel since 2005, will become the only airline in Québec to offer this type of aircraft on the market. The cabin will seat 158 in economy class configuration, so these planes can be used for larger groups of passengers. Each plane will be modified to comply with Nolinor Aviation’s service and safety standards. The airline uses SkyTrack technology to monitor its aircraft in real time around the world.
Nolinor Aviation’s fleet of Boeing 737-400s will give its clients non-stop access to more distant destinations such as the Caribbean and carry larger payloads. On-board comfort and amenities will provide travellers with excellent in-flight service. This type of aircraft is ideal for sports clubs, troupes of artists (such as orchestras), conference attendees and groups of tourists. Nolinor Aviation will also be able to offer these services to other airlines experiencing technical problems.
Features of the 737-400
The new 737-400s are equipped with the latest satellite monitoring technology, ADS-B, a satellite communication system used to contact the airplane directly during the flight. They can carry out LPV GPS approaches, which are more recent and accurate, as well as Category II ILS approaches. The cabins are equipped with new ultralight titanium seats designed to offer more legroom and wider cushions than normally used in this category of aircraft.
Its maximum cruising speed is 908 km/h (491 knots) and its optimum cruising speed is 794 km/h (429 knots). It can fly 4,973 km (2,685 NM) with a normal load and a fuel tank filled to maximum capacity.
Vincent Dufort, Director of Business Development, is very enthusiastic about offering this new option to his clients,
“This acquisition will allow us to meet a wider range of needs. Clients will be able to reserve their flight on a 737-400 very shortly by contacting me.”
Nolinor Aviation holds an open house with a difference in an effort to “open some eyes” in an increasingly competitive job market.
FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO, Montreal Gazette, September 5, 2019
Nolinor vice-president Marco Prud’homme inside one of the company’s planes undergoing maintenance in Mirabel. PIERRE OBENDRAUF / MONTREAL GAZETTE
Talk about hopping the extra mile.
On Saturday morning, Quebec charter-flight operator Nolinor Aviation will fly South Shore job seekers from St-Hubert airport to Mirabel — and back — as part of an “open house day” aimed at filling more than 20 aircraft mechanic positions.
The company is hoping the short trip to the lower Laurentians aboard one of its Boeing 737 jets, as well as on-site discussions with employees and recruiters, will make it stand out in an increasingly competitive job market.
“Maybe it’ll open some eyes,” Marco Prud’homme, a vice-president of the company, said a telephone interview. “It’s a 20-minute flight. If this was a straight line it would be even faster, but we’ll have to go around the island of Montreal because of the air traffic in and out of Dorval.”
Such are the lengths that some employers feel compelled to go to in a bid to recruit staff in Quebec, where the unemployment rate continues to set record lows.
That labour shortage you keep reading about? It’s a reality for Nolinor.
“This summer we had to refuse several contracts because we simply did not have the personnel to operate flights,” Prud’homme said.
Founded in 1992, family-owned Nolinor has carved out a niche by running ferry flights for mining companies to some of Canada’s most remote regions.
As part of a 10-year contract with gold miner Agnico Eagle, it links Montreal to Val d’Or and company mines in Nunavut, operating same-day, round-trip flights several times a week.
Nolinor also runs charter flights for sports franchises such as the Montreal Alouettes and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, as well as the Laval Rocket, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Canadiens.
Besides the aircraft mechanic positions, Nolinor wants to fill dozens of ground and administrative jobs that haven’t even been advertised yet, Prud’homme said. Wages for mechanics fresh out of school start at about $18.50 an hour, plus benefits.
“There’s a lot of poaching going on in the industry,” says Nolinor vice-president Marco Prud’homme. PIERRE OBENDRAUF / MONTREAL GAZETTE
This is the second open house day that Nolinor is conducting this year. About two months ago, company recruiters hosted 120 candidates in Mirabel, filling about 20 flight attendant positions.
“There’s a lot of poaching going on in the industry,” Prud’homme said. “Just today, we had one pilot leave us. For a young person that wants to work in air transport, now is a great time. Companies like Sunwing Airlines, Air Transat and Air Canada are hiring a lot, whether you’re a co-pilot or a mechanic. We’re sort of in the middle of the food chain here.”
Mirabel-based Nolinor now has about 220 employees. Current job openings also include crew schedulers, flight attendants and pilots, according to the company’s website.
Nolinor’s drive to recruit pilots is facing global competition. According to a 2018 forecast by Montreal-based flight-simulator maker CAE, airlines will need to hire more than 270,000 pilots over the next decade amid an expected doubling in passenger travel.
Canadian regulations on crew fatigue and pilot flight times are also having an impact on staffing plans. Prud’homme estimates his company will need as much as 35 per cent more staff to meet the new rules, which are due to take effect by the end of the year.
“When everyone needs to hire at the same time, it’s a problem,” he says.
Nolinor’s business has benefited from a mad scramble among carriers such as Canada’s Sunwing for spare aircraft following the crash of two Boeing 737 Max jets in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
With transportation authorities worldwide ordering the grounding of all 737 Max jets, Sunwing — a Max operator — hired Nolinor to perform replacement flights between Toronto and the Caribbean.
“After the 737 Max crisis, we became swamped,” Prud’homme said.
And although Nolinor’s contract with Sunwing is set to expire next week, the executive isn’t convinced the relationship will end there.
“People are talking about a return to service of the Max in the coming months, but who can really say that with confidence?” he asked. “Maybe we’ll end up doing other flights for Sunwing for the Christmas season.”
Canadian Aviation News 
_C-GMAI_(25991350941).jpg){kind=link}
You must be logged in to post a comment.