Wardair

Wardair grew from Max Ward's northern bush-flying business into Canada's biggest international charter airline, known for "Steak & Champagne" service. Rapid expansion into scheduled flying left it heavily in debt, and it was sold to Canadian Airlines in 1989 and absorbed by early 1990.

How it started

Wardair began with Max Ward, a former RCAF flight instructor turned bush pilot. According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, he set up Polaris Charter Company in Yellowknife in 1946, carrying supplies and passengers across the Subarctic in a single-engine de Havilland Fox Moth, many of them for the mining industry.

Wardair Ltd followed in the early 1950s. Wikipedia gives 1952 as the founding year and 6 June 1953 as the start of operations with a single-engine de Havilland Canada Otter, while the Canadian Encyclopedia describes the company as incorporated in 1953. It specialised in flying heavy equipment to the Far North, and its first bases were Yellowknife and Edmonton.

The heyday

The turning point came in 1962, when Ward leased a Douglas DC-6 and tested the market for transatlantic charters. He obtained an international charter licence, renamed the company Wardair Canada Ltd and moved its head office to Edmonton, as the Canadian Encyclopedia records. Returning war brides visiting Europe were among its key customers.

Wikipedia lists a run of firsts for Canada: a Boeing 727-100 in 1966, an intercontinental Boeing 707 in 1968 that allowed non-stop Europe flights, and a Boeing 747 in 1973. Two McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s joined the fleet later, and by 1980 the airline had four 747s. By the mid-1970s it was Canada's largest international charter carrier.

Wardair was not a budget airline. Wikipedia describes good service at lower-than-average prices, with the "Steak & Champagne" slogan of the 1980s, Royal Doulton china and generous seat pitch. The same article lists Holiday Which? awards: charter airline of the year in 1985, then scheduled carrier of the year in 1986 and 1987. Gatwick became a major summer destination, with Honolulu a winter favourite.

What went wrong

In 1986 Wardair gained permission to run scheduled services at home and abroad. Wikipedia lists the problems in this order: rapid expansion, trouble with its computer booking system, and a failure to win business travellers who were loyal to rivals' frequent-flyer programmes.

In 1987 it ordered 38 jets, including 14 Airbus A310s, 12 MD-88s and 12 Fokker 100s, to add to a fleet of seven. Wikipedia calls this unsustainable. The Canadian Encyclopedia reaches the same conclusion, saying the airline's reputation remained unsurpassed but the debt from 1980s growth proved too heavy.

The last flight

No source we found documents a final Wardair flight. The dates also differ. Wikipedia says the Canadian Transportation Agency approved the sale to Canadian Airlines International on 31 March 1989, and its infobox gives 15 January 1990 as the end of operations. The Canadian Encyclopedia says Canadian Airlines acquired Wardair in 1989 and wound up its operations by April 1990. A Wikidata entry gives 1989 as the end year. Our own record of 1989 matches the sale, but the airline appears to have kept its identity into early 1990.

What happened next

Canadian Airlines, part of PWA Corporation, absorbed Wardair. Wikipedia says only the first 12 A310s had been delivered, and the remaining A310s and all the MD-88 and Fokker 100 orders were cancelled after the takeover. The MD-88s and Fokker 100s never flew for Wardair. Five of the A310s were later sold by Canadian Airlines to the Canadian Forces from 1992 and became the CC-150 Polaris.

Max Ward told his story in his 1991 autobiography, The Max Ward Story: A Bush Pilot in the Bureaucratic Jungle. He died in Edmonton on 2 November 2020, aged 98.

Sources: Wardair – Wikipedia, Wardair International Ltd – The Canadian Encyclopedia, Max Ward – The Canadian Encyclopedia