Air Canada moved up the in-service date of its first Boeing 767 freighter to join the effort to keep B.C. supplied. Floods in mid-November severely damaged the two busiest highways connecting the Lower Mainland with the rest of Canada and services and supplies at both ends of that supply chain have been disrupted. The 767 flew from Toronto to Vancouver and back on Thursday carrying up to 58 tonnes of cargo. “The freighter is planned to operate 12 trips between our Toronto and Vancouver cargo hubs, said Air Canada Cargo VP Jason Berry. “Our teams have also worked extremely hard over the last several days to get our freighter into service early to aid in the transport of goods to Vancouver.”
When the pandemic hit, Air Canada retired its fleet of 767s from passenger service and is converting eight of them to form the company’s new dedicated cargo branch. The aircraft that is now flying to Vancouver was supposed to make its inaugural run to Frankfurt later this month. The rush to get the plane into service prevented the airline from giving it a new paint job, which it will get when things simmer down.