Canada's Pivot Air eyes scheduled ops in 1Q22, large CRJs

Canada's Pivot Airlines embroiled in drug scandal

Canadian startup Pivot Airlines (ZX, Toronto Pearson) has seen its sole aircraft and crew detained in the Dominican Republic after police discovered 200kgs of cocaine hidden onboard.

Pivot Airlines Chief Executive Officer Eric Edmondson was not immediately available for comment.

Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows the CRJ100ER, C-FWRR (msn 7107), is still at Punta Cana after having arrived from Toronto Pearson, Canada on March 31, 2022.

A statement by the country’s drug enforcement authority (DNCD) confirmed it had seized 200 packages in eight bags stashed in “control compartments” of C-FWRR. Eleven people, including nine Canadians, were being questioned. The crew, passengers, and the CRJ-100ER remain under the control of the country's internal affairs ministry while investigations continue to establish who else is implicated in the attempted drug smuggling.

Pivot Airlines told the National Post the aircraft's nine-member flight- and cabin-crew had been detained after they reported the find to the local police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

A maintenance worker who was part of the crew had opened a small...

Canada's Pivot Airlines delays scheduled ops over Covid

Pivot Airlines (ZX, Toronto Pearson) has delayed the launch of its Ottawa Int'l and Montréal Trudeau scheduled services due to an ongoing surge in Omicron cases and recently re-introduced COVID-19 linked travel restriction in Canada.

“Although we have no indication from the Federal Government when the global travel advisory may be lifted or, as importantly, when Canadian corporations will return to the office and lift internal travel restrictions, we will continue to monitor our collaborating peer airlines' domestic and transborder booking landscape to determine a viable launch date that we hope correlates with a robust summer schedule,” the airline announced in a statement.

Meanwhile, passengers who had booked a ticket would receive a full refund, the airline said.

Pivot Airlines planned to begin scheduled services from Kitchener to Ottawa International on February 19 and to Montréal Trudeau on March 21, 2022.

The charter specialist had started up in June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing essential air services for health, resource, and supply chain sector workers across Canada and...

interCaribbean denies acquiring LIAT ATR42s

interCaribbean Airways (JY, Providenciales) has denied local news reports that claimed it has purchased Avions de Transport Régional turboprops of fellow regional carrier LIAT (Antigua and Barbuda) (LIA, Antigua), currently in administration.

"We have not made any offer for LIAT aircraft that are currently in operation by LIAT. The aircraft they are operating are owned by one government under guaranteed financing," interCaribbean Chief Executive Officer, Trevor Sadler, confirmed to ch-aviation.

"It may be confusion over our addition of the ATR to the fleet," Sadler said. interCaribbean Airways is awaiting the induction into service of its first ATR42-500, 2-LFEA (msn 621) leased from Gladiator Leasing. The aircraft is currently parked at Providenciales awaiting certification and service entry.

interCaribbean was forced to wet-lease in a CRJ100 from Pivot Airlines (ZX, Toronto Pearson) given delays in inducting the ATR42 into service. The contract ended on January 13 with the jet's return to Canada. The rest of its fleet comprises one DHC-6-200, nine EMB-120ERs, one EMB-120RT,...

Editorial Comment: Corrects 2-LFEA's current positioning - 20.01.2022 - 20:08 UTC

interCaribbean Airways adds wet-leased CRJ capacity