Air Georgian (Toronto Pearson) will transfer its entire fleet of twelve CRJ200s to Jazz Air (QK, Halifax) as part of Air Canada's decision to shift its regional flying to Chorus Aviation.
On February 4, Air Canada and Chorus Aviation closed an amended and extended Capacity Purchase Agreement wherein Chrous's Jazz Air subsidiary would provide Air Canada with regional capacity via a contract that came into effect retroactively as of January 1, 2019 and runs until December 31, 2035.
As part of the deal, Chorus secured preferred partner status for the operation of aircraft with up to 50 seats. Air Canada, therefore, moved to consolidate the Air Georgian CRJs into the Jazz operation.
Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick later told The Financial Post that the transition from Air Georgian to Jazz Air was based solely on commercial considerations and had nothing to do with allegations in the country's press about Air Georgian's safety record.
“Air Georgian has performed safely and reliably for us for 20 years,” he told the Post in an emailed statement. “The changes to our regional flying are purely a commercial decision.”
Fitzpatrick added that Air Canada had ended its capacity purchase agreement with Air Georgian to “simplify and modernize its regional fleet, including a shift to larger aircraft, and to improve customer service and to enable it to compete better.”
Aside from the CRJ-200s, Air Georgian also operates four CRJ100s and several of its fourteen Beech 1900Ds for Air Canada Express.
