After Burner

I've flown on AC148 (YVR-YYZ) and AC149 (YYZ-YVR) many times. 148 and 149 date back to at least 1980. Sadly, 148 and 149 did not survive the recent flight number reorganization and were reassigned to YYC-YYZ. The longest surviving flight number I'm aware of is AC857 LHR-YYZ. I came across 857 in a 1964 timetable (as TC857) operated by a DC8. AC857 is still in operation today as LHR-YYZ. My guess is 857 was assigned when DC8s first went into service (1961?).

Can anyone think of any older AC flight numbers?

Bohemian1

What about some of the old TPAC flight numbers that AC inherited from CP? I'm thinking of the 'double O' runs to Tokyo and Hong Kong.

yyznomad

Ok, so to be clear, you mean surviving flight numbers as in flight numbers and the associated route... not just the flight number by itself.

After Burner

Flight numbers and the associated route

LoveHateRelationship

I am procrastinating at work and decided to look into this.

It looks like Canadian Airlines didn't really use 007 and 008 till 1986. Prior to that it was 401/403 and 402/404. The planes would go Hong Kong-Tokyo-Vancouver then you had a choices of going East across Canada or South to Mexico city all the way down to Buenos Aires. The earliest TPAC flight I could find was 1951 flights 305/306 which flew Hong Kong-Shanghai (refuel)-Tokyo-Shemya(refuel)-Vancouver. The flight to Hong Kong started on Monday at 11AM and arrived in Hong Kong on Thursday at 7AM.

Quite interestingly the schedules read like train schedules of today where a plane stops at multiple destinations on the way. How interesting it would have been to live in those days.

I need to do real work now

http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/cp.htm

Admiral Ackbar

AC870/871 YUL-CDG has been around forever

Jagboi

I have a 1948 Canadian Pacific timetable, where one page of the 64 is air schedules, one is transatlantic steamships and one is BC coastal steamships. The rest is rail.
There are some intersting routes, but Calgary-Vancouver leaves Vancouver 8am, with stops at Penticton at 9:25, Castlegar at 10:30, Cranbrook at 11:30 and arriving in Calgary at 2:10. Flight # 4 eastbound, #3 westbound.

The other routes shown are:
Vancouver-Dawson City ( with 8 stops along the way) Flight #25 ,26
Vancouver-Prince Rupert (4 stops) Flight # 5,6
Edmonton-Fort Smith then branches to Yellowknife and Norman Wells. (5 stops) Flight # 29,30; 41,42; 47,48
Winnipeg-Red Lake (1 stop) Flight# 89,90
Regina- North Battleford (4 stops) Flight# 61,62
Winnipeg -Flin Flon (2 stops)
Sioux Lookout-Red-Lake (one stop)

The air routes at the time seem to be run just like local trains

mapleg

That's a very interesting web page.

I opened up one of the 1957 schedules and saw it had fares listed as well.

Toronto to Tokyo return in Tourist Class/economy $1076. According to one web site that equates equivalent to $9,373.30 in 2017.

A great reminder of how air fares have dropped over the years.

LoveHateRelationship

I saw that in 1951 they also had fares posted for $1,525 round trip for that same trip which works out to $14,727.35 in today's dollars.

On a separate note. If you look at the 1981 pamphlet there's an additional class below Y called T...Skybus or shall we call it (T)ango? Coincidence?

mapleg

I vaguely recall a class like that..sub economy. I believe I sat in about the 2nd last row of the plane. They came out with dinner for the Y passengers, steak I believe (ah, the good old days)..but for me, no meal. I asked if I could buy something and was curtly told no.

Not that much fun after smelling the food the others were eating while I got nothing.

Jagboi

I think it was either Thrift or Tourist class. Circa 1970?

Gr.Dane

AC 877 CPH-YYZ I flew on it in 1977, there was other before that

SparseFlyer

I appreciate this thread.

Thank you for the history lessons.

grumbler

AC 860 - YHZ-LHR - pretty much forever.
AC 858 - YYZ - LHR - the same.

mapleg

It would have been in the early 80s....just did it once (I must have been an FT'er even as a pup!)