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| Commenced operations | July 15, 1987 (1987-07-15) | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | April 1993 (1993-04) (merged withTime Air to formCanadian Regional Airlines) | ||||||
| Hubs | Toronto Pearson International Airport | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | Canadian Plus | ||||||
| Parent company | Canadian Airlines International | ||||||
| Headquarters | Toronto,Ontario,Canada | ||||||
Ontario Express was aregional airline inCanada.
Ontario Express first started operations on July 15, 1987 as a regional feeder airline for Canadian Airlines based at theToronto Pearson International Airport. It began service toHamilton in March 1989.[1] This was a way to apply the newly designed commercial aviation strategy at the time: use smaller aircraft to gather passengers from various locations and "feed" the main airline which would then carry those passengers worldwide. The term "feeder airline" became a standard in all commercial aviation. The other term employed was a "spoke and wheel" type of organization, the spoke being the centre where all the feeder airlines would fly in the passengers from around the area. Operations started with 4Jetstream 31 aircraft, manufactured by British Aerospace.ATR 42 aircraft, built by a Franco-Italian consortium Avions de transport régional, were added to the fleet in 1988. Ontario Express was the first airline to import and operate those 2 aircraft in Canada. The first cities that were connected to Toronto were: Windsor, Sault Ste. Marie, Sarnia, London, Kingston, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, and Sudbury.