NT Air was formed in 1971 with the amalgamation of two of northern British Columbia's airlines: Northern Mountain Airlines and Thunderbird Airlines.
Northern Mountain Airlines began operations at Fort St. James in 1959. By 1971, they were one of the larger airlines in British Columbia. With a mixed fleet of Cessnas, DHC-2 Beavers, Beech 18s, Grumman Goose, and helicopters; Northern Mountain served Northern Canada including Alberta, Yukon and Northwest Territories. By spinning off its airplane division to merge with Thunderbird in 1971, Northern Mountain was able to concentrate its efforts on helicopters only and did so through 2000.[4]
Thunderbird Airlines started in the early 1960s when it acquired the bush operations of Pacific Western Airlines in Prince George. From its base at Tabor Lake, Thunderbird operated Cessnas, Beavers and DHC Otters on floats and skis servicing the new town of Mackenzie and the northern villages and logging camps of Williston Lake. In the early 1970s, Thunderbird secured a subcontract from Pacific Western Airlines to service the smaller communities of B.C. to feed that traffic into PWA's jet aircraft at Prince George, Kamloops and Kelowna. The need for a hangar on the Prince George Airport to fulfill this contract was the catalyst for the merger talks that resulted in the formation of Northern Thunderbird Air in 1971.
Since its inception, Northern Thunderbird Air has adapted with the times and economic cycles with a fleet of 18 aircraft, three bases, 21 scheduled points and over 100 employees.
Sister airline
Northern Thunderbird Air is the sister airline of Central Mountain Air, utilizing their large aircraft capability and bases in British Columbia and Alberta.[5]
The Northern Thunderbird Beechcraft 1900D's bear the NTA paint scheme and logo but are dual registered with sister company Central Mountain Air.
Incidents and accidents
On 27 October 2011, a Beechcraft King Air, serial number B-36, registered C-GXRX, crashed on Russ Baker Way next to Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia as it was attempting to make a landing, killing the pilot, 44-year-old Luc Fortin. It had departed the airport earlier but turned around due to indications of an aircraft malfunction (the engine oil pressure indicator); it crashed about 900 m (3,000 ft) short of the runway. Five of the nine passengers were seriously injured.[8] On 16 November 2011, the co-pilot of the flight, 26-year-old Matt Robic, died as well.[9]
