CanJet
CanJet was a Canadian low-cost charter airline headquartered in Enfield and based at Halifax International Airport. It operated charter flights using its own brand, and contract and ad hoc charters for other tour operators and airlines throughout Canada and the United States. CanJet was wholly owned by IMP Group International and had 572 employees as of March 2007.
History
Before the merger with Canada 3000
The airline was established in 1999 and started operations on September 5, 2000. It was launched as a division of IMP Group and merged with Canada 3000 in May 2001 shortly before Canada 3000's bankruptcy.
Scheduled operations from 2002-2006
CanJet was relaunched on June 20, 2002 as an independent airline. The relaunched airline flew to three destinations, but quickly expanded. Canjet operated a fleet of nine Boeing 737-500 — seven of which used to be operated by United Airlines, one by Lufthansa — and one Boeing 737-300. These airframes date back to the early 1990s. There were plans to expand the airline's fleet of Boeing 737-500 aircraft to 20 by 2006; however, the plans were not realized.
CanJet Flight 918
CanJet Flight 918 (CJA 918, C6 918) was a flight that was on 19 April 2009 to have taken off from Sangster International Airport (MBJ), Montego Bay, Jamaica, bound for Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ), Halifax, Canada, but was instead seized before takeoff for hours by an armed, lone hijacker. This was the first incidence of a hijacking on Jamaican soil, and the second time a Canadian airliner has been hijacked.
Hijacking
The flight was operated on a Boeing 737-800, registration C-FTCZ. by the Canadian airline CanJet. Carrying 174 passengers and 8 crew, all Canadian, the plane was originally scheduled to leave MBJ at 11:00pm on 19 April 2009, due for arrival at YHZ at 7:15am the following day. However, at 10:30pm, local time, Flight 918 was boarded by a lone, armed hijacker – 20-year-old Stephen Fray of Montego Bay, calling himself "Rico" – who gained access to the plane brandishing a firearm and demanded to be taken to Cuba so he could defect there. The passengers were soon released, with testimony from them revealing that a flight attendant had convinced Fray to allow the passengers egress in exchange for their money. The hijacker did, though, continue to hold five crew hostage while negotiations, which included Fray's father and the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, continued.
Podcasts:
