The story
On April 26, 2011, Air Canada announced its intention to retire the Air Canada Jazz brand and create the Air Canada Express brand. Prior to establishing the Express name, the flights operated primarily under the Air Canada Jazz or Air Canada Alliance banners.
As of January 2020, Air Georgian no longer provided services under the capacity purchase agreement. Those services were transferred back to Jazz Aviation. On March 1, 2021, it was also announced that Sky Regional Airlines would also no longer provide services under the capacity purchase agreement and therefore Jazz Aviation would become the sole operator of the express brand.
However, in May 2023, Air Canada signed a letter of intent with PAL Airlines for a five-year capacity purchase agreement. This deal involved the purchase of up to six Bombardier Q400s from Air Canada, which PAL Airlines would operate under the Air Canada Express brand in addition to their existing schedule and charter business. In the announcement, Air Canada described the prospective agreement with PAL Airlines as a "bridging arrangement" due to a need for additional regional capacity as a result of industry-wide pilot shortages. Service with PAL began in July 2023. On January 9, 2026, Air Canada and PAL renewed the agreement through 2032, adding five additional Q400s into the fleet, as well as protecting services from Montréal–Trudeau to destinations in Quebec and New Brunswick.
From Wikipedia’s article on Air Canada Express, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4
