The story
Air Georgian began as an airport developer in 1985. It began commercial operations in 1994 and subsequently developed its commercial air carrier business, which as of 2011 represented 87 percent of its total business. In 1997 It became a code share partner of Canadian Airlines, operating under the banner of Ontario Regional. Air Georgian was a partner of Canadian Airlines. In 2000 Air Georgian became a Tier III partner of Air Canada and operated as Air Canada Alliance.
It had a long time cargo operation known as Georgian Express which was sold to Cargojet in 2007.
On November 15, 2013, Air Georgian and Regional 1 merged operations through the creation of a parent company, Regional Express Aviation Ltd. (REAL), based in Calgary, Alberta. This joint venture ended in February 2016.
In December 2013, Air Canada announced that commencing in mid-2014, Air Georgian would operate additional routes in Canada and the United States using Air Canada CRJ100/200 aircraft. CRJ operations on behalf of Air Canada Express began on May 1, 2014.
In 2019, Air Canada indicated it was ending its relationship with the company, consolidating its CRJ regional capacity into the Jazz Aviation operation. On January 31, 2020, Air Georgian filed notice of intent for bankruptcy protection. On March 16, 2020, Air Georgian received court approval for an asset purchase agreement with Pivot Airlines (2746904 Ontario Inc) for substantially all the assets, properties and undertakings of the company. Pivot Airlines is a new company whose CEO as well as Maintenance Operations and Flight Operations Vice Presidents are the same as Air Georgian's. On May 29, 2020, the transaction was completed, however, the June 1 deadline to make a proposal to exit bankruptcy protection passed and no proposal having been made, the company was declared bankrupt the following day.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Air Georgian had begun offering repatriation flights.
From Wikipedia’s article on Air Georgian, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5
