Air Canada
Air Canada Airlines, the national Canadian carrier, was established on April 10th, 1939 as part of the Canadian National Railway under the name Trans-Canada Airlines. The first flight of two passengers with mail on board the Lockheed L-10 Elektra plane took place on September 1st, 1937 from Vancouver to Seattle. The carrier began transcontinental cruises from Montreal to Vancouver exactly two years later. Trans-Canada Airlines were the first airlines in the world to use a computer ticket booking system, as well as the first to install a prototype of the so-called black box on their planes. The airlines became the flag Canadian carrier, operating under the name Air Canada, in 1964. In December 1987, as the first carrier in the world, the airlines introduced a ban on smoking on board. Five years later, they outran their competition by offering their passengers a phone at their fingertips, and another three years later, as the first commercial carrier, they allowed their passengers to use laptops and send electronic mail.
The airplanes of the Canadian carrier operate on 240 routes around the world. The company also includes regional airlines Air Canada Express and Air Canada Rouge. Air Canada is a member and one of the co-founders of the Star Alliance. The carrier’s headquarters is Montreal.