Airline famous on TV for vintage planes buys its first jet

One of the most famous airlines in the world, and with a controversial history, has finally decided to buy its first jet.

Buffalo Airways is a Canadian airline, but it has none of the traditional Canadian etiquette or punctuality. Quite the opposite.

The company is based in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories and operates in extreme ice, cold and snow conditions. And to fly in these territories, it only has “bulky” planes, aviation legends that face any challenge.

Its fleet currently consists of Douglas DC-3, Curtiss C-46 Commando, Lockheed L-188 Electra, Beechcraft King Air and Baron, Aero Commander 500 (Twin 690C), Cessna 310, Canadair CL-215 and AirTractor FireBoss aircraft.

For those who are into aviation, seeing this list gives goosebumps and fills the eyes, as they are all planes with a lot of history and revered by aviators. For those who are less familiar, you may remember footage from the Second World War showing the Douglas DC-3 and the fire fighting done by the CL-215 and FireBoss, and for Brazilians, Varig’s Electras.

In addition to these planes, the company operated the Douglas DC-4 and the Lockheed P-3 Orion (the same used by the Brazilian Air Force and derived from the Electra).

Almost all of these planes are from the 40s to 60s, from the beginning of the aviation boom, and are practically not operated in the world. Buffalo, for example, is the only one in the world to still have regular flights with the DC-3, which remains the commercial aircraft with the longest operating time: 86 years.

Despite everything, maintaining such a fleet is neither easy nor cheap, and the company has a relevant history of accidents. There are at least 11, considering only those registered on the AviationSafetyNetwork website, many of them serious, despite no fatalities.

Buffalo’s exoticism made it have a TV series of its own, called Ice Pilots NWT, which aired in several countries. In Brazil, it is broadcast by the History Channel, launched in the wake of the series Caminhoneiros do Gelo:

Buffalo’s main business is the transportation of cargo in remote locations, often with government contracts or for industry (mainly mining). But it also transports passengers and does firefighting, having a versatile fleet.

Now, the renewal of the fleet has finally arrived, with the announcement of its first jet: a Boeing 737-300SF (converted freighter), with a capacity of 19 tons.

Current registration 2-ESKA, it was manufactured in 1986 for passenger transport and passed through several US and European airlines. It had been in storage since 2017, and is now being put to flight by Buffalo, which will limit itself to operating with it on paved runways, which is not the case with other planes, which often use airports with less structure.

A video showing the aircraft was published by Mikey McBryan, son of the founder of Buffalo Airways, who says that, for now, it’s just a very quick preview to announce the news. Follow the images below: