building a world-class airline to complement
the railway and shipping divisions.
Among the aircraft types operated by
the carrier (CP/CPC), the Douglas DC-8
served from 1961 to 1983. When the airline
rebranded as CP Air in 1968, adopting thedistinctive orange, red and silver livery, the
airline’s motto re ected the DC-8 by stating
‘CP Orange Jets to Five Continents’.
President Grant McConachie, always
a hands-on leader, test ew the three jets
on the market: de Havilland Comet IV,Boeing 707 and the DC-8. Canadian Paci c
ordered four DC-8-43s in October 1959 at
a cost of $6m each. It took delivery of its
rst DC-8-43, CF-CPF, eet number 601,
Empress of Vancouver on February 22,- It was officially introduced on the
Vancouver-Honolulu route on March 25. The
second, CF-CPH, was handed over on April
1, inaugurating the Vancouver-Edmonton-
Amsterdam route on April 30, replacing an
unserviceable Bristol Britannia.
The initial con guration of the ‘Jet
Empress’, as the airline called the DC-8, was
36 rst class and 80 economy seats, with
four more ‘lounge’ seats, on the right side of
the forward entranceway, usually used for
crew rest. These were later replaced with
six economy seats. The airline promoted
the DC-8 and among the items it highlighted
was its comfort, spacious seating and wide
aisle. The DC-8-43s were recon gured in
1967 for 141 passengers: 12 in rst and 129
in economy.
EXPANSION
In late April 1961, the type took over the
Montreal-Toronto-Winnipeg-Vancouver
route calling it the ‘Canadian Empress
DC-8 Jet’ service. The jetliner was
introduced to Asian routes on October 8,
1961 ying the Vancouver to Tokyo and
Hong Kong service.
The July 31, 1961 timetable stated
that by then DC-8s were also operating
the Vancouver-Tokyo-Hong Kong run and
the Vancouver-Honolulu-Fiji-Auckland-
Sydney route. Amsterdam was served from
Vancouver via Edmonton. The twice-weekly
‘Sunny Southern Route’ (as the airline
called it) from Toronto served Lisbon, Santa
Maria and Madrid. The DC-8 took over the
South American routes to Mexico City, Lima,
Santiago and Buenos Aires in 1962. Rome
was added from Amsterdam in 1965 as was
Athens in 1968.
Ultimately, the DC-8 was a boon to
Canadian Paci c, but in the rst few years
the larger aircraft were causing a glut of
seats proving hard to ll. An improving
economy and more efficient operation of
the jets soon saw the situation improve.
Operating revenue was up 9.5% in 1963
and more than 500,000 passengers were
own for the rst time. In February 1965,
the airline reported a C$2.8m pro t. Thehttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 21Above: A DC-8-53, CF-CPM,
on approach to Düsseldorf
in 1980. AirTeamImages.com/
Wolfgang Mendorf
Right: Promotional material
from 1961 with a DC-8 placed
prominently in the centre.
Canadian Pacifi c AirlinesCP Air retired its nal DC-8 in 1983. AirTeamImages.com/Wolfgang Mendor20-25_cp_airDC.mfDC.mfDC.mfDC.mf.indd 21 05/07/2018 15:02