Trans-Canada Airlines

Trans-Canada Air Lines (also known as TCA in English, and Air Canada in French) was a Canadian airline that operated as the country's flag carrier. Its corporate headquarters were in Montreal, Quebec. Its first president was Gordon Roy McGregor.

In English-language contexts, the airline operated as TCA from 1937 to 1965, when it was renamed Air Canada.

With heavy involvement from C. D. Howe, a senior minister in the Mackenzie King cabinet, TCA was created by the Crown Corporation Canadian National Railways (CNR), and launched its first flight on September 1, 1937, on a flight between Vancouver and Seattle. An air-mail contract with Canada Post was one of the methods by which TCA was financed.

The creation of TCA was partly by CNR management who wanted to expand the company into the new field of passenger aviation, and was partly by government direction. Prior to TCA, no large national airline existed in Canada. With war looming, and other nations (primarily the U.S.) experiencing major increases in the creation of passenger airlines, it was necessary to have a presence. The CNR was the country's largest corporation at the time and proved an effective vehicle for the government to create a national airline.

TCA was also in direct competition with passenger trains operated by parent CNR, and contributed to the decline of passenger rail service as Canada entered the pioneering years of air travel. In response to CNR's creation of TCA, arch-rival Canadian Pacific Railway created Canadian Pacific Air Lines in 1942.

Between 1943 and 1947, TCA operated the Canadian Government Trans-Atlantic Air Service (CGTAS) to provide trans-Atlantic military passenger and postal delivery service using Avro Lancastrian (modified Avro Lancaster) aircraft. The record crossing was completed non-stop in 12:26 hours; the average was about 13:25 hours. CGTAS ushered in the era of commercial air travel across the North Atlantic. After the war, the Lancastrians became part of TCA and carried paying civilian passengers until they were replaced by Douglas DC-4s.

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