NWT Air welcomed its third Boeing 737 jet to Yellowknife this week after months of anticipation.

The $6 million combination cargo-passenger aircraft means the airline won’t have to lease replacements from Echo Bay Mines while it’s two other 737s are grounded for yearly month-long inspections.

“We definitely needed a new one that” says aircraft program manager, Henry Tenby.

It wasn’t an easy job says Tenby. Boeing 737–200 “Combi” jets, as the double duty models used by North NWT and Canadian North are known, aren’t easy to find.

Boeing doesn’t make them anymore and hardly any are on the market at one time.

Passengers might notice a slightly more attractive interior, though not much else. The new jet which has been dubbed “Snowball” has been waiting for a new paint job, carried up to 72 passengers and two cargo packages just like the others in the NWT Air fleet.

But the pilots who flew it from Edmonton to Yellowknife on its inaugural flight (Captain Searle Hartman) said they like the way it handled.

It should also allow NWT to increase its Yellowknife to Edmond and schedule to five days a week from three.

Snowball is more than 12 years old and was with former Pacific Western Airlines fleet (CF-PWE) until the mid 1980s. It was sold to an American carrier and was Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis’ campaign jet in 1988.

More recently, the jet flew under the Air Zaire banner, which is now hidden beneath a new coat of white paint. Tenby says the airline would like to give the aircraft some distinctive colours.

“We can do something creative with that. I’m hoping we can put a polar bear on the nose” said Tenby.

Anyone with an idea for Jets can give NWT Air a call.

Back in 2002 to 2004, zip successfully helped their parent Air Canada compete against its largest domestic competitor, and paved the way for Air Canada to set out on its post-bankrupcy strategy. Of course when we look back today ten years after the fact, that strategy proved to be highly successful.

The zip brand and its employees were absorbed into Air Canada’s mainline operation after the operation was wound down in September of 2004, and the old 737-200s mostly ended up in the boneyard. It brought the closing chapter of Boeing 737-200 mainline airline operations in Canada, which started way back in 1968 when CP Air first introduced the type.

I prepared an in-depth analysis of Air Canada’s zip experiment which appeared in Airliners magazine, and is presented below.

CHECK OUT the zip 737 Non-Stop Action DVD