12/31/2007. Remarks by Charles Ford, former B.C. Air Lines pilot: "British Columbia Air Lines started operations in 1946 at Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, as a charter/flying school operation. It gradually grew into what was believed to be the largest airline in the world using only float/amphibian aircraft. By the early 1960’s the now Vancouver-sited airline had bases all along the British Columbia coast up to the Queen Charlotte Islands, including Vancouver Island. It provided charter and scheduled flights to virtually any point in this rugged area with an estimated coastline 18.000 miles.
Scheduled services using Grumman Mallards from Vancouver were provided to larger towns and the more than 400 logging. fishing, mining and town sites scattered along this tortuous coast were served by smaller a/c from its many bases. It was also one of the main suppliers of emergency flights from these isolated places to cities where medical aid was available.
By the late 1960’s B.C. Air Lines, as it was now known, was evolving into an IFR Class One scheduled operator, and had taken over some of the interior routes formally operated by Canadian Pacific Airlines, using Nord 262 aircraft. In August 1970 B.C. Air Lines was purchased by Pacific Western Airlines and merged into that company. The scheduled Mallard services to Vancouver Island and the mid-coast were continued till 1973 when they were sold to West Coast Air Services.