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Conair Group Inc. of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, formerly known as Conair Aviation, is a company specializing in retrofitting firefighting aircraft, maintaining customer and company-owned aircraft and aerial firefighting. Conair currently employs over 250 staff and has a fleet of aircraft that are broken down into two categories; air attack (a.k.a. bird dog), and airtankers (a.k.a. waterbombers). Conair specializes in fire management support by providing services and products to forest protection agencies around the world. In 1996 Conair became a Canadian Air Tractor dealer for the AT-802F air tanker.[1] Conair Group A former Conair Group division; Cascade Aerospace was acquired by the IMP Group of Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2012.
Skyway Air Services was started shortly after the close of WW2. They were pioneers in the development and operation of aerial firefighting, agricultural and pest control spraying. After the interests were sold, Skyway continued to operate as a Flight training and Air charter business out of Langley, British Columbia.
The new company was called Conair Aviation Ltd. and was incorporated in April 1969, receiving their operating license on October 22, 1969. As part of the deal, the aircraft and assets that Conair purchased were: thirteen Grumman Avengers, five Boeing Stearmans, one North American Harvard and the existing Skyway hangar located at Abbotsford, British Columbia.
In 1978 Conair acquired a subsidiary; Frontier Helicopters based at Watson Lake, Yukon. This rotary division was renamed Conair Helicopters in 1999. Conair also went into the Air Cargo business in 1980 by starting a company named Swiftair Cargo. They filed for license in early July 1979, and flew for the first time on September 15, 1980, using two Douglas DC-8 aircraft flying in opposite directions across Canada. Swiftair Cargo went into receivership by May 1982.
By 1984 Conair had the world's largest private fleet of Air Tankers including 50 fixed wing aircraft and 15 helicopters and by the early 1990s has grown to over 90 aircraft. Conair Aviation Ltd. later became Conair Group Inc., and they continue to be based out of Abbotsford, British Columbia. Art Seller and Skyway Air Services Conair - About
In addition Conair show at least one Canadair CL-215, operated by Aero-Flite, that has been retrofitted and converted into a CL-415EAF with turboprop engines.
The Dash 8 were originally two used Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s, acquired from SAS Group, that were modified by the Conair Group's former division Cascade Aerospace of Abbotsford, British Columbia. These aircraft are set up for dual roles and were modified for the Sécurité Civile to act both as fire-fighting water bombers in fire season and as civilian or cargo transport aircraft in the off season. This aircraft is designated the Q400-MR (Multi Role). The aircraft can be reconfigured into the passenger, cargo or aerial fire control role in under three hours and can drop in the tanker role. In recent years 14 Dash 8 Q400’s were purchased from Flybe and also converted into tankers.
Conair also previously converted three Fokker F27 Friendship turboprops for use as air tankers.http://www.airliners.net, photos of Conair Fokker F27 aircraft
In January 2021, Conair announced that it had purchased 11 Q400s from defunct British airline Flybe for conversion into Q400AT and Q400MR configurations.
Former attack aircraft include the Cessna T210, Cessna Skymaster including the piston 337, and , since superseded by eight Aero Commander 690 (listed by Conair as Turbo Commander TC-690A), five Cessna 208 Caravan (listed by Conair as the Cessna Caravan C208B), and a single Cessna 525B Citation jet (not listed at Conair's website).
Former air tankers include the Grumman Avenger, Douglas (A-26) Invader, Conair Firecat (retrofitted S-2 Trackers), Douglas DC-6, Convair CV-580 (retired in 2022) and Lockheed Electra (retired in 2020).
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