Air Canada Flies 300 South African Firefighters to Alberta

On Sunday, Air Canada flight AC7007 departed O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa en route to Edmonton, Alberta with 300 South African firefighters on board.

The aircraft is carrying the largest number of wildland firefighters ever brought into Canada. The firefighters from South Africa's Working on Fire Program will assist in firefighting efforts underway in Northern Alberta. It is Working on Fire's largest-ever deployment.

"Air Canada's employees have once again risen to the challenge to make this mission possible," said Marcel Forget, Senior Vice President, Commercial Strategy, whose responsibilities include the airline's network planning and scheduling. "This is the first time Air Canada has operated into South Africa, which also required rescheduling flights to make one of our largest aircraft available in order to accommodate this request. We are extremely honoured to be able to support the firefighting underway in Northern Alberta, and on behalf of all Air Canada employees, I sincerely thank the men and women of the Working on Fire program for the invaluable contribution they will make on the ground."

Air Canada is operating this flight on behalf of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre in cooperation with the Alberta Government with 17 Air Canada crew members on board.

Flight 7007 made a brief stop in Barbados for refueling and change of crew before arriving in Edmonton Sunday evening, 22 hours after departing South Africa.

"We are proud of our South African fire fighters from our Working on Fire programme and we no doubt believe that they will do us proud to provide these essential services to Canada," said Llewellyn Pillay, Managing Director, Working on Fire. "We are immensely proud of the fact that the international firefighting community has recognised the skills and expertise within Working on Fire to provide essential integrated fire management services at an international level. We are grateful also for this partnership between CIFFC and for the contribution of Air Canada in bringing our fire fighters safely to Canada." 

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