Past, Present, and Future

(TOP)
Airline - Air Canadien
Aircraft - Douglas DC-9-50 | C-CKRS
Delivered to Air Canadien, 1982
Leased to Sycamair, 1997
Returned to Air Canadien, 2002
Stored at Victorville, 2006
Scrapped at Victorville, 2008
Livery - Standard 1995
Country - Canada

(MIDDLE)
Airline - Air Canadien
Aircraft - McDonnell Douglas MD-88 | C-CMXG
Delivered to Air Canadien, 1987
Livery - Standard 1995
Country - Canada

(BOTTOM)
Airline - Air Canadien
Aircraft - Boeing 737-800 | C-CEHV
Delivered to Air Canadien, 2002
Livery - Standard 1995
Country - Canada

Operated by the airline since 1980, the DC-9-50 (alongside the DC-9-30, which was retired in 2002) had been the backbone of Air Canadien's medium-haul fleet for almost a decade, and remained in service for over twice as long, leaving the fleet in 2006. In 2004, only seven aircraft of the type were still being operated.
Unlike the MD-82 (not pictured), which was operated by Air Canadien since 1983 but did not see widespread use, the MD-88 became by far the most used medium-range aircraft in the fleet shortly after its introduction in 1987. While only 35 were ordered at first, a second order in the mid-1990s brought this total up to 56, and the MD-88 continues to fly for the Air Canadien into 2018.

In the early 2000s, Air Canadien began a fleet renewal program, ordering 70 Boeing 737-800 aircraft. While the first set of deliveries (22 aircraft) were used to retire the DC-9-30 and eventually the DC-9-50, as well as some MD-82s, the financial trouble faced by Air Canadien in 2003 and 2004 due to the downturn in the global air travel market caused the rest of the deliveries to be deferred. While the original plan was for all DC-9 family aircraft except the MD-88 to leave the fleet by 2005, and for the MD-88 to be retired in 2008, this did not occur. The MD-82 was fully retired in 2007, and in the same year Air Canadien began to once again take deliveries of the 737-800, at which point amended fleet renewal plans were presented for the MD-88 to leave the fleet by 2011, however the 2008 financial crisis once again interrupted this plan. In 2009, when Air Canadien entered bankruptcy protection for the second time in a decade, the medium-haul fleet consisted of 41 737-800s and 48 MD-88s (as well as 10 737-500s). The airline once again became profitable in late 2010, and the order of 70 737-800s was completed by 2014, however the MD-88 continued in the fleet, with no aircraft being retired since 2010, however in early 2017 - after a second 737-800 order (for 40 more aircraft) was placed - the MD-88 once again began to be retired, at a rate of four aircraft leaving the fleet every year, and by September 2018, 37 of the type remained in service.