Halifax Overseas Shuttle | Logo & Cover

Halifax Overseas Shuttle
CALLSIGN - Bluebird
ICAO - HOS
IATA - HO

Halifax Overseas Shuttle was founded in 1979 by Louis McKeen. McKeen, came from a wealthy family based in Seattle. His fortune was from his family's private transportation company back in the states. McKeen wanted to get his foot in the aviation industry, so in 1968 he took a position at Avion France as the Secretary of Regional Operations. He stayed with the company until 1976, then living in Montreal working at Avion's Canadian office. In his resignation in 1976, he sighted the amount of stress he had managing his workload. He moved to Halifax in Nova Scotia to enjoy his late 50s. Throughout his time in Halifax in the late 70s, he always noticed the lack of air connections to Halifax and nearby airports from mainline carriers.

In 1977 he began talks with lawyers and old friends in the industry about a possible new venture of his. He wanted to create an airline that put Halifax back on the aviation map, and to that he was going to need support. Speaking with friends at British Global, he was able to secure a 20 million CAD bond from the company. British. Global would also take a 40% stake in the company using a Canadian based banking firm they had deals with. The name for the airline was HalJet, but months before launch it was changed to Halifax Overseas Shuttle citing that HalJet just didn't represent the airline's values.

The airline launched in 1979 with a single DC-9-40 on a single year lease from Douglas. Operations were immediately a success, with the airline filling each flight within days of ticket publication. By 1980, British Global began a promotion with Halifax Overseas Shuttle boosting both airline's presence in YUL and YOW. This invitation increased the company's seat demand almost 300% within a month. The airline leased 7 further DC-9-40s, also ordering DC-9-30s to reach further destinations.


Personal Notes:

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