Zip (airline)


Zip was a Canadian discount airline headquartered in Hangar 101 at Calgary International Airport, Calgary, Alberta. It was launched by Air Canada as a no-frills subsidiary in September 2002. It operated a fleet of 12 Boeing 737 aircraft, each painted in a bright, neon colour with a single class of service. The subsidiary was headed by former WestJet CEO, Steve Smith.
As a direct competition to Canada's leading low-cost carrier WestJet, Zip flew mostly between the western cities of Abbotsford, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg.
Zip ceased operations in September 2004 when Air Canada resumed a full schedule on its western routes.

Branding

Zip was known for branding its advertising with 3 character words. Among them, "yuk" was printed on the air sickness bags, "bag" was printed on the personal baggage tags, and "yum" was printed on the napkins distributed with beverages on board. Large print advertisements were erected in many cities, which simply said "fly" and the company's website below, 4321zip.com. Today, the website redirects to the official Air Canada website, along with other subsidiaries' websites.

Fleet

Zip operated a fleet consisting entirely of Boeing 737-200 aircraft, all obtained from the existing Air Canada fleet. When Zip shut down in 2004, the aircraft were retired.

AircraftNumberPassengers
Notes
Boeing 737-20020118retired after 2004

Livery

Zip's aircraft were painted in bright, neon colours on the fuselage, tail, and engines. Specifically, the colours blue, fuchsia, green, and orange were painted.
The fuselage was painted in the aircraft's colour, except for a white silhouette of a bee, with white dots trailing it. These dots extended to the back to the fuselage, leading to the tail of the aircraft, where Zip's logo was painted. On the engines, Zip's website, 4321zip.com was printed in white.

Destinations

As of August 2004, Zip served the following destinations:
CityAirportNotes
Calgary, AlbertaCalgary International AirportLaunch Destination, Headquarters
Edmonton, AlbertaEdmonton International AirportLaunch Destination
Montreal, QuebecMontréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Ottawa, OntarioOttawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport
Regina, SaskatchewanRegina International Airport
Saskatoon, SaskatchewanSaskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport
Vancouver, British ColumbiaVancouver International AirportLaunch Destination
Victoria, British ColumbiaVictoria International Airport
Winnipeg, ManitobaWinnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International AirportLaunch Destination