NorOntair, stylized as norOntair, was a Canadian regional airline operating in northern Ontario from October 18, 1971 to March 29, 1996. It was as a subsidiary of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), a provincial Crown agency of the Government of Ontario, with the stated goal of creating east-west links across northern Ontario. History ONTC's first foray into air services began when it subcontracted flying operations to various airlines including Bradley Air Service (First Air), Austin Airways, Air-Dale Ltd and OnAir (taken over by Bearskin Airlines). Air-Dale Ltd. based in Sault Ste Marie was the airline's main operations base. Two de Havilland Dash 8-102 aircraft and six Dash 6-300 Twin Otters were based in Sault Ste Marie. Two additional Twin Otters were based in Thunder Bay and were operated by Bearskin Airlines crews but painted in full NorOntair colours. In its final years, ONTC bought Air-Dale Ltd and operated all the remaining routes until the service was discontinued. In 1996, the newly elected government of Premier Mike Harris moved to close down the airline by removing subsidies. However, this had a negative effect on the region's economy over the next several years. NorOntair was the first airline in the world to order and take delivery of Bombardier's de Havilland Canada Dash 8 Series 100, on October 23, 1984, operated by Air-Dale Ltd. The first Dash 8 in commercial service anywhere in the world wore NorOntair colours and was registered C-GJCB. It was number 6 from the assembly line and remained in active service until the closure of the company flying up to 14 hours a day across Northern Ontario. Service area The locations served included: Dash 8 service: Fort Frances Kapuskasing North Bay Sault Ste. Marie Sudbury Thunder Bay Timmins Winnipeg Hearst Twin Otter service: Atikokan Chapleau Earlton Elliot Lake Geraldton Gore Bay Hearst Hornepayne Kenora Kirkland Lake Pickle Lake Red Lake Sioux Lookout Terrace Bay Wawa Incidents and accidents A second Dash 8 joined the fleet shortly after the first and was registered C-GPYD. It was seriously damaged on approach into Sault Ste Marie on February 2, 1986. The aircraft suffered a hard landing during a cockpit crew training flight. This caused the aircraft's landing gear to collapse, causing significant damage to the newly acquired plane. Of particular concern to the airline and to de Havilland Canada at the time was the fact that the crash caused one of