A DC-8 Lifecycle - at one time transport for a King
Terry's item in NetLetter #1573 on defunct Canadian airline, 'Holidair', certainly piqued our curiosity. Mostly because we had very little info about this short term airline.
Luckily, it caught the attention of subscriber Bill Miller who sent us the comment that appears in 'Readers' Feedback' section of this issue. Of particular interest is that one of the aircraft acquired by Holidair was once used as VIP transport for the King of Spain.
As per planespotters.net, line #181, a DC-8-52, was originally delivered to Iberia in March 1963 registration EC-ATP. It retained the same registration when acquired by Aviaco in 1973. In February 1980 it was acquired by the Spanish Air Force and configured as VIP transport for the King of Spain.
It left Spain in October 1988 for the U.S. and was briefly registered as N7034E for Holiday Airways and, in December of the same year, it arrived in Canada as C-FHAB for Holidair.
It must have been confiscated by the Royal Bank of Canada after the bankruptcy as is shows being leased to Advance Air Charters in Canada in September 1993 and then Imperial Airlines of Bermuda as VR-BIA in January 1995. It was broken up at Lasham airfield, in England in October 1997.
Our thanks to the photographers who graciously permitted us to link to their photos below. Click the images to view the originals with comments from the photographers.
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