Air 500

Air 500 Limited was a Canadian airline.^[1][2] Founded in 1985 by Dennis Chadala, former Captain, director of marketing and assistant to Carl Millard, of the defunct Millardair. The company commenced operations with 1 Super Beech 18 Model E, registered C-FTAE that was purchased from Bradley First Air where it had retired from flying the dew line in Northern Canada. The Beech18 was originally purchased new by Timmins Aviation. The founder had extensive knowledge of the emergency freight business and the operation of DC3s, Super DCs and DC4 aircraft due to his position within the inner circle at Millardair. Dennis Chadala created Air 500 Limited on a shoe string, without financing and was the first airline to receive licensing and an operating certificate at Toronto's Pearson International Airport following deregulation of the aviation industry in Canada in 1985. The airline grew rapidly adding an aircraft at the pace of 1 every six months. By 1989 it had acquired almost all of the business flying ad hock charter out of Toronto for Chrysler, Ford, GM and many others formerly serviced by his former place of employment at Millardair. The young owner's extensive knowledge of this niche area of aviation enabled him to expand rapidly and capture that market segment. At the time, Air 500 was an exceptional success story operating 3 Super Beech 18 aircraft, 2 Cessna 310s, 1 DC3, 1 Super DC(C117), 1 Piper Cheyenne and 1 Mitsubishi MU2 Marquise. In the early nineties, the fleet continued to grow adding 2 more Mitsubishi MU2 aircraft, 2 Citation 500 business jets and 1 Citation 2 business jet. In 1995 the airport was privatized and came under the direction and control of the GTAA (Greater Toronto Airport Authority) and Dennis Chadala simultaneously acquired Hangar #7, the newest hangar facility at the north end of the Pearson Airport off Derry Road with 40 years remaining on the current land lease. Air 500 had contracts in the courier industry, Air Ambulance Services and Aircraft Management as well as a base of operations at the Esso Avitat in Ottawa where 2 Mitsubishi Marquise MU2 aircraft were stationed. One was flying an exclusive long term contract for Nordion (formerly Atomic Energy of Canada) flying radio active isotopes to numerous destinations in the United States for medical purposes as a well a designated charter aircraft. Hangar #7 was large enough to lease out one half the facility to Air 500 Limited and the other half to Execaire/Innotech Aviation and they remained tenants of the hangar owned by Dennis Chadala until November 1998, at which time Execaire/Innotech owned by the IMP Group out of Halifax Nova Scotia struct a deal with Dennis Chadala to purchase his hangar facility, all his aircraft and the operating airline Air 500 Limited. Dennis Chadala stayed on with the company during a short transition period that ended in February 1999. Air 500 was amalgamated into Execaire and became part of that operating group taking advantage of the synergies available to them.

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