ODY Odyssey Parent company Soundair Founded June 1988 | Fleet size See Fleet below Headquarters Toronto Ceased operations April 1989 | |
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Odyssey International (IATA: OL, ICAO: ODY, Call sign: Odyssey) was a charter airline based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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History
Odyssey International can trace its origins to Owen Sound Air Services (OSAS) founded in 1973 as a flying school and charter airline. Over the years OSAS grew by flying cargo for Purolator and also using Douglas DC-3 for Airborne Express and Emery. In 1984 OSAS was taken over by Soundair (who remained the parent company throughout the years). Soundair also took over Aero Trades Western and used the DC-3s and also Douglas DC-4. Two years later Convair CV-580 replaced the DC-4s and also the DC-3s were disposed of in favor of the Fokker F27 Friendship.
Soundair expanded operations by starting Commuter Express for scheduled commuter flights using Fairchild Metros. With a contract to feed Air Canada at Toronto Pearson International Airport the name was changed to Air Toronto and the Metros were replaced with Jetstream 31 aircraft. It was then in June 1988 that Odyssey International was founded as the third company under Soundair. Flights began using Boeing 757-28A between Toronto and Las Vegas. Odyssey used the 757s to operate to winter seasonal destinations in the Caribbean and for the summer season Leeds Bradford International Airport and Newcastle in England were served. Although a charter airline, Odyssey International provided high standards on their transatlantic service, for example they provided high quality crockery and cutlery for their passengers.
In order to serve smaller markets, two Boeing 737-3S3 were leased. But by late 1989 with an economic recession and the reduction in bookings at Air Toronto and Odyssey, Soundair found itself in difficult financial situation and operations for all three subsidiaries were shut down on April 1990.
The Odyssey name, aircraft and some employees were merged with Nationair, and operated as a separate division of Nolisair for a short period of time. Within several months, the Odyssey livery and all references to Odyssey were dropped and employees uniforms changed to those of Nationair, which went bankrupt in 1993.