The History of Canadair Regional Jet MSN 7003

This is one in a series of articles on Winglets which track the histories of Canadair Regional Jets.

Canadair Regional Jet RJ100ER MSN 7003 C-GVRJ
(Photo By: Nobuo Oyama)

MSN 7003
C-GVRJ, F-GMNM
Third Canadair Regional Jet Built
Promotional work for Canadair, route proving for Lufthansa CityLine, then operated by Air Littoral, short sub-lease to Southern Winds before returning to complete its service life with Air Littoral
First Flight November 17, 1991
Scrapped at North Bay Ontario in 2006

Aircraft History

C-GVRJ, 7003, was the third Canadair Regional Jet built. The aircraft spent most of its early life with Canadair in a public relations role painted in the distinctive Canadair house colour scheme. The aircraft visited every continent at least once during its service with Canadair before moving to a route proving role with Lufthansa Cityline and then was sold to Air Littoral in 1993, who operated 7003 for the majority of its life.

Initially, 7003 was painted in an all white colour scheme with Air Littoral titles and emblem on an all white tail. Then in 1995, 7003 was painted into Air France / Air Inter Express colours. When the aircraft was sub-leased to Southern Winds in 1998, 7003 was repainted into a white fuselage colour scheme with Southern Winds titles and logo on the tail with a blue background. Post lease with Southern Winds in 2000, 7003 was painted into Air France colours with small Air Littoral markings. The final colour scheme for 7003 was all white with larger Air Littoral titles on the upper front of the fuselage which lasted for the rest of its airline service.

7003 retired from airline service in August 2004 with Air Littoral and then was ferried to North Bay Ontario where the aircraft was scrapped in June of 2006.