Just two weeks ago it was carrying passengers across the United States.
Now, a retired Boeing passenger liner is the newest addition to Coulson Aviation’s fleet of firefighting equipment. It was delivered on Wednesday by Southwest Airlines and met with a water salute ceremony on the tarmac by the Sproat Lake Fire Department.
It’s the first of 10 planes Coulson will buy in the next few years from the airline.
Coulson Aviation is based in Port Alberni and is the largest aerial firefighting company in the world, with contracts in the US, Australia, Chile, and Argentina.
The retired Boeing 737-700 will be retrofitted and converted over the next two years into a 5,000-gallon tanker, the largest in the industry.
