As the federal election campaign kicked off today, both the Liberal and Conservative parties unveiled the planes they will use to crisscross Canada for the next 40 days.
Both Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and Conservative leader Andrew Scheer have chartered planes from major Canadian airlines that they started using today.
Here’s what we know about the planes
The Liberal Party had chartered a 13-year-old Boeing 737-800 to fly Justin Trudeau and his staff across Canada.
The plane's wing was hit by a media bus on Wednesday and sustained minor damage. The plane, which has Trudeau's name and the Liberal logo on it, has been grounded until repairs are made.
Air Transit has chartered another plane to Calgary for Trudeau to use for campaigning. It is also a Boeing 737-800 and will be in regular Air Transit livery.
According to the airline, the Boeing 737-800 can fly a maximum distance of 4,300 kilometres without refueling. It cruises around 795km/h.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party has opted to charter a 21-year-old Airbus A319 from Air Canada for the election campaign.
The Airbus A319 has a slightly longer range with a maximum distance of 4,442 kilometres, according to Air Canada’s website. The cruising speed of the A319 is about 830km/h.
According to Air Canada, their A319’s are configured with 14 business class seats and 106 economy seats and have personal touch-screen televisions.
Air Canada has removed their logo from the plane and has replaced it with Scheer’s name and the Conservative Party’s logo.
Scheer boards his plane today in Ottawa, heading for Quebec City. (The Canadian Press)
The NDP normally charter a plane for their campaign but it has not been unveiled yet.
The Green Party said they will not charter a campaign plane and will rely on commercial flights.
