This collection includes records related to Maritime Central Airways such as newspaper articles, histories, staff lists, statistics, aircraft information, photographs, and tariff manual excerpts. Some records concerning M.C.A.-Nordair, Wheeler and Eastern Provincial are also contained in the collection.

Maritime Central Airways (MCA) was established in 1941 by Carl Burke of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The first flight of Maritime Central Airways was 7 December 1941. The airline was involved in passenger and cargo flights along with a number of other assignments including ice patrols for the Department of Transport, lobster and strawberry charters, seal surveys, forestry patrols for the Government of New Brunswick, bush flying, and ships crew transport. MCA had a wholly-owned subsidiary called Newfoundland Airways Limited from 1948 to 1951. In the early 1950s, MCA transported supplies and equipment for the Pinetree Project, the construction of U.S. radar stations from St. Anthony, Newfoundland to Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island. After the Pinetree Project was completed in 1954, Maritime Central Airways was the airlift contractor for an eastern chain of DEW radar stations (Distant Early Warning System). Boreal Airways of St. Felicien, Quebec and Mont Laurier Aviation of Roberval, Quebec became wholly-owned subsidiaries of MCA in 1956. On 27 November 1956 these two companies were merged as Nordair Ltd. In 1960, Nordair purchased Wheeler Airlines Limited. In 1963, Carl Burke sold Maritime Central Airways to Eastern Provincial. Nordair was not included in the sale of MCA. On 7 September 1967, James Tooley of Montreal bought eighty-five percent of Nordair, though Carl Burke remained a director and member of the executive committee until his death in 1976.