The aged fleet of Canadair CL-41 jets, locally designated the CT-114, has been operating for more than 60 years and faces significant costs to maintain airworthiness.
The Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF’s) aerobatic demonstration team will go on hiatus at the conclusion of the 2026 air show season.
During the stand down, which senior Ottawa officials describe as temporary, the Snowbirds will retire their aged fleet of Canadair CL-41 jets and field the Pilatus PC-21 turboprop as a replacement.
The decision was driven by the increasing cost of sustaining the CL-41, which is locally designated the CT-114 Tutor. The Snowbirds operate 21 Tutors, all of which have been flying for more than 60 years.
Canadian defence minister David McGuinty and RCAF commander Lieutenant General Jamie Speiser-Blanchet confirmed the decision to place the demonstration team on hiatus during a 19 May press event at the Snowbirds’ home base of 15 Wing at Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan.
“We have every assurance that the fleet is well positioned to serve for another season,” McGuinty says. “The decision was made, on the recommendation of the air force, that we would transition to a new fleet.”
The Snowbirds’ 2026 season is set to begin on 24 May with an appearance in Montreal.
Canada is already fielding the Swiss-made PC-21 as an advanced training aircraft for new pilots. The acquisition is part of a wholesale modernisation of the RCAF trainer fleet called the Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) programme.
That portfolio includes more than 70 new fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and is being managed by the SkyAlyne joint venture between Canadian aerospace heavyweights CAE and KF Aerospace, with a projected value of more than C$9 billion ($6.5 billion).
The current FAcT programme covers 19 PC-21s, which will be operated by the RCAF as the CT-157 Siskin II. SkyAlyne completed factory acceptance of the first two CT-157s earlier this month. Those aircraft will be used as the follow-on platform to the initial course flight instruction conducted in the Grob Aircraft G120TP.
McGuinty says Ottawa is negotiating with Pilatus over the cost and scope of the additional PC-21 order for the Snowbirds. The government has not yet settled on a fleet size or delivery timeline.
“We’ll obtain them as quickly as we can,” the minister says.
The RCAF had at one point planned to extend the service life of the Tutor fleet to 2030. An upgrade programme launched in 2020 has modernised the cockpits in 11 aircraft, with further deliveries ongoing.
However, Speiser-Blanchet says significant issues have since been identified across the CL-41/CT-114 fleet, including with the airframe structure, engine and escape systems that now make the 2030 target unfeasible.
“There are some engineering challenges because of the age of the aircraft that have changed that situation, and this is why it will be retiring in 2027 instead of 2030,” she says.
After the Snowbirds’ final scheduled appearance in October 2026, the jets will be grounded, and the squadron will begin the process of divesting its aircraft and disbanding. Pilots and ground personnel will be reassigned to other squadrons within the RCAF.
Once new-build PC-21s start becoming available, the Snowbirds will be reconstituted at the same Moose Jaw base.
While Speiser-Blanchet says that decision was “not taken lightly”, she describes the CT-114 retirement as necessary to support the service’s broader goals.
“The Royal Canadian Air Force is modernising at a pace and scale not seen since the Second World War,” she says. “It requires us to move beyond legacy capabilities and invest in a future force that is fully integrated, resilient and adaptable to the demands of the future.”
McGuinty adds that the recapitalisation of the Snowbirds will not impact that sweeping programme of RCAF modernisations, which includes new tactical fighters, aerial tankers, maritime patrol jets and uncrewed surveillance aircraft.
Ottawa is also expected to procure a new tactical helicopter and a new jet-powered fighter trainer to replace the now-retired BAE Systems Hawks, which exited service in 2024.
Both of those efforts remain in the early stages of consideration.
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