traditionally, the company operated light aircraft such as the piper navajo and the britten-norman islander around atlantic canada. eventually, the airline began operating dhc-6 twin otters and fairchild metroliners and, at one point, had a convair 580 in its fleet. in 2001, pal took the delivery of its first saab 340 aircraft. this meant that pal airlines had become a 705 carrier, as per transport canada canadian aviation regulations, which meant that the first class of flight attendants were trained at this time. the airline added to its 705 fleet three years later when the company was awarded the vale inc. contract for the voisey's bay mine in labrador. this contract required the use of de-havilland dash 8's which began to arrive in 2004. provincial eventually added more dash 8's as part of the airline's scheduled air service.