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As a frequent flyer with Air Canada, I can’t tell you how many times I have cracked the joke that Air Canada’s motto must be “We’re not happy until you’re unhappy.” Everyone has an Air Canada story to tell, but no one can best Peter Pigott’s tale about our national airline.

From the very first pages, his passion for the industry and his depth of knowledge about Air Canada’s place in it are very much in evidence. And don’t assume that this book is overly laden with technical details about aircraft design and engine speeds. Pigott strikes the right balance with information for keen aviation history buffs and an easy-to-read narrative that helps the rest of us discover more about the people and events that have shaped Air Canada over some seventy-five years.

Beginning with its earliest incorporation as part of the Canadian National Railway, the airline, Pigott argues, has been shaped as much by its charismatic leaders as by the succession of governments that have always approached the airline more as an instrument of national policy than as a commercial enterprise.

From the first president of Trans-Canada Airlines, James S. Hungerford, to current Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu, Pigott carefully lays out the challenges that have confronted each generation of leaders. Those challenges include the decoupling of the airline from the railway industry; the tyranny of the post office; the rise of regional competition and the battle for control of rival Canadian Pacific; the consolidation of maintenance facilities in Quebec; and the profound global impact of 9/11. He brings individual personalities to life (and sometimes the clash of personalities) leaving readers with a human explanation for the choices Air Canada’s leaders championed and of their triumphs.

It truly is a wonder that Air Canada, and Canadian taxpayers, have survived it all, when so many other airlines would either have given up or not bothered trying.

While Pigott delivers on a serious and jam-packed chronicling of the major moments in the airline’s history, the book is peppered with additional stories, anecdotes, and sidebars about all sorts of other firsts as well as delightful factoids about cabin design, airplane food, flight attendant uniforms, and even inflight entertainment. There is also a poignant story about how Dreams Take Flight — an employee-driven mission to take disadvantaged children to Disney World — got off the ground.

The book benefits from plenty of archival photographs, which have largely been drawn from the collections of the Canadian Aviation Museum. It leaves a reader feeling as though she is paging through something more like a family album than a business history text. And that is probably the right tone to strike. Love it or hate it, there is no doubt that most Canadians view Air Canada as a part of their national identity.

Pigott sets out to tell our story of Air Canada and to prove that it really is more than an airline. His book is accessible and enjoyable, and every reader is sure to come away feeling an even greater attachment to the airline — and maybe even a healthier appreciation and respect for it.