The aircraft — speculative identification
The evidence trail pointing to a 2015 Bombardier Challenger 650, MSN 6063 — from a Brazilian logistics empire to a Montreal aviation management firm to Toronto Pearson.
The Ontario government has not confirmed the tail number of Doug Ford's new jet. The identification of C-FBBW (MSN 6063) as the Gravy Plane is based on publicly available registration data, flight records, and open-source research — most notably the work of OSINT analyst Steffan Watkins. The aircraft matches every known public detail: a 2016-built (delivered 2015) Bombardier Challenger 650, previously owned by a South American entity, purchased through Bombardier, and registered in Canada in early April 2026. We are monitoring the Transport Canada registry daily for an ownership transfer to an Ontario government entity, which would confirm the identification. Until that happens, treat this as highly probable but unconfirmed.
When the Ontario government announced the $28.9M jet purchase on April 17, 2026, it provided only a handful of details: a used 2016 Bombardier Challenger 650, previously owned by a South American entity, purchased through Bombardier, currently undergoing preparation and expected operational by end of July. That was enough to start a search.
"On April 15, 2026 a 2016 Bombardier Challenger 650, registration number C-FBBW, newly registered by ACASS Canada Ltd on April 10, flew from Bradley International Airport to Toronto Pearson International Airport. This fits the description of Doug Ford's new bizjet."
— Steffan Watkins, OSINT analyst, @steffanwatkins on X · April 17, 2026The identification of C-FBBW owes a great deal to Steffan Watkins, a Montreal-based writer and research consultant who specialises in tracking ships and aircraft using publicly available information. Watkins had been following MSN 6063 for some time — monitoring its movements when it was registered in Brazil as PS-GSI — and was among the first to publicly connect it to Doug Ford's announced jet purchase.
On April 17, 2026 — the same day the Ontario government confirmed the purchase — Watkins published a detailed thread on X noting that C-FBBW, a 2016 Bombardier Challenger 650 newly registered to ACASS Canada on April 10, had flown from Bradley International Airport in Connecticut to Toronto Pearson on April 15. He noted the ICAO hex code C002D5, which allows the aircraft to be tracked by that code even if the registration mark changes.
Watkins also raised a pointed question in his thread: why would a customer choose this particular aircraft — one that had passed through multiple owners and flown across the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Europe over a decade — rather than a newer or less well-travelled airframe? It's a question the Ontario government has not answered.
"Nobody has asked 'why that plane specifically?' Why would a customer, any customer shopping for a bizjet, choose one that's had two principal owners, and has been flying around the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and Europe (at least), for ten years?"
View thread on X →"On April 15, 2026 a 2016 Bombardier Challenger 650, registration number C-FBBW #C002D5, newly registered by ACASS Canada Ltd on April 10, flew from Bradley International Airport to Toronto Pearson International Airport. This fits the description of Doug Ford's new bizjet."
View thread on X →Watkins's work generated significant traffic on X among Canadian political observers, aviation enthusiasts, and journalists. His threads remain the most detailed public analysis of the aircraft's identification and should be read alongside Transport Canada's registry records for the fullest picture.
Before arriving in Canada, MSN 6063 spent several years registered in Brazil as PS-GSI, operated by Simpar S.A. for JSL — Julio Simões Logística S.A. — and specifically linked to Fernando Antonio Simões, the CEO of the Simpar group.
Simpar is a Brazilian logistics and transportation holding company listed on the B3 stock exchange, controlling a group of companies including JSL (freight and logistics), Movida (vehicle rental), and Vamos (heavy equipment leasing). The company was founded in 1956 by Júlio Simões and today employs tens of thousands of people across Brazil. It is, by any measure, a substantial corporate enterprise — exactly the kind of operation that would run a Challenger 650 for executive travel.
The aircraft passed through a US registration (N163JC, held by Jetcraft Global — a major international aircraft broker) before arriving in Canada. Jetcraft acting as an intermediary in the transaction is consistent with the Ontario government's statement that it purchased the plane "through Bombardier," as Bombardier's pre-owned aircraft division frequently works with brokers like Jetcraft on used aircraft transactions.
Canadian aircraft registrations are assigned sequentially and carry no inherent meaning — but that hasn't stopped people from having fun with the letters on this particular aircraft.
Given Doug Ford's signature policy of making alcohol more widely available — from the 2018 "Buck-a-Beer" campaign that lowered the minimum beer price to $1, to his government's 2024 push to get beer and wine into convenience stores at a reported cost of over $600 million to taxpayers — some observers have noted that C-FBBW could, with a little imagination, stand for "Ford's Buck-a-Beer Wings." It's a coincidence, of course. But it's a fitting one for a premier whose most famous policy involved cheap beer and who now has a $28.9M jet.
And for those who speak aviation: in the NATO phonetic alphabet, the final two letters of the registration — BW — are Bravo Whisky. Pilots and air traffic controllers worldwide would refer to this aircraft as "Charlie Foxtrot Bravo Bravo Whisky." Given Ford's well-documented enthusiasm for making whisky, beer and wine more available to Ontarians, the registration could hardly be more apt. Bravo, indeed.
The aircraft's original Canadian registration when it rolled off the Bombardier production line in 2015 was C-FUAO. Canadian registrations are sometimes reused after an aircraft changes hands, but Transport Canada assigned a new mark — C-FBBW — when ACASS registered it in April 2026. It is perhaps not difficult to see why nobody was eager to resurrect C-FUAO for Doug Ford's personal government jet.
For reference: Doug Ford's liquor liberalisation policies have included the "Buck-a-Beer" pledge (2018), expanding alcohol sales to grocery stores, paying the Beer Store $225M to end an exclusivity deal early, and most recently proposing to eliminate the minimum retail price on alcohol altogether.
C-FBBW is currently registered to ACASS Canada Ltd. as an interim operator. Ford announced on April 19 that the province would sell the aircraft "as quickly as possible" — but that raises as many questions as it answers. The original plan was for the plane to enter service by the end of July 2026. That timeline is now off the table, but the aircraft remains physically in Canada, registered and airworthy.
One accountability gap worth watching: even if the province sells the aircraft, Ford's government could still arrange to charter it for official travel. ACASS Canada operates a charter fleet and manages aircraft for third-party clients — there is nothing stopping the province from chartering C-FBBW, or a similar aircraft, on an ad-hoc basis. This would be harder to track, cheaper to defend politically, and would largely achieve the original purpose while avoiding the ownership optics. Watch for charter flight patterns on C-FBBW even after a sale is announced.
This site runs an automated daily check of the Transport Canada Civil Aircraft Register. The moment C-FBBW transfers away from ACASS — whether to the Ontario government confirming our identification, or to a new private buyer confirming the sale — we will update this page. Either outcome is significant.
The aircraft can be tracked right now on ADS-B Exchange and FlightAware using the registration C-FBBW or the ICAO hex code C002D5. The hex code is particularly useful because it stays with the airframe even if the registration mark changes again — including after a sale to a new owner.
And Muskoka Airport (YQA) remains worth watching. The original plan was for the plane to be operational by the end of July — the height of cottage season, with Ford's Muskoka property a short drive from YQA. Even under a charter arrangement, a Premier's flight to Bracebridge on a summer Friday evening would tell its own story.