The company was founded with a Noorduyn Norseman aircraft by Eric Blackwood, a bush pilot and Royal Canadian Air Force veteran from World War II.

Curtiss C-46s were leased for the routes with the first Handley Page Dart Herald twin turboprop aircraft being purchased in 1962.

In 1963, EPA purchased Maritime Central and the two companies merged to form Eastern Provincial Airways (1963) Limited.

According to the June 1, 1968 Eastern Provincial system timetable, the airline was operating all scheduled flights with 40-passenger Herald, 24-passenger Douglas DC-3 and 46-passenger Carvair aircraft with the latter being a converted version of the Douglas DC-4 which could transport either passengers or freight in an all-cargo configuration (the airline was operating both passenger and scheduled all-cargo flights with the Carvair at this time).

[3] This same timetable also includes charter information for a number of aircraft types operated by the airline in 1968, including not only the Herald, DC-3 and Carvair but also the four-passenger Beechcraft Baron, six-passenger de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver, eight-passenger de Havilland Canada DHC-2T Turbo Beaver (which was a turboprop conversion of the original piston engine Beaver) and the ten-passenger de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter.

The Heralds were responsible for flights into Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec and Charlo, Chatham and Fredericton, New Brunswick until 1974 when they were sold to British Air Ferries.

EPA started jet service into the northern New Brunswick cities while a Hawker Siddeley HS 748 twin turboprop was acquired to replace the Heralds on the flights to Iles-de-la-Madeleine.

The company expanded, starting jet services into Saint John and Fredericton (New Brunswick) and Stephenville (Newfoundland).

New employees were hired and EPA was successful in obtaining a Foreign Air Carrier Permit for the United States.

Over-capacity was partly dealt with by leasing 737s for six-month periods to Wien Air Alaska, Aloha Airlines, and Aer Lingus over the next couple of years.

These planes were used to feed jet services on flights from Moncton, New Brunswick, Charlottetown, Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.

By that time, EPA flew throughout Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island as well as far west as Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.

A new corporate personality soon was unveiled for CP with the resurrection of the Canadian Pacific Air Lines name and a modern blue, white and red colour scheme.