A12 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 19, 2000 Hawkair secures aircraft By JEFF NAGEL HAWKAIR AVIATION will get the keys to its air- plane Aug. 1 and plans lo put passengers in it by late August. The . Terrace-based company abandoned ef- forts last month to get fi- nancing to buy a 37-seat Dash 8 from Halifax con- glomerate IMP Group and instead have persuaded the Atlantic firm to let them lease the $6-million plane. It is now in Newfoundland. They plan to operate a daily passenger service between Terrace and Van- couver. “We had no shortage of financiers and banks and whatnot telling us they’d be happy to-help us buy our second airplane, but not our first,”. Hawkair’s Dave Menzies said. Although they’ve been in the cargo aviation busi- ness for seven years, pas- senger service is a new venture for Hawkair and that made lenders shy. IMP Group had refused earlier Hawkair requests to lease a plane, but have now relented, “[ puess over the last four or five months we ground them down,” Men- zies said. “They, seemed impressed that we were still out here trying to get an airplane.” A lease will cost Haw- kair more in monthly pay- ments than if they had managed to get financing to purchase, he. said. “We're doing our best to absorb those costs as best we can and slill offer the kind of a service that we want to offer.” The planned prices. of tickets, Menzies said, are being kept secret for now. The company had pre- viously promised drama- tically lower fares than of- Airline for sale CANADIAN REGIONAL Airlines, the airline that services Terrace and other smaller locations in B.C., is now officially for sale. Canadian Regional was a subsidiary of Canadian Airlines ard the sales plan is part of the overall ab- sorption of Canadian Air- lines by Air Canada. Put- ting Canadian. Regional on the sales block was a con- dition of the takeover. But some analysts doubt there will be many takers for Canadian Regio- nal as while it made money, it acted as a fee- der operation for its former parent, Canadian Airlines operated. - ~~ As weil, Canadian Re- gional has an alder fleet of Fokker F-28 jets, the ones that come into Terrace, Should there be no sale, Canadian Regional! will most likely be absorbed into a new regional air- lines being formed by Air Canada. A component of that new regional company is Air B.C., a. subsidiary of Air Canada which served Terrace until this spring. Ia the meantime, the Canadian Plus frequent- flyer loyalty program through. which people earned points for free flights on Canadian Air- lines: will be folded inta Air Canada’s Aeroplan points program. Air Canada officials say Canadian Plus points hol- ders will not lose anything by the merger of the two points programs. The. merger of takes place Jan: {, 2001 and is part of the overall melding: of Canadian Airlines with Air Cariada. As it is, Canadian Plus : _ ie Dave Menzies fered by Canadian Airlines or Air Canada. “We're not going ta be the answer to everybody's prayers,” Menzies said. *But we're going to da pretty well,” The company hasn’t yet set a date for the first flight or begun booking tickets - although people have been calling - be- cause of the possibility of further delays due to regu- latory hiccups. points can already be used © ~ for Air Canada flights, © Canadian Plus members typically earned points through a Royal Bank. Ca- nadian Plus Visa card, The name will change to the Visa Avion card and points ‘canbe earned ‘on various ‘airlines. “I'm anticipating a first flight in August,” Menzies said, Flight attendant training is to be underway shortly. Hawkair will hire at least 15 full-time Terrace- based employees to run the airline, bringing total staff'to close to 20. “It’s going te be a big relief when we see that plane take off out of here with a load of people,” Menzies said. “There’s just not going to be a lat of rest until then.” While leasing now ra- ther than buying will make financial margins tighter, Menzies said it will be a good test that may actual- ly make it easier ta ex- pand Jater to two planes, “If we can make this operation werk under this kind of -structure, that’s going to be a real good en- dorsement of our plan and our operating structure,” he said. “Anything we do after this will be easier.” THE CAN E ADA Adding a second plane would bring in considerab- ly more revenue relative to costs because most of the wages and overhead would already. be in place. “Having two planes takes so much pressure off, it almost has to be part of the eventual business plan,” Menzies said. “But to’ begin with you've got to do what you've got ta do to get yourself established and operating.” Hawkair was the sub- ject of a recent story in Wings Magazine and is being closely watched within the aviation indu- stry. “A lot of small opera- tors are watching whal we're doing with a great deal. of interest,” Menzies said. “People are interested in seeing how the little guys make out starting up in the face of the big red giant.” G Catied Advertisin Please pay in person at Uniglobe Travel or preee we eee ee ee ewe eee ee ee ee ee nee eee eee aE THE TERRACE LITTLE THEATRE PRESENTS A FUN WAY TO SPEND THE SUMMER SUMMER DRAMA DAYS 7000 August 7th. 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