Please have your trays in their upright position and prepare for take off

Hawkair hopes to have creditor approval in less than a month regarding a deal between itself and Bar XH Aviation, a deal which should see it come out of restructuring after a year and half journey. And while rumours fly around the northwest that the deal means the end of a locally based airline, the management of Hawkair say that isn’t so.

In fact, they suggest that the agreement with Bar XH will give them a wider pool of aircraft to work with and will allow them to move into the charter business. It was a portion of the business that they faced limitations with in the past.


The full story was provided on the front page of Tuesday’s Daily News.

CLOUD CLEARS AS HAWKAIR GETS ON A FIRMER FOOTING
Company reveals long-term plans and insists it will remain in the region
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Pages one and three

Hawkair is moving ahead with a plan that it hopes will fly the company out from under creditor protection and towards a stronger future.

Hawkair is proceeding with an agreement with the Alberta based airline Bar XH and hopes to have approval from its creditors within the next month.

“One of the important things for an aviation company is access to capital and being able to access capital at a reasonable rate. Being tied in with these guys in Alberta is good access to capital,” said Rod Hayward, Hawkair’s CEO.

Last Week, the company, which has been restructuring for the past year and a half, filed its final plan with the courts. The final details of the Bar XH, Hawkair arrangement – in which Bar XH is taking an equity position in Hawkair – are currently being vetted by lawyers.

Hayward said one of the reasons the company ended up where it did in the past was “because we had to accept deals that weren’t favourable to Hawkair just to keep the doors open,”

Being tied to Bar XH really “changes the dynamic of the organization.”

The agreement with Bar XH also gives Hawkair access to more and different sized planes and will allow them to cater to more of the market.

“These guys in Alberta have about 20 airplanes… ranging from 10 feet aircraft to 19 feet aircraft…” said Hayward.

“Instead of just having the one aircraft type, we will have the flexibility to go after more charter work, smaller crew moves and things like that.”

Previously, Hawkair only had to access to its two leased Dash 8 passenger aircraft.

Unless they had a group of 30 people or more, charter work was out of the question, said Hayward.

“There have been lots of rumours that these guys are from Alberta are going to get involved with Hawkair and move us to Alberta. That’s something I really want to make clear – that’s not going to happen.”

”An airline has aircraft, which are easy to move from place to place, but we also have a lot of talented people. Without the people behind it, the airline is nothing,” said Hayward.

“And these people mostly live in Northwest B. C. and that’s where they plan on staying. Most of our staff have been here a long time.”

Hawkair has been providing flight service for 14 years in Northwest B. C., provides more than 50 jobs and has contributed more than $15 million in payroll to the local economy.

Bar XH also wants to establish a facility in British Columbia for servicing Hawkair. Bar XH and also third party aircraft.
In effect, the affiliation of the companies will expand Hawkair’s and Bar XH’s respective capabilities in both B. C. and Alberta.