By paNOW

Transwest Air celebrates 15 years in Northern Saskatchewan

Sep 18, 2015 | 3:01 PM

Proud to serve the north, Transwest Air knows that their success is only possible through the success of the people and communities that they serve. 

2015 marks the 15th anniversary for the airline that was developed after the merger of Athabaska Airways and La Ronge Aviation in 2000.  Since then, the aviation company has strived to continue to strengthen its relationship and connections in the areas that it services in the north.

“Both of our founding companies have their origins in northern Saskatchewan….and from our beginnings we have become what we are today by serving and supporting the development of Northern Saskatchewan,” said Garrett Lawless, Chief Operating Officer of Transwest Air and the Executive Vice President of Operations for the Transwest Group of Companies.

“Today we are celebrating what is behind us and what brought us to this point, but we are also looking forward to our and this region’s bright future.”

Recently Transwest Air rebranded their total organization as the Transwest Group of Companies.  So today, instead of having many varied lines of operation occurring under one corporate banner, they now promote their total capability through a family of aviation companies, which all co-exist in order to produce and deliver a higher level of effectiveness, efficiency and value to their partners than is possible by any competitor who is not so broad in the services that they deliver.

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“Part of the reason for doing this was that we wanted to be able to do a much better job of informing the public of everything that we do, because when you think of and say ‘Transwest Air’, typically all that you will think of is our airline service; and while we do have a great airline service, we are actually very much more than just this,” said Lawless.

“We have a fuel company (Snowbird Petroleum), we have an aircraft painting company (Plane Perfection), we have a helicopter company (Northern Shield Helicopters) and we also have a special missions company (Avalerion Corp.); and so in order to make certain that everyone knows that we are so much more than just an airline, we have now explicitly become so much more than just an airline.”

One thing that remains the same however, and has perhaps even been strengthened, is Transwest Air’s northern focus. The roots of Transwest Air are and always will be in Saskatchewan’s north: it is their home, their backyard, and their workplace. Currently the company has major footprints in Saskatoon, Prince Albert, La Ronge, Stony Rapids, Wollaston Lake, and Fond-du-Lac.  They also have lesser but still substantial footprints in Buffalo Narrows and Uranium City; and in addition to all of this, and in order to restore MEDEVAC capabilities to a threatened community, they have also recently purchased the entire airfield at Southend.

Transwest Air has made many contributions to various northern communities over the course of the company’s 15 years, and Lawless asserts that they are always looking for further opportunities to continue to help. With a targeted focus on community building efforts to support Health, Education and Fitness; Transwest Air has most recently committed to making ongoing $45,000 contributions to the community of Fond du Lac, to help residents there gain access to post secondary education.

“We currently have a very close business relationship with the Fond du Lac First Nation Band, and so we wanted to recognize this with something substantial and meaningful,” said Lawless. “For as long as we continue to be in business together with the people of Fond du Lac, we will continue in this commitment to provide air transportation for the people of Fond du Lac who are engaging in post secondary education, as well as for their dependents who must travel with them.”

Lawless is quick to point out that such initiatives are not completely selfless.  “We believe that the best means of furthering our own success is to best enable the success of those that we serve.  Currently, we believe that we can do this by targeting our community building efforts on the needs found within health, fitness, and education; because without these three pillars of success firmly in place, there can be no lasting success for the people of northern Saskatchewan.”

“We have a very strong sense of corporate responsibility, and we feel obligated to go forward and help build and develop the communities that we service,” said Lawless. “We see this as a very strong win-win for both partners, because anything that we can do to make them more successful will in return make us more successful, because our success only comes from their success.”

The Transwest Group Companies strives to safely and consistently deliver the best value to their customers. Transwest Air is Saskatchewan’s largest and longest operating airline.

To view the Transwest Air website click here.

To keep up with recent announcements or current projects with Transwest Air like them on Facebook.