With growth comes new challenges for Saskatoon's Rise Air
A Saskatoon-based airline is seeing more demand for its services.
More people are turning to Rise Air, which mainly serves communities in Saskatchewan's north. CEO Derek Nice said various factors are behind the change, including the fact that more northern residents are needing to fly in and out of their communities for services like medical appointments.
Growth in the resource sector is another factor, “which is reflected in demand for charter services for exploration flights, but also increased demand for workforce transportation,” Nice said.
Responding to higher demand from the resource sector is a big part the company's planning, and it's working to ensure the proper infrastructure is in place in order to support the airline's operations, he added.
“That includes having hangars for aircraft, having ground handling teams, having fuel available and especially having de-icing services available.”
Access to proper de-icing equipment is becoming all the more important as weather patterns across the north are changing, he added.
“There is now more incidents of icing and precipitation, which drives up the need to have more de-icing equipment throughout the north.”
Nice said the company has embarked on an ambitious strategy to bring more modern planes into its fleet. Rise Air has been looking to purchase more efficient planes that can be used more widely, “So we can do more flying on fewer airplanes,” he said.
Finding pilots is another challenge. The company has historically been one that attracted pilots who were just starting out in their careers, before moving on to work for a larger carrier. Lately, not as many of these have been coming around, Nice said.
“There's definitely fewer young pilots entering the industry and that's particularly true here in Saskatchewan.”
Nice said he would like to see work done at multiple levels to get people interested in aviation careers, which could include incentives to help them pay for their education and training.
Nice said the company has been working to build its workforce while also encourage existing staff to upgrade their skills to fill some of the voids.
“We see our future being linked to our ability to attract more Saskatchewan residents, and particularly residents of Saskatchewan's north, into the industry.”