Airline’s founding partner Jim Glass dies at age 50
Jim Glass, a managing partner with Transwest Air, died Tuesday at the age of 50.
Glass was one of the founding partners in 2000 when Athabasca Airways and La Ronge Aviation/Air Sask Aviation merged together to form Transwest Air, one of the largest, most diverse aviation companies of its kind in Canada.
Glass was “a father, a son, an uncle, a brother and a friend, but he was also a commercial pilot, an entrepreneur, and an avid soccer player,” a company news release said. Glass leaves behind five children.
He was also involved in many charities, was a member of the Air Transport Association of Canada, the Chamber of Commerce in Prince Albert, and other various boards and committees, including the Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Transwest Air, based out of Prince Albert, is Saskatchewan’s largest and longest operating airline. It has 40 aircraft, employs about 250 people, providing scheduled flights and freight service to Saskatoon, Prince Albert, La Ronge, Stony Rapids, Fond du Lac, Wollaston, and Points North. The airline also offers charter service of fixed wing, float and rotary aircraft.
Athabasca Airways was started by Jim’s father, Floyd Glass, in 1955 in Prince Albert with a single-engine Cessna 180. The airline added an average of two aircraft every year for the next 20 years. Floyd died in 1999, and Jim took over as general manager.
La Ronge Aviation was formed in 1960 by Pat Campling Sr. with his wife Shirley, and prospector Russ Aronec. In 2000, the two companies merged to become Transwest.
Gray’s Funeral Chapel in Prince Albert will be handling the memorial arrangements. There will be a celebration of Glass’s life with the location, date and time to be announced in the near future.