Winnipeg Free Press - BusinessCalm Air beams as new facility opens its doors
Leading regional airline bullish
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
06/12/2007
Martin Cash
THE northern tamarack trees outside Calm Air International's new Winnipeg hangar are meant to evoke a northern landscape -- and the spirit of bush-defying adventure that has made the Manitoba airline the country's largest privately owned regional carrier. The last major project on which Calm Air founder Arnold Morberg worked before he passed away in September 2005 was a large new Winnipeg hangar for his Thompson-based airline.
But after his death, instead of just building a maintenance hangar, his family and the company -- now headed by Arnold's widow, Gail Morberg, as CEO -- decided to ensure Morberg's legacy as a northern aviation pioneer with a building at the Winnipeg airport that would do justice to the north-south links the company has been developing for 45 years.
Today, Calm Air's 20,000-square-foot maintenance hangar/cargo depot/charter base will officially open along with a street off Ferry Road named Morberg Way.
Contempora Steel Builders and Syverson Monteyne Architecture included leading-edge technology and design features like an in-floor foam sprinkler system and high-efficiency heating as well as granite fixtures and northern tamarack trees in the garden. It shows how far the company has come from its bush pilot days in Lynn Lake.
"Our father was an amazing guy," said Margo Morberg-Berry, assistant manager of the Winnipeg operation. "He was always trying to do what's best for our customers."
Company officials are fiercely private about its financial performance, but they did say the new Winnipeg base is coming on stream after more than 10 years of steady growth for Calm Air.
In the late '80s it became a partner carrier with Canadian International Airlines, which bought a 45 per cent share of the company. That passed to Air Canada when the two airlines merged, but the Morberg family bought out Air Canada six years ago and now owns 100 per cent of the company.
With about 425 employees in several locations, it has a fleet of 14 planes flying scheduled flights across northern Manitoba and Nunavut, including six daily flights between Winnipeg and Thompson.
The company's head office moved to Thompson from Lynn Lake in 1985 where its main heavy-maintenance facility is also located.
Calm Air is the second-largest private sector employer in Thompson and even though it has made a substantial financial commitment to the Winnipeg depot, company officials are adamant it will remain a northern-based operation.
Since 1975 it has had a major operation in Churchill to allow it to service Nunavut communities along the Hudson Bay coast with both passenger flights and vital cargo service including services like delivery of fuel and Canada Post.
"We have had our share of ups and downs, but we have been able to adapt to what the marketplace throws at us," said company president Gary Beaurivage, who worked side-by-side with Arnold Morberg from 1970 in Lynn Lake until Morberg's death in 2005. "We are survivors. We know the marketplace. We know how to react when we have to."
Making sure there is enough cargo space in all their planes for the extra baggage that northern travellers carry is part of that process.
"When you're flying into communities that do not have road access, there are always extra things people are carrying," said Marion Morberg, the Thompson-based marketing manager.
To ensure that happens, the company reconfigures each of its planes to make them as flexible as possible. Seating in two of its five Saab-340s has been reduced from 34 to 25, one of its five Hawker Siddeley-748s operates exclusively as a cargo plane and two others are combination passenger/cargo. It is just introducing two new 42-seat ATR-300 European-built workhorse planes into service to handle some of the longer-haul flights. Calm Air also has two smaller Cessna Grand Caravans for commuter service between Thompson and some of the smaller northern Manitoba communities like Gillam, South Indian Lake and Shamattawa.
The mix of planes is a way for Calm Air to handle the diverse demands of the northern market. Mike Pyle, president of Calm Air competitors Perimeter Aviation and Keewatin Air, said it migrated to bigger planes to take advantage of the market.
"Calm Air has been such a mainstay in the North," Pyle said, noting that while his airlines use smaller planes to fly to more remote communities, Calm Air has developed solid passenger and cargo business to Nunavut and has become the dominant passenger carrier between Winnipeg and Thompson.
martin.cash @ freepress.mb.ca
Ready for takeoff
Calm Air's fleet:
* Two ATR-300s -- capacity: 42 passengers.
* Five Hawker Siddeley 748s -- configuration from 12 to 40 passengers.
* Two Cessna Grand Caravans -- capacity: nine passengers.
* Five Saab 340s -- capacity: 34 passengers.
Calm Air has regularly scheduled daily or weekly flights from:
Arviat, Nunavut
Baker Lake, Nunavut
Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut
Churchill
Coral Harbour, Nunavut
Flin Flon
Gillam
Rankin Inlet, Nunavut
Repulse Bay, Nunavut
Shamattawa
South Indian Lake
The Pas
Thompson
Whale Cove, Nunavut
Winnipeg
A history of Thompson's Calm Air
1950s -- Company founders Arnold and Gail Morberg build a fishing camp near the northern Saskatchewan town of Stony Rapids, Arnold gets his licence and buys a small float plane to bring in customers.
1962 -- The Morbergs get a charter licence and start serving the community's needs in addition to their camp customers.
1969 -- Couple buys a small airline based in Lynn Lake running Twin Otter scheduled service around the region and call the company Calm Air (after the founder's full name, Carl Arnold Lawrence Morberg).
1970s -- Growth in mining and hydroelectric developments in northern Manitoba fuels rapid growth for Calm Air.
1975 -- Calm Air begins operations in Churchill and wins business servicing communities on the Hudson Bay coast in what is now Nunavut. It builds a base at the Rankin Inlet airport giving the region its first year-round airline service.
1980s -- Wins major contract servicing the Cullaton Lake mine near Arviat. The company adds a DC-4 to its fleet that already includes two Hawker Siddeley 748s.
1985 -- Moves company head office to Thompson, builds large maintenance hangar.
1987 -- Calm Air becomes a full-service partner with Canadian Airlines International -- adds more Hawker Siddeleys and Navajo Chieftains to its fleet.
1995 -- Turbo-prop Saab-340 added for the Winnipeg-to-Thompson run.
Late '90s -- Regina, Saskatoon, Dryden and Thunder Bay routes added to the schedule. (They are eliminated in 2001.)
2001 -- Calm Air buys back the 45 per cent stake originally sold to Canadian Airlines then held by Air Canada after the merger.
2005 -- Founder Arnold Morberg dies at age 69.
2007 -- New Winnipeg terminal opens and the company adds two ATR-300s to the fleet.
