Air Creebec reflects and looks to future on 35th anniversary

On July 5, 1982, a bright orange Twin Otter took off from the Val-d’Or airport. After stops in Matagami, Rupert House, Eastmain, Wemindji and Fort George, the plane landed in Whapmagoostui, marking the maiden voyage of Air Creebec and Eeyou Istchee’s foray into the air transportation industry. Earlier this month marked 35 years in the business, an opportunity to reflect on the company’s success and look forward to what the future has in store.

“I remember the early days when I was very young, hearing, ‘Hey the Crees own an airline now,’” Chief Operating Officer Tanya Pash told the Nation. “I would have been about eight years old and we had one aircraft. It was something to be proud of – my parents always told me I was a shareholder of an airline and growing up I always had that in mind.”

What started small has grown steadily and evolved over the years, adapting to the needs of the Cree Nation and those who work in northern Quebec and Ontario – while also developing valuable new partnerships and services. Most recently, this has included the creation of medical shuttles for patients who need to get to major hospitals in Val-d’Or and Montreal.

“Today, we have 19 aircraft on our certificate,” said Pash. “We are competitive with major airlines, and have the same standards as national airlines such as Air Canada and Air Transat. It should be a point of pride.”

Though she was young when Air Creebec started, Pash is quite familiar with the story. Air Creebec’s initial leadership group had to learn quickly and prove people wrong, fighting both unfamiliarity with a competitive industry and stereotypes perpetuated about Indigenous people.

“It was amazing what [Air Creebec] did,” she said, “because they went into an industry that they had little to no knowledge about. Most of them had no formal training and many of them came from the trapline. They were put in a place where they had to succeed in a business environment that they weren’t groomed for since childhood – these people were groomed to be trappers.

“Back then it wasn’t always easy to be a Native person,” she added. “There were certain expectations, one of those being that Native people don’t succeed. A lot of the work that the previous leadership put in has proved that Crees are capable people, they are able to succeed.”

Pash noted that the birth of Air Creebec came partly out of necessity and partly as a push for Cree independence. The trappers-turned-business-operators, people like former Grand Chief and company president Billy Diamond, looked at their environment and knew that to take Eeyou Istchee’s future into their own hands the Cree needed to be directly involved in transportation on their territory.

Air Creebec’s President Matthew Happyjack said that this idea of autonomy was born in 1975 with the signing of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

“Crees were looking for different ideas on how to grow their money,” he told the Nation. “Since the only way to access the communities at that time was by plane, they knew they needed to start an airline.”

Getting the company off the ground did require some outside support, however. Securing a partnership with the Deluce family, which has since gone on to start Porter Airways, ­­­gave Air Creebec access to financial backing, existing infrastructure and a wealth of aviation experience.

While things weren’t always easy, starting out with the right partners and growing slowly but surely allowed the company to flourish over time – the key acquisition being the purchase of the Deluce family’s share of the airline in 1987. Since then Air Creebec has been 100% Cree-owned with all-Cree representation on its board of directors.

“Of course there were growing pains,” said Happyjack. “Getting to know the industry, expanding to Montreal, establishing ourselves with medical and mining companies. We stabilized the company eventually but it was really tough at first.”

“Being able to choose the right partners and negotiate a transfer agreement where eventually the Crees would take control…I’m proud to say that Air Creebec has always had a Cree president and a Cree board of directors,” added Pash. “We did have some outside representation on the BOD level at certain times, but the key leadership has always been Cree.”

As Air Creebec continues to grow it must also adapt to new regulations and the ever-changing conditions of Canada’s aviation and transportation industry. Most recently, the company was forced to adjust its flight schedule due to new restrictions on the number of hours pilots can fly in a single day.

The weekend schedule remains unchanged and while there are now two flights from Montreal to Val-d’Or each weekday, some of the flights to the other Cree communities have had to be altered. (See the full schedule at aircreebec.ca)

“We’re governed by the highest level of standards available to airlines in Canada,” said Pash. “One of those things is the pilot duty/rest period. They’re going to be limited on the number of hours they’re allowed to fly during the day, limited even further than they were before. This means some of our flights will no longer be legal to do as we do them now. What we used to be able to do with one crew will now take two or three.

“It’s normal for an airline to continuously adapt to market conditions as well as regulatory conditions,” she added. “Our new schedule is an adaptation to the new regulatory conditions that are coming. We are phasing in new flights in anticipation of the new regulations that will be enforceable soon.”

“Sometimes we make changes not because we want to, but because we’re forced to,” stressed Happyjack. “If we don’t make these changes [Transport Canada] is going to take away our license.”

Looking to the future, Happyjack and Pash believe that careful planning, innovation and a team approach are the key ingredients to growing the Air Creebec brand and improving the services it provides to Eeyou Istchee and beyond.

“We’ll continue to make long-term partnerships with our major clients,” said Happyjack. “We have safety objectives, operational objectives and financial objectives and that’s the key thing – planning and executing our goals.

“The board really supports us, and our Cree shareholders are part of the company,” he continued. “Plus, the employees are the key component of the company – they are the backbone.”

“If you look at where we started, where we are today and where we’re headed – no pun intended – the sky is the limit,” laughed Pash. “Like Matthew [Happyjack] said, we are getting stronger through our partnerships, the Cree Health Board is a great example. We’ve been able to decrease the operational costs of the CHB while increasing our flight volume. And there are partnerships both inside and outside the Cree Nation that we can access.”

Long term, the goal is to grow the company and achieve brand recognition, Pash emphasized.

“I want us to be well-known outside of Eeyou Istchee and the area we serve. I want people to know that Air Creebec is a solid airline that provides a safe and reliable service. I want to be right up there with the other 705 operators, like Air Canada and Air Transat, so that when people are flying in an area we serve we’re one of the names that pops into their head.

“It’s a fabulous company and there’s so many potential opportunities. It’s great working here,” concluded Pash. “We’ve been having fun, hey Matthew?”