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| Terrace based Hawkair entered bankruptcy on Friday |
Those air travellers on the North Coast that may have still been hoping for a return by Hawkair to the skies over the Digby Island airport can move on to other concerns, as the Terrace based airline has officially ceased business operations, entering bankruptcy proceedings on Friday.
When we last saw Hawkair on the tarmac in Prince Rupert back in November of 2015, company officials were announcing the suspension of its service to the North Coast, offering up some faint hope of a return in the spring of 2016.
Hawkair decision leaves much up in the air for the community
Hawkair indicates plans to reduce service to Prince Rupert over winter months
That return to Prince Rupert of course never came to pass and as things appear to have turned out, the financial pressures on the company only increased, first through the suspension of its schedule for all of the region's airports.
As the operations of the airline diminished across the region, Central Mountain Air began to operate the remaining flight schedule, the two companies linked by a common holding company.
Over the weekend, Hawkair's social media presence was exorcised from the Internet, with both the company Facebook page and Twitter feed discontinued. The Hawkair website also ceased to function as the official word of the airline's demise starting to become public as Monday moved forward.
According to a range of media reports out of Terrace there will be approximately 40 people left out of work, and the Terrace Airport still awaiting direction as to the status on money that is still owed for landing fees and other functions.
Creditors of the company are set to meet in the days to come to asses the financial situation that comes out of the bankruptcy and how the process of dealing with the banruptcy will evolve.
The final call for Hawkair leaves Terrace with three airline options in and out of that community. Since it suspended its service in Prince Rupert, the Digby Island airport has featured Air Canada Express as the sole source for flight departures and arrivals for the North Coast.
More notes on Northwest Aviation can be found on our Archive page here.
Some of the notes from Terrace can be found below:
November 22 -- Hawkair History (video)
November 22 -- Hawkair Bankruptcy (video)
November 22 -- Hawkair goes bankrupt
November 22 -- Northwestern B.C. airline company declares bankruptcy
November 21 -- Reports say Hawkair has gone bankrupt
November 21 -- Hawkair has gone bankrupt
November 21 -- Hawkair bankrupt (video)
More notes on Northwest Aviation can be found on our Archive page here
It is sad, the airline did its best to serve Price Rupert, Smithers and Terrace to Vancouver, and struggled out of Companies Creditors Arrangement (bankruptcy protection) in 2005, and then found a "white knight" in Doug McRea (owner of Central Mountain Air and Northern Thunderbird Air).
ReplyDeleteFounded in 1994 in Terrace flying the old Bristol Freighter into mining camps.
Its bright livery will be missed, and another casualty of Canada's 2 airline policy that allows Air Canada and West to control 85% of the seats inside Canada, to even the smallest towns like Terrace and Smithers, leaving little for the local regional airlines to carve out a living.
Gone are local jobs and not even a blimp on Air Canada's radar, they did not even noticed they killed another regional airline.