Plane Conversations

Over the past few years, as our  business has expanded our reach past the United States by selling refurbished  regional airliners, I have had the privilege of meeting some really smart people who are running small airlines around the world. I have also met some not so smart people starting or proposing to start airlines. Usually the “not so smart people” don’t make it too long in this business, if they ever do get started, because the tolerance in aviation for poor operations and bad business plans is virtually zero. In some cases the market also eats some of the smart ones who just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

One of the things I love most about my job is the privilege to become friends with people who I would never have the opportunity to meet if not for aviation. Recently, I was able to visit with friends we do business with in Montreal, Quebec, who fall into the “really smart” and “got it together” categories for small airline / charter operators. PASCAN, headquartered at the Saint-Hubert Airport fifteen minutes from downtown Montreal, offers travelers in Quebec an alternative to the big airline experience that feels much more like charter flight service.  This company celebrated their ten year anniversary in business this past year and in an economy where airlines are losing these guys are winning.

Serge Charron, Pascan Aviation President

They start by operating out of their own terminal building that also serves as a Fixed Based Operation (FBO) for transient traffic coming into Saint – Hubert. Passengers can literally show up ten to fifteen  minutes prior to departure, have a coffee and board the flight in a few minutes and be on their way. The time savings is at least an hour over the big airport experience we all enjoy that includes parking, riding a shuttle bus, waiting in at least two and sometimes three lines before we actually get to the gate of departure, at which point we sit in uncomfortable chairs for 30 -45 minutes waiting on the boarding call.

PASCAN operates more like Southwest Airlines in providing point-to-point service than the majority of air carriers in the US and Canada who utilize the hub and spoke system. This allows people to travel between Montreal and Quebec City and small markets in the northern parts of Quebec. The alternative airline travel on Air Canada / Jazz is to fly from a small market into the hub, only to turn around and possibly fly right over your departure city on the way to your destination. In some cases the only alternative is to drive.

In addition to scheduled service to 13 markets they also provide on demand charter flights for passengers and cargo to all of the airports in Quebec and surrounding provinces of Canada. Their Pilatus PC-12 aircraft have the ability to fly into smaller airports that cannot be served by jet and large regional turboprop airlines.

As I have looked at what PASCAN is doing to succeed I have learned a little more about our neighbors to the north. Canada and the province of Quebec is resource rich and they are doing pretty good in this economy. Better than we are right now. As oil and other commodities have gone up in price over the past two years the economy is growing. Travel by air is not a luxury, but a necessity, due to the vast distances between cities, extreme weather,and lack of interstate systems in the unpopulated areas which make driving a tough way to go.   

Serge Charron, President and CEO of PASCAN has done an excellent job of seeing the opportunities and then stepping into to meet them in a market friendly way. Other airlines and charter operators in the US and around the world would be well served to study this success story.

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