New Airline starts out West

[Kip Powick]

New airline begins service in the west. Calgary-based charter airline Regional 1 has taken to the skies, serving Red Deer, Lethbridge, Kelowna and Vancouver. The privately owned airline operates a fleet of three Dash 8-100 aircraft.

[Super 80]

I understand only one of their planes is actually being used for Regional1, the other two being used in the Carribean.

[Say Altitude]

Regional 1's management and employee team hails from a variety of aviation backgrounds.

The Board of Directors and Senior Management

Mr. John Binder is the Chairman of the Board and one of Regional 1's founders. Currently John is the President and CEO of Avmax Group Inc., a Calgary based heavy aircraft maintenance and servicing facility. Prior to founding Avmax John was President and owner of Western Avionics of Calgary, Canada's largest aircraft avionics company, now a division of the Avmax Group. John is a licenced aircraft engineer and has an extensive aviation management background.

Mr. Don Parkin is a member of Regional 1's Board of Directors. Don is also a Vice President with the Avmax Group and has an extensive background in aviation and avionics management.

Mr. Peter Scheiwiller is also a Director of Regional 1. Peter is co-founder of North Cariboo Air, a successful charter carrier headquarterd in Fort St. John, B.C. Peter is a commercial pilot and currently holds the position of Vice President, Operations, for Canadian North.

Ms. Tracy Medve is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Regional 1. She comes to the airline with an aviation career which started in 1985. She graduated with a degree in law from the University of Saskatchewan in 1981 and was in-house counsel for Norcanair, a regional air carrier based in Saskatchewan. Tracy also held various management positions at Time Air, Canadian Partner and Canadian Regional Airlines, prior to co-founding C.T. AeroProjects Inc. in 1982. C.T. is an air transport resource management and consulting company located in Calgary which has provided services to a variety of air carriers and other with aviation investments and interest, both in Canada and abroad. Tracy is also currently a member of the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada.

Mr. Bhaskar Dave is Regional 1's Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Dave is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and holds an MBA from Cranfield University in the UK. Prior to joining Regional 1 Mr. Dave was a Management Consultant and prior to that Chief Financial Officer of Alberta Aerospace Corp, an aircraft development company.

Captain Tom Matiushyk is the Operations Manager and brings to Regional 1 over 10,000 hours flying experience with more than 2,500 hours on the Dash 8. Tom's experience includes more than 7 years with Canadian Regional Airlines and Air Canada Jazz where he piloted both the Dash 8 and the Fokker F-28 aircraft. Prior to his career with Canadian Regional Tom spent 9 years in the commercial aircraft charter industry.

Captain Dan Holm is the company's Chief Pilot, with over ten years of regional airline experience, he came to Regional 1 in July 2003. He has more than 11,000 flying hours, including over 4,000 hours on the Dash 8.

Ms. Rebecca Gutsell is the Flight Attendant Manager and has 18 years experience in the airline industry. She started her career at Time Air as a flight attendant and has since worked for other commercial carriers, including Westjet, Zip and Corporate Express. Her experience includes cabin safety, occupational health and safety, training and development, recruitment and human resources.

Mr. Ed Jackson is the Director of Maintenance. For the seven year period prior to coming to Regional 1, Ed held the position of Program Manager at Avmax Group Inc. Mr. Jackson has been in the aviation industry for the past 19 years in heavy overhaul and also as base engineer for flight operations. During these years he obtained several licences, including M1/M2, CL65, DA21, BA146 and Dash 8. His aircraft experience includes the ATR-42, BA146, CRJ, DHC-5, DHC-6, DHC-7 and DHC-8.

Regional 1 is staffed by a dedicated team of professionals with considerable scheduled airline and commercial charter experience.