Harbour Air to purchase competitor

Times Colonist-Harbour Air Seaplanes is set to gobble up one of its main competitors.

The company confirmed yesterday it is in final negotiations to acquire West Coast Air and expects to close the deal April 30.

Randy Wright, Harbour Air senior vice-president in charge of sales and marketing, said West Coast Air will continue to operate under its own brand and that terminals in Victoria and Vancouver harbours would remain for now.

No financial terms were revealed by either company.

They both operate scheduled service between downtown Victoria and Vancouver as well as charters, tours and freight to the Gulf Islands, Sunshine Coast and communities on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.

Harbour Air is owned by Greg McDougall of Vancouver, who is majority shareholder, and restaurateur Brent Davies, a minority partner. West Coast Air — formerly known as Baxter Air — is operated by the Baxter family, which has run scheduled and chartered service on the West Coast for 35 years.

West Coast Air has six 18-passenger Twin Otter aircraft and nine Beaver planes, each holding six passengers. All are amphibious craft.

Harbour Air, which calls itself the largest seaplane company in the world, has 34 aircraft, mostly singleengine Beavers, and also operates a helicopter service to the Fraser Valley.

Wright said the recession, poor tourism numbers and cutbacks on government travel played a role in bringing the two airlines together.

“The economy being down, they were seeing reduced passenger loads,” Wright said. “In this business there are plenty of synergies, so there it made a lot of sense to get together and do things like accounting, marketing. … It’s a high-cost business with fuel, wages and maintenance costing a lot of money, and I think both sides see a lot of savings.”

Rick Baxter, president and CEO of West Coast Air and the airline’s secondgeneration owner, wasn’t immediately available for comment. The company also operates out of Nanaimo, Comox and Sechelt, adding the last after buying Pacific Wings two years ago.

Wright said West Coast Air “lost some market share during the downturn” and Harbour Air was “holding our own.”

He said government travel — with business clients the lion’s share of passengers in the offseason — is down 15 to 20 per cent this year after the provincial government cut back on travel budgets. The tourism season has also been declining the past several years, although Wright believes the 2010 Olympic Winter Games will play a role in increasing passenger loads slightly this summer, and more in 2011.

He said Harbour Air had a “nice recovery” when the sun was shining over the last half of the Games last month as international tourists took side trips to Victoria and other locations. “Our phones blew off the wall,” said Wright, who is also chairman of Tourism Victoria, the region’s destination marketing organization.

“There’s no question the Olympics will be good for us, just not right away,” said Wright.

West Coast Air operates six terminals — two on the Lower Mainland, one at Coal Harbour near Canada Place and the other on the Fraser River at Sea Air on Inglis Drive; as well as terminals in Victoria’s Inner Harbour, Nanaimo, Comox and Sechelt.

Harbour Air operates full-service terminals in Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Richmond and Langley. The airline also flies out of Maple Bay near Duncan, and Ganges and Bedwell harbours.


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