When Max Shapiro called for a meeting with his employees at Voyageur Airways, he realized there was some concern.
“We met with the employees this morning first thing, of course everyone is wondering what’s going on, everyone is apprehensive but by the time we finished it was a standing ovation,” said Shapiro, the President and CEO of Voyageur.
The news was that the company that was established here in 1968 is being sold to Chorus Aviation for $80 million. Shapiro, the now former owner of Voyageur, will stay onboard at the same capacity and the name of the company will not change.
“The name is here to stay,” stated Shapiro about Voyageur which has its 200,000 square foot facility based next to Bombardier at Jack Garland Airport in North Bay.
While changes on the business side will change, Shapiro insists the company will focus on sustainability and future growth.
“The growth will be incremental, we don’t see explosive growth, its very difficult to manage that in this industry so we see growth coming incrementally as we go forward,” said Shapiro.
“We aren’t maxed out at the facilities so we may increase them as time goes on but its a bit early to be to predict exactly how or what will happen.”
Chorus Aviation Inc. President & CEO Joe Randell addresses the media along with Voyageur Airways CEO Max Shapiro. PHOTO BY CHRIS DAWSON.
Joe Randell, President and CEO of Chorus Aviation says it was the right acquisition.
“We see this as being a very strong organization, it has a very solid business base,” Randall told the media on Thursday morning.
“Most of the business base is contract flying outside of North America and that has been built over the years, it’s got a solid customer base we’ve talked to some of those customers and they are very very complementary about the quality of the Voyageur operation in terms of safety standards, flexibility, being able to respond to certain situations and these customers are demanding customers.”
Randell also made it clear this announcement doesn’t mean any job cuts.
“If I were an employee here today and knowing what I know, I would feel better about the future and about opportunities and about the sustainability and growth prospects,” he said.