Summertime means that both business and temperatures are heating up again for Conair Group Inc. The Abbotsford-based company provides aerial firefighting planes and crews to fight wildfires across Canada, and in the U.S., Australia and France. Warmer, drier weather turns forests into fuel, so naturally summers keep Conair’s fleet of water bombers and bird-dog fire-spotters busy in the skies. In recent years, climate change has expanded fire season earlier into the spring and deeper into the fall. Globally, wildfires are becoming more destructive, destroying many times more land area, and causing more economic damage.
Michael Benson is Conair’s director of business development. He says his company is expanding rapidly, but not just because of climate change. Conair’s manufacturing and aircraft conversion division builds a multi-role version of its Dash-8 400 plane—the Dash-8 400MRE—in addition to dedicated aerial firefighting planes. This versatile aircraft can be used year-round by multiple agencies to carry passengers, cargo, medical teams or specialized gear to support missions responding to natural disasters, pandemics or conflicts. France’s Sécurité Civile, the country’s civil protection agency, bought its first Dash-8 400MRE in 2005, and received its eighth in 2023.
NATO countries including France and Canada are boosting defence spending to respond to geopolitical threats and realignments as well as natural disasters. They’re turning to B.C. companies like Conair that have decades of experience flying, maintaining and building aircraft to the highest standards. “It really is a positive story around the strength of Canadian aviation and aerospace sector, and the strength in British Columbia in particular,” Benson says.
Fleet strength
Indeed, Conair is just one of roughly 300 certified fixed-wing and rotary aircraft operators in B.C., and one of 200 aerospace companies in the province, according to the BC Aviation Council. The aviation and aerospace industry has long been vital to the social and economic development of this rugged province, and to connecting its people with the world. A 2023 PricewaterhouseCoopers study commissioned by B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure showed that the industry contributes $6 billion to the province’s GDP, and creates nearly 33,000 full-time-equivalent jobs.
The industry includes companies like regional carrier Pacific Coastal Airlines, as well as small float plane operators serving First Nations communities along the West Coast. It also includes commercial and defence contractors like KF Aerospace in Kelowna and Cascade Aerospace in Abbotsford.
B.C. aviation and aerospace companies provide wide-ranging expertise to take on all kinds of difficult projects and missions. KF Aerospace, for example, is supporting the Royal Canadian Air Force’s new CP-8A Poseidon multi-mission maritime patrol aircraft, which is scheduled to be deployed this year. It also manages Purolator’s B.C. cargo flight network.
Home advantage
B.C. companies can provide deep expertise to the world because their leaders and employees developed their abilities for decades over the mountains and waters of this province. The aviation and aerospace industry has been vital to connecting communities, keeping them economically vibrant and safe. Conair, for example, has been in business fighting fires since 1969.
Benson himself was helping to spot fires for the province before he joined the company. “I was an air attack officer—so flying around on a bird dog for about 17 years,” he recalls. “I was the superintendent of the air tanker program for the province of British Columbia for a little over seven years.”
Dave Frank, executive director of the BC Aviation Council, notes that people in the industry may face tough challenges, but they’re entrepreneurial, hard-working and doing critically important work. “These people love what they do, they believe in it and they all add to the economy and the society in British Columbia every day,” he says.
