Meeting nice people ... again

One of the best parts about my job is that I get to meet some of the most interesting people. That came back to me this week when I had to cover a speech by a fellow named Robert Deluce. He is the CEO and president of Porter Airlines. As I walked into the hall, Mr. Deluce turned, smiled and said hello. We shook hands. He's the same Bob Deluce I knew from many years ago in Timmins when his family ran Austin Airways. I travelled quite a bit with the Austin crews up north. Bob's dad was the legendary Stan Deluce who helped bring commercial aviation to Canada's far north. Bob was in Timmins to outline how Porter is going to bring three flights a day to Timmins from Toronto to be in direct competition with Air Canada Jazz. Bob put everyone at ease in Timmins when he said "it's nice to be back home." Here's the interesting part ... Jazz was born out of Air Ontario, which was born out of Austin Airways. The Deluce family bought Air Ontario and Air Manitoba back in the 1980's and then eventually sold the whole deal to Air Canada. I like free enterprise and I like that the Deluce family is still breaking ground in Canadian aviation. I am told that Porter offers deluxe service at an everyday price. What a difference from those days of bouncing around the Eastern Arctic in a DC3 or a Twin Otter eh?