The Richmond Sentinel recently spoke with Danny Sitnam, president and chief executive officer of Helijet International, and discovered the story behind Helijet. 

Sitnam was born in London, England. When he was one year old his father, a civil aeronautical engineer, was transferred to Brazil. Six years later, the family was moved to Vancouver. In the early 1970s, Sitnam responded to a newspaper ad for a helicopter company seeking investors, and included was a free helicopter flying lesson. He loved it so much he went on to achieve a pilot’s license in 1976, and the rest is history.

Jim Gordon (JG): We’re here on location at Helijet International with Danny Sitnam, president and (chief executive officer). This is very cool to see your operation behind the scenes. You’ve been here since the beginning in 1986—can you tell us how it all happened?

Danny Sitnam (DS): Right after Expo (86) we launched our service from Vancouver to Victoria, and continued to climb from there.

JG: You started with one helicopter and 14 employees. Jump ahead all these years later, you now have 15 helicopters, 150 employees, and 100,000 passengers a year. Talk about your company and how it came together by going back to when you started in 1986, right in the middle of when Vancouver was in a state of excitement with Expo (86).

DS: I remember the day we launched, we had one passenger all day and seven flights. It was a challenging six to 12 months as the brand was not known. We were still learning how to sell seats while we refined the operation and ran a scheduled service.

JG: Looking back, what kind of response did you get from travellers new to using this type of transportation?

DS: There wasn’t anyone in North America using the type of transportation we were proposing, which was a scheduled point-to-point destination (downtown to downtown).

JG: Talk about the changes in trends in passengers. I sense business travellers are a big part of your business—are there a lot more tourists and personal travellers compared to 20 years ago?

DS: We’re seeing a lot more family and friends travelling, as convenience is a big selling feature. You can be in Victoria in 35 minutes and because of this we’re starting to see more tourism and hospitality business, but our predominant customer is still the business traveller.

JG: One of the other areas that you have been proactive (in) is expanding into other areas. You are one of the largest providers of air medical services in Western Canada for B.C. health services. Because of this, you added a base in Prince Rupert to accommodate this expansion. Talk about that addition to your business.

DS: We have been a service provider for B.C. health services for 25 years. We won the latest contract about 12 years ago and supplied a designated aircraft in Prince Rupert and two aircrafts out of our Richmond base. That has been a big change to Helijet and our mission profile. It’s a project that our people can feel good about, because they’re saving lives.  

JG: Staying with that theme of helping others, one of the helicopters I saw when I first walked into the hangar today is a relatively new project, Helicopters Without Borders, created to help those in need. Tell us about that addition to your family.

DS: My son is a pilot and a captain with us. We’ve always been involved in supporting non-profits, as Helijet believes in giving back to the community. Helicopters Without Borders came from when my son and I looked at the opportunities and looked at how we could use our technology to service rural and remote communities that don’t have access to air. The reality is, it’s too expensive to use a helicopter to go back and forth to transport groceries, water, and so forth to these remote areas. So we decided to create Helicopters Without Borders and formed a charity status. We raised money through the private sector to help pay for the helicopter time or plane time to fly into these remote areas. It’s been operating for a year—the awareness of the program is coming. We have certain contracts with the First Nations Health Authority and we delivered all the vaccine transfers to these rural and remote areas. So it’s a real good opportunity to give back.

JG: How did you go about planning for additional routes from when you started back in 1986 with Vancouver/Victoria?

DS: We started with routes between Vancouver/Victoria, then we tried Victoria/Seattle for many years, then shut the Seattle destination down. We operated other routes: Vancouver/Abbotsford/Victoria, and we recently opened Vancouver/Nanaimo. We are currently looking at going back to travel service to Seattle.

JG: The last time I flew with Helijet it was in heavy fog. Talk about the difference between flying on a helicopter and a sea plane in fog or inclement weather.

DS: It’s the technology. The helicopter flies under instrument flight rules, unlike a sea plane which flies under visual flight rules—they can’t fly at night, or take off or land in inclement weather like fog. That’s a rule and regulation based on technology. With the helicopter this is an advantage we can offer the traveller: we can fly at night and we can fly in inclement weather, which the west coast has a lot of.

JG: It must make you feel very satisfied that you’ve been able to increase and improve your company. Looking forward, I understand one of the things you are trying to move forward with is the electric game?

DS: We wanted to move the industry to a more sustainable environment. We’re driven by our customers who are asking us to do this, and we want to do this. One of the things that’s happening in the industry that’s an exciting time for the helicopter industry—or what we call the vertical lift industry—is that a lot of big manufacturers, science, engineering, and money is going into electrifying these aircraft. One day, we will see helicopters and drones and even un-manned vehicles running on either electrics or hydrogen power and moving away from fossil fuel. So, we want to be in front of that process. We established a new group called the Canadian Advance Air Mobility, and it’s to educate and promote sustainable aviation. We’re hoping and planning Vancouver will be the platform to launch services in Canada for these new technologies.

JG: You’re not just the president of Helijet—you have a son, Owen, (who) is also a pilot, and he’s also the (chief executive officer) of Helicopters Without Borders. I also understand that you are also a pilot and inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.

DS: My son Owen is an active captain with our company and has taken it upon himself to launch Helicopters Without Borders with my assistance. A few other board members and a lot of staff are supporting the aircraft, so he’s well on his way to establishing Helicopters Without Borders in British Columbia and eventually nationally and internationally. I am a pilot, I still retain my license. In 2017 I was nominated for entry into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame, and how I look at it, it’s the 150 to 160 people that work here that brought us to that opportunity—I just grabbed the baton on behalf of everyone.

JG: I commend you on what you and your team have accomplished and given back in 35 years. It’s been a pleasure, and thank you for sharing your story.   

For the full video interview, visit richmondsentinel.ca/videos

Photos courtesy Helijet