West Canada-based Central Mountain Air (CMA) has named Bob Cummings as chief executive officer. Established in 1987, CMA operates a fleet of Beech 1900D, Dornier 328 and Dash 8 aircraft for charter and scheduled flights across a network connecting communities throughout British Columbia and Alberta.

From 2006 until October 2018 Cummings was an executive vice president with WestJet Airlines, and under his commercial leadership revenue grew from just over $1 billion to more than $4.5 billion. He also led the growth of WestJet Vacations, WestJet Rewards, the launch of WestJet Encore, Swoop and its expansion into wide-body flying.

“CMA has a proud history of scheduled service, and has built a substantive charter business,” says Cummings. “I am excited by the potential to further connect Canadian communities to the world, whether through scheduled service, charters and/or provisioning cargo. With a fragmented under 50-seat Canadian regional airline market, there are many opportunities before us. My first priority will be to meet all the CMA employees to listen and talk about our exciting future.”

“We strive to provide the best service to the communities we serve and fulfil the expectations of all our stakeholders,” adds president Douglas McCrea. “I am looking forward to working with Bob, showing him our great airline and all that we have accomplished. I am proud of the relationships we have built with our employees, key stakeholders and clients, and believe CMA is well poised for an exciting next chapter.”

Aviation-focused capital firm Binder Capital Group has invested significant resources into CMA. “I am delighted to welcome Bob to the CMA family,“ says John Binder. “His depth of commercial experience and broad skill set will accelerate our growth mandate and execution of our overall strategy. His accomplishments at WestJet occurred with a strong employee and customer-centric orientation, and this approach will provide benefits for the communities we serve and our employees alike. I look forward to the future of our airline under his leadership.”