West Canada-based operator Central Mountain Air (CMA) has added another Dash 8-300 to its fleet. This addition will help grow the business, provide service to clients and increase connectivity for communities across western Canada. This Dash 8-300 will be primarily used to support growth in the airline's charter service and meet the demand of existing and new clients.

The Dash 8-300 is ideal for flights not only to cities but also to remote locations. It has a carrying capacity of up to 50 passengers and a cruising speed of 532km/h.

CMA's fleet is now comprised of five Dash-8-300s, five Dash-8-100s, three Dornier 328s and 12 Beech 1900D in passenger configuration, and two cargo-configured Beech 1900D. CMA operates scheduled service to 10 communities and is able to provide charter flights throughout British Columbia, Alberta, western Canada and the US.

In addition, CMA's affiliate partners have a fleet comprising of one King Air 350i in medevac configuration, two King Air 350s (one in corporate and one in medevac configuration), two Dash 8-400s and one CRJ 100/200, further expanding CMA's capabilities and offerings.

The company has appointed Trevor Wakefield as chief operating officer. He will provide leadership and will work closely with the executive team on the execution of CMA's overall strategic plans.

Wakefield began his aviation career over 25 years ago as a line pilot flying for a western-based cargo and passenger operator, flying routes within northern British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Joining Canadian North Airlines in 2001, he held various positions including training captain, director of safety, senior director of operations and vice president of operations. As an approved Transport Canada operations manager, his core values include safe operations, regulatory compliance, fiscal accountability and workplace culture. After leaving Canadian North in late 2019, Wakefield took over as president and accountable executive of a Calgary-based charter airline. During his tenure, he built an entirely new operations and maintenance team, re-established operational capability with Transport Canada and successfully launched revenue operations in the summer of 2021.

“With over 35 years of operations, CMA has a proven history of providing safe, reliable and cost-effective air travel services to passengers, businesses, communities and organisations we serve either via our scheduled flights, charter flights or medevac flights. I am excited and honoured to join the Central Mountain Air team and look forward to working with the various teams and communities throughout western Canada,” says Wakefield.

"Trevor's depth of operational experience and broad skill set will accelerate our growth mandate and execution of our overall strategy. I am delighted to welcome him to the CMA family and look forward to his contributions and leadership," adds president and founder Douglas McCrea.