Born in Edmonton in
1921, brash and decisive Max Ward always knew what he wanted
and went out and got it. When a series of mining booms
lured people to Canada's north, bush pilots were in huge demand.
That's what young Max Ward wanted to be. It was daring
and dangerous as he found out when he survived four plane
crashes in the wilderness. Inspectors told him he needed
a business licence for his fledgling company, Polaris Charters
of Yellowknife, but when he applied, he was rejected.
Ward's long battle with Ottawa bureaucracy had begun.
Forced to work with a partner, Ward
was finally able to go out on his own again in 1953.
He bought a $100,000 bush plane and started Wardair, soon
to become the dominant air charter company in Canada's north.
Archival footage and photographs tell
the story of how Ward moved up from bush planes to airliners
by 1961 and invented the holiday charter business in Canada.
But the government wanted to protect Trans Canada Airlines
(later Air Canada) and created numerous regulations and other
obstacles designed to prevent Ward from being competitive.
In spite of this, Wardair became Canada's
third largest airline with a worldwide reputation for top
quality in-flight service. Ward's wife and four grown
children talk about their involvement with Wardair, their
father's obsession with customer satisfaction, his constant
risk-taking to build the airline, and the strike that shut
them down for three months. Retired CEO's of Air Canada
and Canadian Airlines describe Ward's long fight for de-regulation.
In 1989 Ward sold the company he had
spent much of his life building. Ward still flies and
is reputedly the oldest jet pilot in Canada.
Original
Air Date - November 9, 1997
Links
Wardair
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