Two flight attendants are assigned to bus<strong>in</strong>ess class, which has only16 seats. The menu was created by Rob Feenie, and customers receivea hand-held on-demand enterta<strong>in</strong>ment device called ‘Interlude’ that<strong>in</strong>cludes movies, television shows, music, and video games.HMY took delivery of its first of two 757s on September 15,2002. Ho recalls: “When we first <strong>in</strong>troduced the conceptof an airl<strong>in</strong>e few people believed it would happen, so itwas very emotional the first time our airplane arrived<strong>in</strong> Vancouver.”Because of a delay receiv<strong>in</strong>g the second 757, the firstflight of the fledgl<strong>in</strong>g airl<strong>in</strong>e was postponed by threeweeks, from November 1 until the 22 nd , when it operateda service from Vancouver to Mazatlán, México. Indeed,Harmony began life as a charter carrier, operat<strong>in</strong>g for <strong>in</strong>housetour operator Companion Holidays from westernCanada primarily to Mexican dest<strong>in</strong>ations, as well asother ‘sun spots’ <strong>in</strong> California, and to Las Vegas, Nevada.In March 2003 the airl<strong>in</strong>e became a scheduled carrierwith an expanded network.In November 2004, the bus<strong>in</strong>ess and politicalcommunities <strong>in</strong> British Columbia were shocked to learnthat Gary Coll<strong>in</strong>s, the prov<strong>in</strong>ce’s f<strong>in</strong>ance m<strong>in</strong>ister (anda commercial pilot) had resigned to become Harmony’snew president and CEO. The person least surprised wasColl<strong>in</strong>s himself. “I spent 14 years <strong>in</strong> elected office…it was<strong>in</strong>credibly reward<strong>in</strong>g and a privilege, but I f<strong>in</strong>ished whatI set out to do,” he related.Before it was made public, Coll<strong>in</strong>s told the BC premierof his decision, and then began look<strong>in</strong>g for new work,but he had to be m<strong>in</strong>dful that he was still the m<strong>in</strong>ister off<strong>in</strong>ance. Because of his discussions with Harmony, Coll<strong>in</strong>sstepped away from the government’s decision on whetherto support a rapid transit l<strong>in</strong>e that would l<strong>in</strong>k VancouverInternational Airport and downtown Vancouver. Nowknown as the ‘Canada L<strong>in</strong>e’, construction is underwayand scheduled for completion late <strong>in</strong> 2009, a few monthsbefore Vancouver hosts the 2010 Olympic and ParalympicW<strong>in</strong>ter Games.PHOTOS: HARMONY AIRWAYSHo, who had known Coll<strong>in</strong>s for several years, and hadbeen impressed with his people skills, was aware that thef<strong>in</strong>ance m<strong>in</strong>ister was look<strong>in</strong>g for new challenges. “Garyis always cheerful and optimistic, and to be successful <strong>in</strong>the airl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>dustry you need to be optimistic,” says Ho.“People trust him and I trust him.”Coll<strong>in</strong>s admitted to Airways that his previousexperience with government has been a big help. “Ingovernment, we had a monumental task <strong>in</strong> turn<strong>in</strong>g theprov<strong>in</strong>ce around, and it comes down to leadership,” hesaid. “The same can be said about the airl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>dustry.It’s a tough bus<strong>in</strong>ess that demands leadership.” He addedthat <strong>in</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess and politics you can’t wait for someth<strong>in</strong>gto happen—you have to go get it—and no bus<strong>in</strong>esshas the right to be successful. It may seem simple, butColl<strong>in</strong>s’s first job was to secure new customers—and theother airl<strong>in</strong>es’ customers. Not an easy task <strong>in</strong> a countrywhere two established air carriers already had a significantcustomer base.Coll<strong>in</strong>s believed that s<strong>in</strong>ce the demise of Canada 3000(Airways, May 2003) and Jetsgo (Airways, November 2003)the airl<strong>in</strong>e bus<strong>in</strong>ess <strong>in</strong> Canada had never been stronger.He noted that s<strong>in</strong>ce exit<strong>in</strong>g bankruptcy protection, AirA i r w a y s15
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