Tell Us Your Story. What motivated you to start your business? Why are you passionate about what you do?

My name is Saeed Golzar, and I'm the founder and CEO of Airble. I began my aviation journey as a pilot, accumulating more than 3,500 hours of jet flight experience across various aircraft types while working on my MBA. After moving to Canada, I obtained my license and flew helicopters in Abbotsford, and then seaplanes in Fort Langley. I then gained valuable back-office airline experience working for Jazz Aviation. Today, I bring nearly 15 years of experience in the aviation industry. About five years ago, after completing my pilot task, I found myself stranded in Whistler, unable to quickly secure a flight or a ride back to Vancouver. For a city as developed as Vancouver, I expected there to be a convenient app for on-demand travel, but that wasn’t the case. I considered chartering a helicopter, but the process was frustratingly inefficient. It involved multiple back-and-forth phone calls to request price quotes, waiting for agents to confirm availability, and even facing some unanswered calls. The experience made me realize the need for a more streamlined solution for air charter. I spoke with smaller air operators within my network and asked why instant, on-demand booking wasn’t available. They explained that the main challenge was the lack of software technology to support this business model. This insight led me to found Airble. Shortly after, two additional motivating factors became clear: the potential to boost local tourism through Airble and the opportunity to support numerous small air operators and businesses within the aviation community. With Airble, I aim to encourage everyone to explore Canada’s stunning backcountry by flying with over 800 air operators nationwide. There are thousands of remote small airports, heliports, and water aerodromes that many people don’t realize they can access. My vision for Airble is to make flying in any type of aircraft accessible to everyone, no matter where they are.

Describe and demonstrate, including metrics, your community support. How do you support and uplift your community, and how do they show that support in return? Minimum 25 words, maximum 2500 characters.

Many smaller local air operators lack dedicated aviation software for route planning and scheduling, relying instead on Excel sheets or even manual methods like pen and paper. Several of our partnered operators are also dissatisfied with the existing technology for managing their fleets and operations. They find it frustrating to receive over 100 daily calls requesting price quotes, which they must manually calculate, almost always without any resulting bookings. Additionally, the absence of proper software to sync availability prevents them from effectively collaborating with accommodation providers—a revenue stream they are eager to tap in. To supply the marketplace, we are offering our software to air operators to manage their day-to-day operations, with the added benefit of automatically listing their services and aircraft availability on our marketplace. We are in the process of seeking partnerships with accommodation providers so that travellers could create fully personalized travel packages by seamlessly booking both aircraft and accommodations on a single platform. This streamlined experience not only opens up new revenue streams for air operators and accommodation businesses, including local and indigenous providers, but also encourages travelers to explore underrated yet stunning backcountry destinations. The charter aviation industry is often overlooked by the general public, yet it offers crucial services when commercial airlines are not viable options, such as reaching remote locations accessible only by water or air, accommodating individuals with special needs, or responding to emergencies. For instance, our platform facilitated a seaplane charter for a concerned parent to rescue their child from a wildfire-blocked area. We’ve also helped individuals with health conditions, like a grandfather requiring in-flight bedding, and pet owners who prefer to keep their animals with them rather than in the cargo hold. Airble currently partners with 35 air operators across North America, maintaining a fleet of 151 aircraft under annually renewing contracts. The company has received strong endorsements and positive recognitions from key personnel among major stakeholders, including government agencies, eVTOL manufacturers, and travel intermediaries. We estimate that our marketplace efficiency has significantly minimized environmental impact by reducing the number of flights required for round trip charters by up to one-third.

Why do you deserve to win the Business Impact award?

Airble is transforming the charter aviation industry by making it more efficient, accessible, and widely recognized. Our marketplace, accessible via website and mobile app, serves as a centralized platform where anyone can easily search and book seaplanes, helicopters, piston/turbo aircraft, and business jets from local air operators to fly wherever they want to go. By operating as a marketplace, Airble not only supports small air operators by providing a sophisticated aviation software but also generates new revenue streams for them. By promoting shared flights and filling vacant seats in empty leg flights, we’re fostering a more efficient community that reduces unnecessary environmental waste. Airble also contributes to the growth of British Columbia's tourism industry, particularly by promoting remote, family-owned, and Indigenous businesses, making them more accessible and known to the public. As our charter aviation community continues to grow, we are currently seeking capital to develop technology that could also support the Government Operations Centre. By becoming a centralized ledger system for available aircraft, our software would play a critical role in emergency response efforts when the operation teams face shortages of aircraft, such as during wildfire crises or other first-responder missions. Airble plays a vital role in supporting customers, empowering air operators, boosting the tourism industry, and providing future valuable solutions for government needs. Our team is very proud that Airble has made it to the semi-finals in the 2023 New Venture BC Startup Awards and was also named a finalist for BC Tech's Technology Impact Award for Company of the Year – Startup. As a founder, I was honored to be selected as one of WINGS' Top 20 Under 40 driving the future of Canadian aviation. This year, we’re setting our sights on winning the Business Impact Award.

Tell Us About Your Culture. How are you creating a sustainable and healthy workplace where everyone feels welcome? Provide examples of leadership you show in interactions with clients, vendors, contractors, staff and others.

As a self-funded startup with limited resources, we embrace a bootstrapping approach and wear multiple hats. We encourage our team to take initiative and empower them to explore new responsibilities, including stepping into minor leadership roles, participating in leadership meetings, and contributing to business and product development roadmaps. Our goal is for everyone to take pride in the collective effort of building this impactful, industry-shifting product. We are a young, passionate team with diverse cultural backgrounds, committed to creating a workplace that fosters innovation and productivity. To support this, we offer fully remote work, hybrid options, and flexible schedules, and we actively encourage ideas, feedback, and creative solutions for our product. For instance, we maintain idea boards where anyone can contribute thoughts, which are reviewed semi-annually when we decide our product roadmap together. We believe in the value of young talent, and over the years, we have hired nine short-term student interns, including two recent graduates who chose to join Airble as permanent employees. Additionally, we recently submitted a research proposal to academic institutions through Mitacs as we plan new features for our platform. On the business development front, Airble partners with and actively maintains close relationships with air operators of diverse backgrounds, including family-owned businesses, Indigenous operators, those serving remote communities, flight schools, flying clubs, and well-established operators with renowned reputations. Airble is a proud member of numerous aviation organizations, such as the Canadian Business Aviation Association, The Helicopter Association of Canada, Vertical Aviation International, the Canadian Owners & Pilots Association, The Air Transport Association of Canada, and the National Business Aviation Association. Our leadership team not only participates in conferences organized by these groups but also engages with government agencies like Destination BC and The Greater Victoria Visitors & Convention Bureau. We've consulted with chief pilots, board members, executive advisors, and vice presidents to ensure our product is built on informed insights.