Air Canada

"It often appeared that Dobbin could not resist an opportunity to expand his business empire, no matter how many challenges that might present or how much deeper in debt it would place the company. In the early 1980s, a change in Department of Transport regulations persuaded him to launch Air Atlantic as a feeder airline in the maritime provinces for Canadian Airlines Ltd. Dobbin got Air Atlantic into operation several months ahead of its competitor Air Nova, which would serve a similar role with Air Canada. Air Atlantic enjoyed immediate access to cAL's ticket counters, baggage handlers and computer reservations system, but Air Nova was unable to secure its deal with Air Canada for some time. “In any business deal, timing is generally everything,” Harry Steele observes, “and Craig's timing was perfect.”"

"On one occasion, Dobbin instructed Parsons to get a main rotor blade for a Super Puma from St. John’s to Ecuador within forty-eight hours. FedEx and its competitors had yet to achieve the unlimited global delivery service common today, making this more challenging than it may appear. The rotor blade, which measured eight metres in length, required special packaging and handling, and no chartered air transports were available. Parsons made arrangements to accompany the blade to Frankfurt on Air Canada, fly with it from there to Paris on Air France, and transfer to an overnight flight to Quito on Avianca Airlines. When Craig Dobbin called the day after handing Parsons the task, he was amazed to learn that both Parsons and the rotor blade were on the shipping dock in Ecuador."