Anybody who doubts the reach of the three airlines need only hang out at James A. Richardson International Airport for a few days.

“We have the most flights going in and out of the Winnipeg airport of anybody,” he says, noting more than 200 flights from Perimeter, Keewatin and Calm Air use the airport on a weekly basis.

If that wasn’t enough, Exchange Industrial also has its own flight school. In fact, Jessiman says that’s how Perimeter founder Bill Wehrle first got into the aviation business a half-century ago. Today, the school trains between 100 and 150 pilots a year, a crucial feeder to Exchange Industrial’s carriers.

“It assures you of being to identify pilots, especially in times when WestJet and Air Canada are trying to attract pilots. We know what they’ve been trained on and what their capabilities are. Where we fly, they have to be really qualified because of the conditions they’re flying in. There are gravel strips for landing, rough weather in the winter and medevac flights are flying at night. We want our passengers to have the best pilots available. You don’t want to have an accident record,” he says.

Jessiman says its trainees often graduate to flying cargo planes and when their time comes, they move up to regional jets.

“It’s all about flying a bigger plane. The pilots are all going for the 747. They’ll take a pay cut to go to Air Canada. They’ll go from a captain here to a first officer there and drop $20,000 in salary,” he says.

To illustrate the passion of those at the controls, Jessiman says one of its former pilots, who now flies for Air Canada Jazz, traded in his life as a Bay Street securities lawyer, including a quarter-million-dollar salary, because he just loved to fly.

Exchange Industrial has also expanded its footprint at Richardson International with the purchase of a number of ground services and it also has its own terminals, which come with some time-saving perks.

“It’s on the airport property, but it’s a separate and distinct place. We have our own scanners and we work with First Nations communities to ensure contraband doesn’t make it up. You show up (at the airport), we’ve got free parking and you basically walk on,” he says.

Clockwise from top left: a laser cutting machine at Overlanders Manufacturing in Abbotsford, B.C.; a dairy dryer from Stainless Fabrication Inc—EIIF’s first acquisition based out of the U.S.; Jasper Tank’s IM001769 crude oil hauler; a custom sewer trailer by the Water Blast Group—dealers of the Hotsy line for Alberta and B.C.

Not to be forgotten–although that happens from time to time–is Exchange Industrial’s manufacturing division. Its Jasper Tank subsidiary in Spruce Grove, AB, distributes the Hotsy brand of pressure washer equipment for commercial and industrial uses. In addition to cleaning drilling rigs and wells in the winter, the product is also used for agricultural cleaning operations.

There’s also Stainless Fabrication Inc., a Missouri-based maker of steel tanks for the chemical, pharmaceutical and beverage industries, which can build tanks in their shop and ship them out or make them on-site for a client.

Jessiman says he isn’t surprised that its manufacturing division flies under the radar compared to its aviation operations.

“Everyone likes the airline business. It seems to be sexy,” he says.

Sexy or not, Jessiman says he and his team are actively exploring growth opportunities for this side of the business, too. He has high hopes of getting the exclusive Hotsy line for B.C. and he’s also considering expansion into the U.S. West coast, starting in Washington.

Exchange Industrial’s overall diversity has helped its income fund avoid the meltdown that walloped most of the market since the fall of 2008. The fund’s units, which were at $8 during the initial public offering in 2004, fell to $7.60 last October but have been on a steady incline since, recovering to near $10 by mid-May.

“We’re conservatively managed. Our distribution rate is about 60 per cent of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). A lot of income funds (pay out) 95 to 100 per cent. We’ve never been pushed by the brokerage community to ramp up our stock price by paying out more than is sensible,” he says, noting after four years on the TSX Venture Exchange, the fund’s units graduated to the Toronto Stock Exchange in the spring of 2008.

Jessiman says he’s proud of the fact the fund’s distribution has increased every year, too. It’s currently at 13 cents per unit per month, up from 12.5 cents, 11 cents and 10 cents the three previous years respectively.

DDuring its five-year run, Exchange Industrial has become an increasingly significant employer in Manitoba. It started out with 125 employees at Perimeter but that’s grown to 1,500 after the addition of Calm Air and its head office count has increased from one lonely soul to 10.

“We do our little business out here on Sherwin road. It’s a nice little company,” Jessiman says.