Athabaska Airways was founded by
Floyd Glass, who learned to fly in the late 1930s, then served as a military flying training instructor during the
Second World War. Postwar, he was the first general manager of the provincial
Crown corporation Saskatchewan Government Airways. He resigned from this post, flew briefly with
British Columbia's
Queen Charlotte Airways, then returned to Saskatchewan and in 1955 formed his own firm, Athabaska Airways, which later existed under the name "Transwest Air". Glass died in 1999. In June 2016,
West Wind Aviation put forward a letter of intent to purchase Transwest Air. The company became a subsidiary of West Wind Aviation on July 1, 2016. In January 2021, it was announced West Wind Aviation would be merged with Transwest Air and be renamed
Rise Air. == Passenger services ==