baggage handler

guest service agent

ramp lead

customer service representative

delivery driver

Maintair Aviation

When you’re the lowest paid at the airport, you’d think you have the least amount of work to do. However, you look over at any of the other airlines and see that they get time for breaks (you’ll see them napping, chatting, having fun). Most of the time at Maintair, there is about a 50-50 chance you get a break at all. And even during these times they seem to have more staff on shift than we do.

A typical day at Maintair you’ll be fighting with broken equipment, throwing about 10,000lbs worth of mail down a plane, getting constantly reminded over radio how aircraft is being delayed, washing our equipment to “maintain the brand”, forced to stay later than scheduled because you only have 8 minutes to offload a plane (scheduled until 12:30am, usually leave at 1:30am), and all of this just to do it all again the next day. It’s taxing on the body, and on the mind.

As many other reviews say, the employees actually make the job palatable. The ramp staff is awesome. The ramp coordinator is also awesome. If only upper management could “manage” to increase the pay, improve our training procedures (and number of trainers), and improve our staffing numbers during times when multiple planes at once will they be able to maintain a happy ramp staff who is willing to work.

Probably the worst part is dealing with our equipment. We are constantly being watched and told about how safety is the most important thing. Then we get equipment back that leaks unknown (but likely flammable and also environmentally damaging) fluids, emergency brakes never work, and if we report any small issue we must remove this equipment from service even though we cannot because of operational requirements. Maintair is all about “safety” but if you take one look at our equipment you can tell this is a lie.

The flight benefits are also good but it’s a pain to receive them. Once you have hit your 3 months you need to email someone from HR to get your flights booked. This can be denied by them for any reason.

Scheduling here is also easy as they can be very flexible for all different kinds of hours. Just be aware that sometimes you have no choice but to stay later than those scheduled hours.

Overall, Maintair has many issues that need to be dealt with if they want to keep who they have at our current work expectation. They want us to have to deal with constant work and understaff? We should be compensated more. We need more people? We should be compensated more. I’d only recommend Maintair for a part-time job, do not sell your life to this place. If you’re looking for a career job, I’d recommend you go to another airline.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Nothing. Low pay, co workers never show up, or if they do, always late, management has no idea how to manage their employees and let equipment deteriorate while still demanding A1 service. Just run, this is the most poorly run company I have ever been a part of

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Never knowing who is showing up to work. Because you are expected to still do the same quality job even if 2 people from your 4 man team don't show, without any assistance from management in either being hands on or finding someone to cover

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Trash. The workers are very chill and fun,, but when it comes to work, it's like they all have to go to washroom or urgently need to be somewhere else until the work is done. And of course management doesn't get invovled

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Get to work 15 minutes early, take bets on who will call in sick first or how late someone will be. Wait for the supervisor to tell us we are expected to do more than what our jobs entail, including being on the ground without any safety training or proper gear. Then when you think the day is done, there's always someone who hasn't done anything complaining.

If you're not a student or have time to spare do not even consider this, the pay was the worst compared to all airlines, the benefits are basically non-existent and require 3 months to access. Uniforms and PPE are extremely late and YOU pay for them.

Generally the lower level employees were majorly kind and agreeable, which made the job much easier to cope with. The leads generally were great and did not treat you like lesser people.

The corruption and hierarchy is evident, not to mention the 24-7 emails some of which are programmed to send everyday as "reminders". Some of the managers also abused their powers and tended to clock in and leave, sending the lower minions to do their job. 

The managers and higher level management would constantly, complain, harass and berate nearly everyone about minuscule and minor issues, some of which are contradictory.

ex: why are flights so late? (missing or broken equipment)
ex: why is no one reporting defective equipment (because we need it)

What is the best part of working at the company?
Meeting new people every day. The work is never the same. Always learning something new on each and every shift.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The frustration is having to check and confirm multiple times in a day, when your next workday and time will be. Consistency would be crucial. Less chance for errors.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Awesome is the work environment. This work place is diverse with culture.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day is a busy day. First, dealing with the consumer departures then the arrival's. Boarding and off loading the passengers as needed to complete the task.

Rules over here change; for example, clothes are changed every shift. Leads have their own rules, and they use a hierarchy system in which the shift leads do nothing and just boss around with no clear instructions.
The equipment here is always broken, and you are blamed for it.
You are scheduled here for a 6:30-hour-long shift; even in that, you are supposed to take a half-hour break 6 days a week.
Workplace culture is very toxic where shift leads talk rudely to you and gossip about you to other coworkers. Some of us are forced to work to our bones, whereas our favourite coworkers use their phones.


The staff on the ramp are great to be around, yet this company is poorly run. If we have 4 pieces of one equipment, 3 of them won’t be working. Lack of equipment and no staff was always an issue. They often expect a team of 2-3 to turn an entire jet flight in an hour, which is literally impossible. 

Then they bombard you with emails about performance, when it is not in the Ramp agents or even the shift leads hands. Its purely on management, they offer no benefits(except flights), and their pay is so low compared to all the other companies that work in Ottawa. Its funny how they expect to hire people and get top notch dedication out of them when they pay the same as McDonalds these days.

Uniform is required, but you must pay for it. No health benefits. You get travel benefits, good luck using them as they will work you like a dog until you can’t mentally and emotionally take it anymore. You will trauma bond to your coworkers. Can’t keep anyone long enough to fully train, let alone people to train the new hires. Could win an award for fastest employee turnover. Must have 2 other jobs to make a living. Equipment is from the world wars and barely runs, often very unsafe if you report the equipment you will get yelled at. You’ll do the job of 4 people but get paid like half a person. Maintair is a joke to the aviation world. 

Working outside in hot or cold temperatures was fine, until we hadn't gotten our snow coats passed mid December and weren't allowed to wear any other winter high viz due to it not being branded. Equipment barely ran, communication with management was dodgy and sometimes impossible. Lied about recieving benefits, pay wasnt worth the hours / manual labour. Was also lied to about a promotion and pay raise.

Staff is amazing to work with, it's the two "bosses" that make it miserable, I was away from my kids all the time, caught the bus there and back, took extra shifts all the time but still wasn't good enough. Being a part time employee and working over 80 hours every two weeks should have been paid higher, but if you like a "boss" that is is almost always absent cause she has a personal life job is great for you, just don't expect time off even if applied for two months ahead of time, yet she can take a vacation at any time


Being on the ramp was one of the most fun jobs I’ve had. I learned a lot about the airport and gained a lot of interest in it. However, this company did not treat me well. My colleagues were fun and kind, and there was nothing wrong with them. The management was nice too, but they don’t help you when it counts. Some of their choices while I was there was not something I would praise, but they weren’t all bad.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Baggage handler 3 salaries reported	$18.35 per hour
Guest service agent 6 salaries reported	$18.35 per hour
Ramp lead 4 salaries reported	$22.16 per hour
Customer service representative 1 salary reported	$18.35 per hour
Delivery driver 7 salaries reported	$17.50 per hour

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