Pem-air from (1970 until 2002) was an aviation company based out of the Pembroke Airport. Pem-Air began flying as a Class II scheduled airline in 1970. Its first employee was John Smithman, a former RCAF pilot from Montreal, who had been flying as a captain with Royalair Ltd. a short-service airline based at the Montreal's Dorval airport. Royalair had been providing passenger services for Pembroke until it went bankrupt in 1969. John was a captain with Royalair and when he heard that Del O'Brien, a Pembroke Lawyer and 9 other investors wanted to build an airline to replace Royalair's services, he drove to Pembroke to meet with Del O'Brien. He offered to help Del and his partners obtain the appropriate licenses from Canada's Ministry of Transportation.