Surjit Singh Babra
The Sikhs are so enterprising that they can find out any new business at any place in the world, once they
are determined to carry on any business, they always achieve success and make that business prosperous.
A Sikh gentleman named S. Surjit Singh Babra left India in 1972 and started his new business as a travel
consultant in London. He started a retail travel agency solemnly to promote India. He expanded his business
by Airlines ticket consolidation and GS representation in the North American market. Thus, in 1979 he left
London and moved to Toronto to setup an office there. In 1998 he joined hands with a former Israeli Travel
agent, Walter Arbib, to have their own sky link and provide their planes on hire, whenever the planes were
needed it for downloading relief supplies, whether in case of war or a deadly tsunami or an earthquake,
their planes known as sky links were made available to supply men and material at all such places.
Babra
had told about his business as that it was “not a usual airline, SkyLink is an air charter an leasing service
provider which is hired by UN agencies and Governments to ferry medicine, men and material to troubled
parts of the world. We are one of the handful airlines which are hired by Governments and UN agencies for
relief operations”. This different kinds of business has today grown up as a multimillion group employing
a large number of persons were from the world Sky Link Aviation , Sky Link Travel, SkyLink Express,
SkyLink Holidays and Dollar Rent-A-Car are the arms of this conglomerate. The group has also expanded
into retail travel by acquiring the master rights for Global Travel Network and ventured into Internet Travel
Technology. Among the major international organizations to which SkyLink provides aircraft and logistical
support are the UN, the World Food Programmes, USAID, IOM and many other government agencies,
including the Canadian armed forces. The business has further been expanded in the form of planning
holiday trips, tours and delivery of packages for major courier companies. S. Surjit Singh Babra is a rolemodel businessman because of the unique type of business he is carrying on with success and prosperity.
However, he is also a gursikh role-model as he is always grateful to God who has blessed him so much that
he can easily share his earning for charities. He supports Sikh Kids Hospital, and makes huge donations
whenever the humanity needs them. For example in 2003, he presented a cheque of one lakh Dollar to fund
demanding the operation Mozambique. His love for his religion becomes crystal clear from the fact that in
the early years of business, he had offered to carry 150 Birs (copies) of the holy Guru Granth Sahib from
India to Canada. The history making plane that landed in Toronto belonged to SkyLink. The role-model sky
man of SkyLink expresses his gratitude to God when he says “that’s was one of the most satisfying moment
of my life, when our plane carrying the holy Birs (copies) of the Guru Granth Sahib had landed in Canada”.