Life at the heart of AERIUM’s Operations.
An interview with Matthew Holodinsky, Operations Manager, AERIUM Analytics.
As Operations Manager, Matthew has had a front-row seat to the company’s evolution from its earliest days, and as 2026 hits its midpoint, he’s the first to tell you that the pace has never felt quite like this.
We sat down with him to talk about what a season in operations looks like, how far the team has come, and what it means to be flying missions on multiple continents at the same time.
You’ve been with AERIUM for a while. How does where you are now comparing to where you started?
“We have never been busier. Every year we keep getting more work which is fantastic. I’m a day one employee with AERIUM and at that time and it was just another employee and I completing the handful projects. Fast forward to now and we now have 20+ people apart of the Operations Team completing projects across different continents within many different industries.”
A significant amount of people makes up the operations team currently. That’s the human engine behind every project day, every flight, every deployment.
Where is the work happening?
Closer to home, the team is active all over Alberta. But the scope of AERIUM’s operations has expanded well beyond Canadian borders.
“Most of our work is locally here in Alberta. From Foremost to Zama and everywhere in between. Beyond Alberta, AERIUM has also completed projects in other parts of Canada like BC, Yukon, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Now beyond Canada, AERIUM has also seen projects completed internationally. We are actively working in Australia since Q4 of 2025 and have completed projects in the U.S.A., Antigua, Aruba, Peru, The Netherlands, and Germany.”
It’s a geographic spread that would have been hard to imagine in the early days, and it reflects how broadly AERIUM’s services have come to be recognized and sought out. From the Canadian prairies to the South Pacific to the Caribbean, the Operations Team is moving.
Image 1: Operations team drone training session. Calgary, Alberta, Canada – AERIUM Analytics All Rights Reserved
What kinds of work is the team doing out there?
This is where the picture gets interesting. AERIUM’s operations are far more diverse than most people might expect from a drone company.
“We are doing all types of work in all types of industries,” Matthew says:
“Wildlife Management in the Oilsands, bird-control using RoBird in agriculture, Inspections at International Airports, Mapping/Volumetrics Surveys for Forestry, Ground and Drone based Herbicide spraying at various Industrial sites, even videography and golf ball drops for charity golf tournaments. And that is just a few examples. AERIUM takes pride in helping our clients out in any way we can.”
It’s a list that speaks to both the versatility of the technology and the adaptability of the team. No two project days look the same.
Is there a stat that captures the scale of it all for you?
Matthew doesn’t hesitate.
“Just taking the past five years as an example, the operations team has collectively piloted more than 127,000 flight kilometres with drones and completed over 21,000 flights, an average of 375 flights per month.”
“That’s like travelling around the world three times,” Matt says.
But when asked what stat means the most to him personally, his answer isn’t about distance or volume.
“But, the most important stat to me is doing all this great work without safety or environmental issues/incidents. Safety and the environment will always come first. It’s a value that runs through everything AERIUM’s operations team does and coming from someone who has been there since day one, it carries real weight.”
“It’s the kind of figure that puts everything else in perspective. Every project day, every personnel deployment, every international mission, it all adds up to something that, when you step back and look at it, is amazing.”
With 6 months still left in 2026, what does the rest of the year look like?
“Very busy.” The kind of busy that, for Matthew, builds a baseline that keeps moving upward.
The second half of 2026 is almost full of routine operations with clients AERIUM works with on a day-to-day basis, but also, as Matt puts it, “some new trials are scheduled to see how we can support new and existing clients with our ever-growing service lines.”
“Every day is unique here at AERIUM which has been fulfilling to be a part of.”
“For a company that started with just two people completing the field work and a handful of projects, it’s been an incredible trajectory.”
