A breath of fresh air is priceless – but the owners of a business selling Banff air have found out there is a cost.
Parks Canada officials say Vitality Air needs a business licence to operate in Banff National Park – and are working with the company to get the business licence in place, which will cost them a nominal $98 a year.
“We do have a business licence, but just not in Banff,” said Vitality Air co-founder Moses Lam.
“I understood because we’re not actually bottling it in Banff we didn’t need one.”
The idea of selling bottled air from Banff originally started off as a gag when Lam put a zip locked bag of air on eBay for sale.
The first bag sold for 99 cents, but a second bag sold for US$160.
“Then we knew we were onto something,” said Lam. “We wanted to do something fun and disruptive and we wanted to do something that will help people.”
Vitality Air is advertised as a can of lightly pressurized air – 80 per cent nitrogen, 20 per cent oxygen and no particulates or toxic gases.
A 7.7-litre bottle of air from Banff and Lake Louise goes for $32.
Vitality Air, a registered company in Alberta, is now sending Banff’s bottled air around the world to places like China and India where there are big pollution problems.
China is now the company’s biggest international market, and after an initial shipment of about 200 bottles, another 4,000 bottles have recently gone to China, with most of them already sold.
Lam said other places Banff’s air is being sent to include Israel, Turkey, Mexico and Italy, noting there was even an order of 300 bottles for an art project.
“It is going crazy,” said Lam. “In North America, we take our breathing air for granted, and in some places don’t have that luxury and they don’t have fresh air.”
The air is captured at two locations – one in Banff near Mount Norquay and the other at Lake Louise.
They company’s website indicates they fill massive cans through clean compression at the two sites. The air is then bottled individually at their facility in Edmonton.
Exactly what they do to capture the air, though, remains top secret.
“It’s a trade secret, but it’s a very tedious process,” said Lam. “It takes about 10 hours, but that 10 hours would fill about 3,000 bottles or so.”
The air goes into an aluminum bottle, which is accompanied by a spray cap, which has a 2-in-1 built-in mask.
The bottled air is not meant for continuous use, but is intended to be used a few breaths at a time.
“It provides up to 150 one-second inhalations,” said Lam.
A Parks Canada spokesman said Vitality Air does need a business licence and they’ve contacted them about it.
“Parks Canada requires all businesses that operate within Banff National Park to have a business licence,” said Michelle Macullo, a spokesperson for Banff National Park.
“We have been in communication with Vitality Air regarding a business licence and will ensure that they are operating legally within the park.”
