Press Release

October 16, 2002

Nextair Corporation Announces First Major Customer Win With Research In Motion (RIM)

Canada's Largest Independently Owned and Operated Armoured Car and ATM Maintenance Services Company Selects Nextair's AIRIX™ Mobile Platform to Build and Deploy Mobile Dispatch Solution operating on BlackBerry™.

Toronto, Ontario - Nextair Inc. (TSE: NXA) is pleased to announce that it has licensed its AIRIX wireless platform operating on BlackBerry Wireless Handhelds™ from Research In Motion Limited (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) to Universal ATM Services Inc. (UATM), an Amoured Car and ATM service company with six branches in Canada. The order also includes UATM utilizing Nextair's hosted AIRIX Transaction Server for its wireless operator connection along with other consulting assistance.

Says Steve Perpich, IT consultant for UATM, "With AIRIX, we went from ideas to a functional wireless application in just three-days. AIRIX should become the standard for enterprise wireless solutions."

This announcement comes after a string of recent news by Nextair regarding customer deployments and wireless operator agreements. Canada's largest independently owned armoured car and ATM maintenance company will be equipping its mobile employees with a software application developed entirely within AIRIX Design Studio and deployed on BlackBerry™ handhelds on the Bell Mobility ARDIS network. To speed implementation, UATM will be utilizing a hosted AIRIX server gateway provided to them by Nextair under contract. UATM anticipates that 6 months of development efforts were saved by using the AIRIX Design Studio and further anticipates on-going operational savings up to $ 50,000 per year over voice based mobile airtime costs with full implementation of the system. By implementing AIRIX along with BlackBerry , increased efficiencies of staff and business processes are projected at 15% based on initial results as both workers and management are able to communicate job details and job status updates instantly while providing greater information and eliminating paperwork for all events.

President for UATM, Dwayne Biggs stated, "UATM prides itself in being a service leader for our customers and a first mover when it comes to technology which streamlines operations. We recognize the importance of automation and convenience for our customers and staff, which is why we selected AIRIX coupled with RIM's BlackBerry handhelds . This step into wireless is expected to further extend our lead with customer satisfaction while at the same time increasing efficiencies and reduction or elimination of paperwork."

"The BlackBerry platform is popular with mobile professionals in the field because it provides integrated, always-on wireless access to important corporate information," said Mark Guibert, Vice President, Brand Management at Research In Motion. "Nextair's innovative field service management solutions and RIM's leading BlackBerry platform can deliver a strong return on investment through increased productivity, improved customer service and direct cost savings."

UATM's dispatch solution called Fortress, operates on its own while linked directly to an Astea Dispatch-1 (D1) application, which reigns as one of the most widely installed field service solutions in the world. From the initial conceptualization of the wireless extension of Fortress and D1 (via the Fortress/D1 link) using AIRIX, to the time of the first wireless testing using the BlackBerry handheld and the new AIRIX mobile application, was three days.

“We estimate that without AIRIX, we would have taken a period of 6 months to design and develop a working pilot application, which would have required tremendous in-house wireless development experience. AIRIX simply removed the complexities of the development experience entirely. We could not have had a better experience with Nextair or a smoother development with AIRIX" added Mr. Perpich. Mr. Perpich clearly articulates this significant step and outlines why Nextair's AIRIX wireless development solution made it possible so quickly. "Years ago, we envisioned wireless capabilities with our internal workforce management application as we understood this would bring further efficiencies to our operation and decrease response times to our customers. After initial trial development efforts with WAP and browser based tools, it became very apparent that the field workers required a client-side application, one which resides directly on the device. This would allow staff to use this mobile device application when out of wireless coverage. That was imperative as our people work in malls, office building and travel to tasks in outlying geographic areas. While we found browser applications easy to develop, we found no other solution with which to develop a client-side application that would support multiple devices simultaneously. With AIRIX, we went from concept to design to initial wireless testing in three-days. We were in full pilot mode just weeks later. It couldn't have been easier and Nextair's team couldn't have been more responsive."

Nextair's President and CEO, Simon Fraser, says "UATM represents a tremendous achievement for us as it lays the groundwork for future business under the RIM ISV Alliance Agreement which was announced about the same time we initiated discussions with UATM. The opportunity to assist UATM in their wireless deployment of their Fortress solution demonstrates the ease of which AIRIX can provide a wireless extension to an existing business application. "

Certain statements contained in this press release, including statements regarding events and financial trends that may affect future operating results, financial position and cash flows, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are based on our assumptions and estimates and are subject to risks and uncertainties.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties of Research In Motion Limited.

About UATM

Universal ATM Services Inc. (www.uatm.com) is a Canadian-owned and operated company providing Armoured Car and ATM Service through six branch offices in Southern and Eastern Ontario.

About Nextair

Nextair Inc. (www.nextair.com) is the developer of the award winning AIRIX™ wireless enabling software solution, as well as several wireless mobile workforce, field service and dispatch applications. Nextair's Mobility Platform, AIRIX, (patent pending) provides rapid development of sophisticated wireless applications for mobile devices, allowing client-side device operation of corporate solutions in real-time with off-line capability on a multitude of networks and handheld devices. Nextair has used AIRIX with the development of several Field Service Mobile Dispatch applications. These include mdispatch.com (awarded "Best Wireless Internet Solution by Field Force Automation / Field Solutions Expo) and DispatchForce (an enterprise dispatch service management and scheduling solution). Nextair is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE: NXA).