Air Inuit starts direct flights between Kuujjuaq, Quebec City, Montreal

An Air Inuit 737-200 C will start flying between Kuujjuaq, Quebec City and Montreal starting April 26. (FILE PHOTO)

Soon you will be able to travel more easily — and quickly — between Kuujjuaq, Quebec City and Montreal.

That’s due to Air Inuit’s new Thursday and Sunday flights, set to start April 26, which will no longer stop in Shefferville, saving at least a couple hours of travel time.

The change in flights means that passengers will no longer be obliged to pass through security more than once. On flights which stopped in Shefferville on their way south, everyone had to deplane and pass through security in Quebec City because Shefferville’s airport has no approved security check.

When the Air Inuit service from Kuujjuaq to Quebec City and Montreal first started in 2007, some Kativik Regional Government councillors were worried about that oversight. They suggested lack of airport security checks on flights through Shefferville could see drug traffickers using Air Inuit for that reason.

The new Air Inuit flight on Sunday uses a Boeing-737 200C which leaves Montreal at 8:00 a.m., arriving in Kuujjuaq at 11:20 a.m., after a brief stop in Quebec City at 8:25 a.m.

The return south on Sunday leaves at 3:15 p.m. from Kuujjuaq, puts passengers back in Quebec City for 5:25 p.m. and in Montreal for 6:40 p.m.

The Thursday flight on a Bombardier Dash-8 leaves Montreal at 7:10 a.m., stopping briefly in Quebec City at 8:25 a.m. before arriving in Kuujjuaq at 11:45 a.m. The return flight heads south at 1:20 p.m. and gets passengers back into Quebec City for 4:40 p.m. and into Montreal at 6:00 p.m.