Canadian North announces post-codeshare schedule for Nunavut

Here’s Canadian North’s latest 737-300 combi-jet, which began service Jan. 2 on the Iqaluit-Ottawa route. (FILE PHOTO)

Canadian North has launched the new post-codeshare flight schedule for Nunavut that’s set to start May 17.

That’s when the airline will return to an earlier departure for its daily Ottawa-Iqaluit and resume flights to other communities.

Since its former partner airline, First Air, announced last fall that it was pulling out of their codeshare agreement, Canadian North has worked to re-position itself as a competitive operator in Nunavut on its own, particularly in the Qikiqtani region.

To do that, the airline is adding Dash-8 combi aircraft to its fleet to serve the Qikiqtani region.

The First Air-Canadian North codeshare agreement is set to terminate on May 16, 2017, so starting May 17:

• Canadian North will offer daily flights to and from Cape Dorset, Igloolik and Pond Inlet; six flights a week to Panginirtung and Hall Beach and three flights a week to both Clyde River and Qikiqtarjuaq;

• Canadian North’s 737-300 combi will leave Ottawa daily at 9:15 a.m. en route to Iqaluit, for a southbound departure from Iqaluit at 1:30 p.m. the same day;

• Canadian North will use its B737-200 to service its Trans-Arctic route (Edmonton-Yellowknife-Rankin Inlet-Iqaluit) on Mondays and Fridays, upgrading to its B737-300 in July 2017; and,

• Canadian North’s B737-200 will service its Yellowknife-Cambridge Bay-Kugluktuk route daily, while a Dash-8 combi will fly to communities in east Kitikmeot on a daily basis.

“We have listened closely to our customers and designed a schedule that will offer expanded jet capacity and additional scheduled flights for our medical, duty, corporate and leisure travellers and will enable us to accommodate even more groups and cargo,” said the airline’s president, Steven Hankirk, in a Jan. 24 release.

The newer, larger Boeing 737-300, which started flying Ottawa-Iqaluit earlier this month, offers something new for most Nunavut flyers—in-flight entertainment.

Wow this cabin on #Canadiannorth is sweet, fresh leather seats, plus in flight entertainment @CanadianNorth pic.twitter.com/2f0WGAh1sD

— Chris Ferris (@cferris65) January 11, 2017

The combi-jet can seat 120 passengers, or be adapted to full freight mode, though the aircraft will most often be configured to accommodate 80 passengers and three cargo pallets.

Canadian North has said its Ottawa-Iqaluit route has gained in popularity over the past two years and the company hopes to build on that.

Customers who booked travel on the airline before the new schedule will be re-booked on the flight closest to their existing flight time, Canadian North said, and at no extra cost.