First Air takes steps to fix flight problems

Here’s a look at the First Air 737 at the Kuujjuaq airport March 9 when it landed after a delay of several hours. This jet with an owl on its wing has suffered from recurring mechanical problems with one of its generators, according to some First Air crew members. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

First Air plans to take measures soon to deal with a series of flight cancellations, long delays and trips on chartered airplanes that its passengers have endured recently on its Kuujjuaq jet route.

First Air vice-president Chris Ferris said the airline has suffered an “unusual cluster” of problems on that jet-serviced route.

“It’s been a rough stretch on the Kuujjuaq route mainly,” Ferris said. “It’s been a really frustrating two to three weeks.”

While it’s been hard on the airline, Ferris also acknowledges the frustration level on the part of passengers is also “pretty high.”

“Because Kuujjuaq is such a very important market for us,” Ferris said the Makivik-owned airline is planning to offer a seat sale soon for flights and out of Kuujjuaq.

As well, First Air is also looking at the idea of putting a mechanic onboard flights to deal with some mechanical issues as soon as they arise.

“It’s been challenging. It’s definitely got our attention,” said Ferris in an interview on March 12, a day when a tire that burst after take-off in Montreal led to bumpy landing in Kuujjuaq on a flat tire, and another flight delay out of the Nunavik community.

“It’s not for a lack of effort,” said Ferris of the First Air’s attempts to cope. “A lot of it I would chalk up to bad timing and bad luck.”

For Iqaluit passengers heading to or from Montreal, some First Air flights have also faced delays, longer flights, missed connections and even rerouting to Ottawa.

There have been “a number of issues” at play, Ferris said.

These issues include weather and “mechanical events,” which he said were compounded by one of the company’s jets being out of commission for two months due to a scheduled “heavy maintenance” overhaul.

That aircraft just came back last week, Ferris said.

One of the airline’s two recently-purchased 737s, which was supposed to be delivered last November, still hasn’t been delivered to the company.

And some “minor flags” about on-board mechanical issues are not able to be resolved in Kuujjuaq, Ferris said.

That’s because Kuujjuaq, with only two First Air landings a day, isn’t a base for the airline.

There’s no hangar and no dedicated mechanic in Kuujjuaq, as is the case in Iqaluit, Yellowknife, and Ottawa where First Air maintains bases.

The recent cluster of problems is not due to the same problems in the same aircraft, Ferris said.

However, some First Air crew members say there’s a generator problem on the 737 bearing a white owl on its tail, which has been recurrent despite repairs.

They say they now carry a bag of personal items along with them on flights because, like passengers, they’re not sure where they’ll end up spending the night.

When mechanical problems have cropped up, the airline has often decided to “divert to a place where we have a base, where we have the tools and diagnostics,” Ferris said.

On Feb. 29, a day Ferris described as “a perfect storm,” a flight bound for Iqaluit from Montreal developed a mechanical problem in Kuujjuaq.

So a flight from Iqaluit to Ottawa was diverted to Kuujjuaq.

The plan was to drop off passengers and a mechanic from Iqaluit who would check the jet stranded in Kuujjuaq.

But then that flight from Iqaluit to Kuujjuaq also developed a mechanical problem: it overflew Kuujjuaq and headed directly to Ottawa.

The mechanic didn’t make it in.

Iqaluit passengers expecting to end their day in Kuujjuaq or Montreal also ended up in Ottawa.

Passengers waiting in Kuujjuaq finally left near midnight for Montreal after another mechanic was brought in from the South to deal with the problem.

First Air has often been obliged to bring in charter flights on the Montreal-Kuujjuaq-Iqaluit route as “rescue flights.”

These include charters from Flaire, CanJet — whose crew had never travelled north before and were taking photos out the window after they landed in Iqaluit — and Air Inuit, whose Dash 8 took passengers from Montreal to Kuujjuaq on at least once occasion.