Nunavik community gets additional daily flights

First Air’s Boeing 737 sits at Kuujjuaq’s airport. Beginning June 13, the airline will launch a second daily non-stop flight between Montreal and Kuujjuaq on Monday afternoons. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

First Air, one of two Makivik Corp.-owned airlines serving Nunavik, plans to add a second daily flight to the region’s largest community starting next month.

Beginning June 13, the airline will launch a second daily non-stop flight between Montreal and Kuujjuaq, the airline announced last week.

While First Air already operates daily flights to Kuujjuaq, which depart Montreal every morning at 10 a.m., this additional flight will leave Montreal at 3:15 p.m. and arrive in Kuujjuaq at 5:35 p.m.

The flight, which will operate on First Air’s Boeing B737-400 combi aircraft, will then leave Kuujjuaq at 6:20 p.m., arriving back in Montreal for 8:35 p.m.

The new weekly afternoon flight is in response to customer demand, said the airline’s president and CEO Brock Friesen.

“By offering a second flight from Montreal on Mondays, we provide our travelers with more convenient connections and improved transfers with our partner airlines,” Friesen said in a May 3 release.

“In addition, customers will benefit from extra cargo capacity.”

The airline also plans to add a second daily rotation on peak summer holiday travel days: June 17 and Aug. 19.