We’ll continue sked service, First Air CEO says

In the wake of the emotionally devastating loss of four employees who died Aug. 20 in the crash of charter flight 6560 near Resolute, First Air will do its best to maintain scheduled air service in Nunavut and around Canada’s North, First Air CEO Scott Bateman said Aug. 21.

“We are continuing to operate our scheduled service to the fullest attempt possible, the significant limiter being our ability to crew aircraft at this difficult time,” Bateman said in a statement made in Yellowknife that was broadcast live throughout Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

But Bateman said First Air employees are “stepping up and doing what they do best and that’s deliver this critical service to the residents of the North.”

As for passengers, Bateman said passengers using those flights should contact the First Air reservations office to confirm “that their flight is in fact going.”

Bateman said First Air has notified their deceased employees’ next-of-kin, and that a field team has arrived in Resolute to provide counselling to staff and to the community.

Field teams have also been sent to Yellowknife and to Edmonton, the home of the aircraft’s deceased captain.

“We are doing everything possible within our means to support our staff and the communities that we serve,” he said.

Bateman thanked the Canadian military, the Government of Nunavut and the RCMP for their help in responding to the crash, which killed 12 people, including all four crew members.

He said the cause of the Aug. 20 crash is unknown and will remain unknown for “a considerable amount of time.”

And he said First Air is fully co-operating with the Transport Safety Board’s investigation, which is now underway.

“This accident is a tremendous tragedy for us all, from Yellowknife to Resolute Bay, and throughout the entire North,” Bateman said.

But he pledged that First Air will “continue to be an integral part of the Canadian Arctic.”

Pita Aatami, the president of Makivik Corp., First Air’s parent company, said in a news release that “my first thoughts are for the families of the victims and of our crew members. Makivik Corporation and First Air will do everything to support them in these very difficult moments.”