Western Nunavut hub sees new charter air service

Air Tindi’s combi Dash-7, seating a maximum of 46 passengers, will take passengers two times a month between Cambridge Bay and Yellowknife. (PHOTO/AIR TINDI)

An aviation player in Nunavut’s Kitikmeot region aims to provide cheap, scheduled air travel between Cambridge Bay and Yellowknife.

Aqsaqniq Airways Ltd., whose Air Tindi-run joint venture has operated emergency air ambulance flights in western Nunavut since 2011—now plans to put passengers and freight on a de Havilland Dash-7 combi between the two hubs every second Tuesday.

The service was to start Jan. 10.

The airfare is listed at $525 per person, including surcharges, fees and taxes, and includes up to 50 pounds of baggage. That’s about half the price of regular fares between Cambridge Bay and Yellowknife for other scheduled airline flights on First Air and Canadian North.

Excess cargo will cost a flat rate or $1.50 per pound on a first-come, first-served rate, with a receiving cut-off two hours before departure.

Some restrictions and surcharges apply for animals and oversize items, a recent announcement of the new Aqsaqniq service said.

The flights are due to leave from the Air Tindi terminal in Yellowknife at 6 p.m., arriving at the Aqsaqniq hangar in Cambridge Bay at 8:15 p.m., with a turn-around to Yellowknife leaving at 9 p.m. and arriving back there at 11:15 p.m.

Aqsaqniq Airways, listed on Industry Canada’s website as having a registered office at the Lawson Lundell LLP law firm in Yellowknife, shows its directors as Kristine Lyall of Taloyoak, James Eetoolook of Taloyoak, Peter Arychuk of Yellowknife and Dennis Lyall of Taloyoak.

Air Tindi is an airline based in Yellowknife, offering scheduled flights to a number of Northwest Territories communities.

Now owned by Discovery Air, Air Tindi operates scheduled and on-demand charter services. Its joint ventures include the partnership with Aqsaqniq, which earned the NWT-based airline the 2011 medevac contract in western Nunavut.

That contract award, by the Government of Nunavut, is still being challenged in court by Cambridge Bay-based Adlair Aviation Ltd.

A new five- to seven-year medevac contract was to have been awarded again late in 2016, but the winning airline has not yet been announced.