Bad weather, mechanical delays frustrate Nunavimmiut

MONTREAL — A combination of stormy weather and mechanical difficulties brought some hard times to air travellers trying to get in or out of Nunavik over the recent holiday season.

By the time the weather cleared early in the new year, passengers and cargo were backlogged in both Nunavik and Montreal.

Frustrated travellers on the Kuujjuaq route operated by First Air were particularly frustrated by a slew of cancellations caused by bad weather and mechanical problems with aircraft.

In December, only 19 of 30 scheduled flights serving Nunavik’s hub were on time. According to Tracy Beeman, First Air’s marketing director, six flights suffered “major delays,” while another five were completely cancelled.

One flight from Montreal en route to Kuujjuaq managed to get into the air, only to turn back because of deteriorating weather conditions in the North.

The situation was “not normal,” Beeman said.

The worst periods for flight disruptions occurred shortly before and after Christmas. On Dec. 17, First Air’s flight reached Kuujjuaq, but once on the ground it encountered mechanical problems. Passengers going on to Iqaluit continued the flight in a chartered 748.

On Dec. 18 the Kuujjuaq flight was cancelled, while on the 19th it was late in both directions.

Stormy weather in the South around New Year’s Day hampered First Air’s attempts at a catch-up service to Kuujjuaq.

“Our policies and corporate procedures don’t minimize weather,” Beeman said.

Beeman said passengers whose flights are cancelled by poor weather are responsible for their own expenses on the ground while they wait for an available seat on a later flight.

The chaotic situation over the holidays persisted, because many flights were heavily booked, and First Air was one jet short.

One jet was undergoing annual repairs, and, as a result, Beeman said it wasn’t available to pick up the slack. To fill the gap, she said First Air tried to lease other aircraft, including small jets, 748s, and Dash-8s, but due to the holidays, these were in short supply.

On one occasion, passengers waiting to go to Montreal in Kuujjuaq were picked up by a flight heading from Iqaluit to Ottawa. An Air Inuit Dash-8 took another load from Montreal to Kuujjuaq.

On Nunavik’s Hudson Bay coast, Air Inuit flights were also affected by bad weather, but Bill Thompson, operations director in Montreal, said it’s rare for the Dash-8 flights to be completely cancelled. He said flights usually take off from Montreal even if they leave late and aren’t even sure of reaching every destination along the coast.

“We go as far as we can. If we can’t go any further, we offer passengers the choice of staying there or going back to Montreal,” Thompson said. “Just cancelling the flight creates capacity problems, so we like to get as far as we can. We sort of try and patch it up the next day.”

Air Inuit juggles ten aircraft in Nunavik, along the Hudson and Ungava Bay coasts. Cargo flights are unscheduled, and leave according to demand. This, Thompson said, means the scheduling can be “quite flexible” in bad weather.