Baffinland switches to Summit Air for employee transport
Chrono Aviation had contract until recently; Mining company finalizing long-term plan
Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.’s Mary River iron mine is located on north Baffin Island. (File photo)
Chrono Aviation is no longer providing charter service for Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.
The airline is not providing the company “adequate levels of on-time service” to its Mary River iron mine on Baffin Island, company spokesperson Peter Akman said earlier this week in an email.
The mining company is now using Summit Air to transport Baffinland employees to and from the mine.
“This arrangement is a short-term solution while we work toward finalizing a long-term plan,” Akman said.
Summit Air will continue providing the service for the remainder of the year, he said.
Up until last month, Baffinland was one of Chrono Aviation’s bigger clients.
However, Chrono Group, an aviation firm that includes Chrono Aviation, filed for creditors’ protection in October and was put under administration by the Quebec Superior Court after a report showed the company had $74.2 million in liabilities.
The changes to the airline’s financial situation have forced the mining client to “pause and consider whether they are able to meet the terms of the service expectation,” said Duane Wilson, vice-president of Arctic Co-operatives Ltd., which subcontracts Chrono to provide the transport service for Baffinland.
“[The mine] has come to the conclusion that the answer to that is no, and that they would be better served by the alternate carrier.”
Arctic Co-op had been part owner of Chrono since 2020, but pulled out recently during the airline’s court administration process, Wilson said.
Chrono Aviation didn’t respond to an enquiry for this story.
Short it haha 😄
Wilson will be getting a bailout from the government for the money they lost , and Arctic coops, use cdn north and calmair,
A shortage of aircraft maintainers may have impacted aircraft reliability for Chrono, but having seen some of the tragically uncompetitive “job offers” that Chrono has sent out, it is no wonder that Chrono may have difficulty attracting key personnel.
Chrono’s Boeing 737-219C(A) C-GTVO continues to fly out of Yellowknife with a Buffalo callsign. 737-247(A) C-FBIM last flew to Mary River on Friday, November 22 and does not appear to have flown since returning to St. Hubert that same day. 737-2T4(A) C-FYPN does not appear to have flown in the past two weeks. Is Chrono down to the single airworthy 737-200 that is currently flying for Buffalo?
C-FBIM seems have turned back to Iqaluit on Friday 22 November, after taking off at 11:52 and returning at 12:22, before making a second attempt to fly to St. Hubert at 1:33, so perhaps BIM was grounded on arrival, since it has not flown in a week.
If expensive parts are required to fix the two 737s that have not flown recently Chrono’s pockets are empty and the airline has overextended its credit so those aircraft may remain parked. With no money to bring in a replacement aircraft contract conditions may not be able to be met.
So… I guess Chrono is not doing the cargo freight either for Arctic Coop with the B737-800F from Kelowna Flightcraft.
Chrono’s 737-8Q8 (SF) freighter C-GVZB last flew to Iqaluit from Winnipeg as Flight MB901 on Friday November 29th, and returned to Winnipeg that same day. It flew the same flight on Monday, November 25. As she has undergone a full cargo conversion, unlike a “combi” she cannot be used to cover passenger flights.
Chrono 737-219C (A) C-GTVO continues to fly out of Yellowknife using a Buffalo callsign while supporting the Ekati mine.
Did Chrono foolishly take the risk of leasing out their sole airworthy 737-200, with the hope that C-FBIM would be able to keep flying. C-FYPN has not flown in weeks and may have been stripped of parts to keep the other two 737-200s flying.
I have 30+ years maintenance experience with the 737-200, and they are maintenance intensive as they age, so Chrono really shot themselves in the foot by fumbling the acquisition of a 737-800. Sometimes airline management is not humble enough to admit how much they do not know.
Lots of airlines in Montreal have received a flood of resumes from current Chrono employees, so perhaps the rank and file have lost patience with management’s ineptitude.
The 800 is on lease from what I was told and going back to KF Aerospace in December.
It is not clear which specific aircraft you are referring to as “the 800”. I have seen at least three different 737-800s that Chrono had either leased or bought, and they may have operated many other 737-800s under their callsign. C-GVZB is the only 737-800 that Chrono is currently operating.
The Canadian Civil Aircraft Registry officially lists the legal owner of 737-8Q8 (SF) freighter C-GVZB s/n 32799 as Chrono Jet Inc , of 706A 7e Avenue de l’Aeroporte, Quebec, P.Q. C-GVZB is not leased.
737-8Q8 (SF) freighter C-GVZB was converted to SF freighter configuration by Kelowna Flightcraft. The aircraft was acquired from Regency Aero Lease prior to its cargo conversion, but the legal ownership of C-GVZB has been registered to Chrono since December 15, 2021.
A flight plan has been filed for Monday, December 2, 2024 for C-GVZB to conduct flight MB900 from Winnipeg to Iqaluit with a takeoff time of 07:24. Another flight from Winnipeg to Iqaluit is scheduled for Friday, December 6, 2024.
On Thursday I have been asked to sit in on an employment interview for a current Chrono 737 maintainer who is looking for more stable employment, so having three 737s grounded may be dragging the company down.
Part* of the company. There’s Chrono Aviation and Chrono Jet, so I’m sure the turboprops will still be around at any rate
Way better than receiving income assistance. Do your own work and raise your own from your work. Much safer from gn income assistance programs, working in nunavut working off your hard work is way better and much safer.