Canadian North says new jets will cut Iqaluit-Montreal travel time
Airline announces jet service days after competitor reveals plans to fly direct between Iqaluit, Montreal
The faster service Boeing 737-700 service connecting Iqaluit, Kuujjuaq and Montreal will cut travel time by one-third, the company says. (File photo)
Canadian North says its updated jet service connecting Iqaluit to Kuujjuaq and Montreal will cut passengers’ travel time by one-third.
Starting June 2, the airline will offer twice-weekly service connecting the three communities using its new 737-700 jets, according to a news release issued Tuesday. Currently, the Iqaluit-Kuujjuaq leg is served by a turboprop plane. The Kuujjuaq-Montreal leg has long been served by a jet.
Canadian North introduced the first two of its five new Boeing 737-700s two weeks ago. One is already in service on the existing route between Montreal and Kuujjuaq.
Canadian North says it will get passengers from Iqaluit to Montreal — through Kuujjuaq — in less than four hours. The current service takes a little more than six hours, according to the airline’s booking site.
Canadian North announced the change to its service just days after competitor Chrono Aviation said it is adding a new direct commercial flight connecting Iqaluit and Montreal.
Chrono Aviation already transports Baffinland Iron Mine Corp. employees on the route, and will open approximately 40 seats to commercial passengers starting Aug. 6, for $699 one way.
Canadian North has not said how much its 737-700 flights linking Iqaluit, Kuujjuaq and Montreal will cost.
According to information on the Canadian North website, for its existing Iqaluit-Kuujjuaq-Montreal service, the cheapest one-way flights, starting May 10, cost $1,507.58.
On Thursday, airline spokesperson Trevor Wilde noted Canadian North serves 35 communities and “Canadian North is an essential service that provides cargo, food, medical supplies, medical passenger movement and connects the entire Arctic. We are committed to make life better in ALL the communities we serve,” he said.
He said the expanded service was months in the making and is part of the airline’s overall fleet renewal strategy. In the coming months, he said, more announcements can be expected.
Referring to Chrono’s new Iqaluit-Montreal service, Wilde said, “We welcome any additional service to the North. Despite the other offer being largely subsidized by a private mining company.”
“Despite the other offer being largely subsidized by a private mining company.”
How convenient that they don’t mention anything about being largely subsidized by the government itself.
It is true that during the global pandemic, Canadian North as well as all other Canadian airlines and airline workers, received subsidies from the government. But those subsidies ended with the end of the pandemic. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak and since then, we have not received ANY government subsidies. This includes the transport of food and retail cargo for the Nutrition North Program – we receive ZERO subsidies.
Go Chrono go.
Canadian North’s promises mean nothing if the constant revolving door of the best employees leaving means that the people required to fly and maintain the aircraft have left after realizing that they would be much better off working somewhere else.
Where are the Canadian North press releases that describe what they have actually done, rather than what they hope to do?
It is easy to make promises. Will we ever see Canadian North deliver on their promises?
You are right there are great people at Canadian North. Some great people have left which is problematic. The great people own the mission “make life better in the communities that we serve” they strive to do this everyday despite many factors beyond their control.
There are promises being delivered daily! People are making it to medical appointments. The airline regularly facilitates extra capacity so loved ones can make it to a funeral or to recover after a weather event. These are not publicized. No one writes NN to tell them about the customer service agent who took the time to solve their problem.
There are failures which if you looked outside of the echo chamber that is the North, you would see that all major carriers have these failures.
If you look at the articles that get the most comments they are airline stories. So there are an over representation of these stories. I would look at the industry as a whole.
Makivik this past week had an article in NN saying they want to help with climate change.
How is purchasing larger aircraft and having more aircrafts fir cargo and passengers going to reduce the pollution coming from these aircraft. DON’T SAY IT DO IT!!! Be a true example for change. Don’t contradict yourself with justifications.
I don t care about climate change , I WANT CHEAPER AIRFARE !!!!!!!!!!!!!
If Makivik cared about climate change and fuel efficiency then they would put winglets and more efficient engines on their planes.
Our move to replace the older 737-400 aircrafts, with the next generation 700s, is part of our National Fleet Renewal Strategy. This upgrade will improve fuel efficiency, comfort, and reliability, all while decreasing daily maintenance required and have better parts availability. In fact, the 700’s which are equipped with winglets, create an average of 14-percent less CO2 emissions on our Ottawa/Iqaluit or Montreal/Kuujjuaq/Iqaluit flights than the older aircraft.
You should really read up on 737-300 and 400 models fuel efficiency vs a 737-700.
Chrono is running an 800 instead of a 200 which one of the reasons for doing it is the fuel savings. The other is St-hubert won’t let they fly in a residential area. I guess everyone in Iqaluit has forgot about that issue…
Laughable, under 4 hours? But I don’t want to stop in Kuujuaq, Chrono does this route direct. And yes, how about CN and all that gov subsidy. Give your head a shake, CN!
“We are committed to make life better in ALL the communities we serve,” he said.”
Are you sure about that? Because if I fly from Pond Inlet to Ottawa on May 23, it is $1783 one way saver fare! How can you say you want to make life better when for a family of 4 to go south one way, I am already spending just $7132 to fly within Canada!
Wages in Nunavut are at or near the highest in Canada when comparing similar positions. Most employers offer some combination of northern living allowance, housing allowance, travel assistance, settlement allowance and subsidized housing. There are huge tax credits offered by the federal government in the form of the northern residents deductions and travel deductions. The price of gas, even though it has increased substantially due to the carbon tax, is still cheaper than a lot of the rest of Canada, and was significantly cheaper for a long time. The price of nutritious food staples like milk, eggs, whole wheat bread, etc is very similarly priced to the southern provinces. Yet all we hear about is how expensive it is to live in the north. And yes, travel can be very expensive if not planned well in advance, shipping in building materials or other supplies/equipment is expensive, but that is the nature and reality of the North. There is no shortage of jobs, both skilled and unskilled. Post secondary education is essentially free and short training courses are steadily available. Public housing rent is tied to income and the most generous in the country. Income support is given without question, whether the recipient is capable and actively looking for work , or not. Poverty and food insecurity in Nunavut are directly tied to poor financial management and choice more than lack of opportunity or other external factors.
I think people need to take a step back and be honest. We need to ask why there is a need for Canadian North to bring in workers for jobs with a low barrier to entry. Canadian North cargo should be an all Inuit work force in Iqaluit. Yet there is only a small group that want to work and who show up reliably.
This is not strictly a Canadian North probl
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I think people need to take a step back and be honest. We need to ask why there is a need for Canadian North to bring in workers for jobs with a low barrier to entry. Canadian North cargo should be an all Inuit work force in Iqaluit. Yet there is only a small group that want to work and who show up reliably.
This is not strictly a Canadian North problem. The GN has systemic attendance issues with its employees.
The Iqaluit operation which feeds cargo to the community is an expensive operation as a result of importing talent. These costs are passed on along with the fact that they don’t have markets of scale is the reason why prices are high.
Everyday people are asking the silly question of who is hiring on Facebook. These people don’t really want a job because if they did they would have one. If you are not even motivated to think of the business in town and search if they have openings then are you really motivated to show up.
People in Iqaluit like to get upset about people from different backgrounds coming here but they have 2 jobs because there is the opportunity. The inuit need to seize this opportunity so there isn’t room for outsiders to come in.
In the end Canadian North is a business and an important one for the North. They need to do what they need to do to make sure the operation continues but Inuit can be part of the solution.
Cargo and flight benefits are part of a total compensation package that make it very lucrative for someone living in the North.
For some reason Canadian North also sells themselves short by being conservative to not get anymore criticism.
For cargo and the ticket counter
-the starting wage is $20.50 going to 23.50 after a year and completion of training.
-NLA of $18500
-group insurance
-group rrsp
-cargo benefits (you can get southern prices on food)
-unlimited travel for your immediate family
-unlimited travel for parents and inlaws
-guest passes
-travel on other airlines at a discounted rate.
Looking through all the comments, I could say that Inuit have come along way despite what was thrown at them for over the last 100 years or more. Colonization and trying to take the Inuk out of them certainly didn’t work. But by educating them it gave them a voice too to finally start saying we have to do it our way and not your way. I was born in the late 50’s before electricity and all the comforts of the white man were available. Trauma, killing off dogteams so they can move into communities to educate the children and denying the family allowance if they weren’t sent to school. Sorry, you can’t manupilate the Inuit anymore. We have quite aways to go yet, but it is coming. Education system will improve. Yes, wages are higher up here versus the south but it takes into account the high costs of food and goods. If I go to Northmart/stores here with a 100 dollars I will go out with one bag of food but if I go south with the same 100 dollars I will go out with 3 or 4 bags. Because I can go searching for the best price offered there. But up here in the smaller communities that is impossible. It hurts to see especially people who live up higher north who have to pay the outrageous airline tickets to go have a holiday. Thanks to NTI who can offer the Ilak fare at least it becomes more affordable. Come up and see the real world we live in before you decide to say we got it all. Overcrowded homes, no food to put on the table. Trauma too is real, some have gotten help and have moved on to better lives for themselves and their families. But we are all different. Some don’t do as well, and we can’t look down on them either. Income support is not easy to access either it’s not handed out without restrictions. So read up and learn all these things before commenting about Income Support. Addictions are high up here, but it will get better too over time when people start to heal from colonization, sex abuse from people that supposedly came to help us but hurt us instead. I put my hat down to everyone that is trying to make a difference and impact the lives of Nunavummiut.