Canadian North’s Toronto-Iqaluit direct flights cancelled nearly a month early

Resources need to be allocated elsewhere, airline spokesperson says

Canadian North is cancelling its direct flights between Iqaluit and Toronto nearly a month early. (File photo by Emma Tranter)

By David Venn
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Canadian North will prematurely end its direct flights between Toronto and Iqaluit after the Labour Day weekend, according to a company spokesperson.

The last direct flight will take place Sept. 4.

The cancellation of the new route is partly due to low demand, said Kevin Kablutsiak in an email.

“It no longer made sense to keep our limited resources and capacity on the Toronto route,” he wrote.

“Our resources are stretched to their limit right now and it’s important we deploy them where our northern customers need them most.”

The airline had announced in February it would offer direct flights between Nunavut’s capital and Toronto Pearson International Airport from June 3 to Sept. 30, on Fridays and Sundays. Prices varied, but started at $951 round-trip.

At the time of the announcement, the company stated it expected more leisure travel as public health restrictions were being lifted.

This week, Kablutsiak said the aircraft used for the Toronto-Iqaluit route will be re-deployed for other routes, such as its Ottawa-Iqaluit route and Yellowknife-Rankin Inlet-Iqaluit flights.

The change means seven direct flights will be cancelled between Sept. 4 and 30.

Direct flights linking Iqaluit and Toronto were a new feature this year. Asked if the direct route will be available again next summer, Kablutsiak said the company won’t know until early 2023.

Canadian North also announced an overhaul to its executive team this week.

Andrew Pope, the vice-president of customer and commercial, and Shannon Montpellier, the vice-president of finance, are no longer with the airline as of Wednesday. Canadian North also announced the addition of three new members to its executive team.

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(12) Comments:

  1. Posted by too bad on

    this is too bad. this route was very convenient as it meant I could get to the east coast in time for dinner. Also very convenient to catch an international flight. The disarray state of YYZ airport probably killed this route. I changed my flight from YYZ to YFB to YOW to YFB due to gong show at YYZ. I hope Canadian North might still consider a seasonal route to YYZ in future.

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  2. Posted by International airport on

    How about trying an iqaluit to Dublin flight one a week five hours I would rather fly to Europe then ottawa

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    • Posted by International airport on

      It’s already $2500 average iqaluit to Ottawa round trip and you could fly for a third of that price fro Toronto to dublin

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    • Posted by Lives in Iqaluit on

      Dublin? Why not ask for the moon, there is zero demand for a Dublin run.

      I would recommend a fixed once a week run to Canadian destinations though.

      Example mondays is the Newfoundland/halifax run. It goes there and back on mondays.

      Wednesday would be the Calgary/edmonton run, also there and back once a week.

      Friday could be a Vancouver run.

      Stop in ottawa to add passengers but continue to those markets.

      Idk just spit balling a market ideas. The Toronto run was announced way too late for the tourism sector to book accordingly and as a result people who booked it where mostly locals and not “new passengers”. The Toronto region had zero marketing for this run as well. It didn’t fail but clearly the numbers they got where proof of poor marketing on their part.

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  3. Posted by 867 on

    Canadian North flights live off medical travel. Make Toronto a hub for Nunavut medical travel and this flight will be full. The odd adventure tourist or southerner going home will not sustain a long haul route like this one

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  4. Posted by Go after them on

    The airline is cancelling these for controllable reasons. You can accept a refund but I would also seek compensation under the Air Passenger Rights regulations . Cancelling flights only to jack up the price on another route, in a monopoly market (good job GN giving them tens of millions of dollars for nothing last year), seems like a scam to me. In times where I am getting less than inflation in a wage increase thanks to NEU I will be pinching pennies and suing airlines if I need to.

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  5. Posted by Shan on

    This is very disappointing. I took this flight 4 times this summer. 3 of 4 times it was fully booked and once 3/4 full. Why instead of removing it completely offer one flight a week? This was such a great flight option. Very sad to see it cancelled so soon.

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    • Posted by sanimut on

      you must of won the lottery to be able to afford to go to toronto 4 times this summer. holay

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  6. Posted by Shanery on

    Shannon Montpellier, the vice-president of finance got fired because the Toronto route like every other route is losing tons of money. Bad decisions. Sad. Reality is this company is mismanaged big time

    • Posted by Who issues the awards? on

      Incorrect! They won an award for being one of Canada’s Best Managed companies >P

      • Posted by Retired CN on

        Wrong. Canadian North PAID for that “Best Managed” award… it is NEVER given out on merit. Look it up. It’s a paid for endorsement. She was fired because she was incompetent. Period.

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  7. Posted by JOE INUK on

    Go figure, Pearson is the most expensive airport in Canada and also the most shitty.

    not surprised!

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