Canadian to start six-day-a-week north-south service

SEAN McKIBBON
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — Canadian North will expand its north-south service to six days a week by the end of October, increasing its passenger capacity by 60 seats and introducing cargo service.

“It’s not significantly adding to our seat capacity, but it will give us cargo capacity. We’re building our way back,” said Michael King, Canadian North’s general manager and vice president of marketing.

When it first returned to Iqaluit-Ottawa market last April, Canadian North couldn’t get its hands on a jet that could handle both cargo and passengers at the same time.

But at that time, the company was able to use a 100-seat Boeing 737 that otherwise would have sat unused in Ottawa for three days a week.

“It was really a matter of expediency. We wanted to get into the marketplace,” King said. As of Oct. 31 the airline will be able to use a Boeing 737 combi-jet that can be reconfigured to hold either 60 passengers and three cargo pallets, or 75 seats and two cargo pallets.

“It (cargo) is a large part of the business,” King said. The decision to jump into the passenger market first without cargo was motivated by one of the company’s shareholders, Nunasi and by a desire to regain the ground that was lost in the passenger market when Canadian Airlines pulled out of north-south services from Iqaluit in 1997.

The expanded service will feature direct flights between Ottawa and Iqaluit Monday, Wed. and Fri. and an Ottawa-Rankin-Yellowknife route Sun., Tues. and Thursday.

King said the new service, coupled with Canadian North’s affiliation with Kenn Borek Air would make his company’s cargo service an attractive alternative to customers in Nunavut.

The partnership with Kenn Borek Air would allow cargo to be airlifted to the smaller communities in Nunavut.