Chrono Aviation launching direct flights between Iqaluit and Montreal

Bookings to start in mid-May with flights beginning in August

Chrono Aviation is launching a route between Montreal and Iqaluit. Bookings start in May and flights will begin in August. (CNW Group/Chrono Aviation)

By David Lochead

Updated April 23 at 4:05 p.m.

Iqaluit can soon add Montreal as a direct flight option.

Chrono Aviation, which is partly owned by Arctic Co-operatives Ltd., will introduce a direct flight between Iqaluit and Montreal for $699 one-way. Bookings will open in mid-May with flights beginning on Aug. 6.

There will be four round-trip flights between the two cities each week. Each flight will offer approximately 40 seats to customers, said Duane Wilson, Arctic Co-ops’ vice-president of stakeholder relations, in an interview with Nunatsiaq News.

The airline already uses the route to transport Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. employees to and from Nunavut, he said.

The opportunity to sell seats to the public arose when Chrono Aviation was upgrading its fleet to better fulfill its contract with Baffinland.

Chrono Aviation’s current fleet of Boeing 737-200s is getting older and more difficult to maintain so the company added a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which seats 187 people, Wilson said.

Even with Baffinland employees on the flight, there will be approximately 80 open seats on these flights.

Chrono Aviation will sell approximately 40 of those seats to the public to remain flexible. This way, if there is a weather-related cancellation the airline will have seats available on subsequent flights.

“We want to make sure we’re giving people the best travel experience possible,” Wilson said, adding he hopes the amount of commercial activity between Montreal and Iqaluit makes the route convenient for business travellers as well.

The flights will arrive in and depart from Montreal at Chrono Aviation’s private terminal at the Montreal Metropolitan Airport at St. Hubert.

There will be a shuttle service offered for passengers with connecting flights at Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, according to a news release from the company.

Note: This article has been updated to note that bookings for the direct flight will start in mid-May and flights will begin operating on Aug. 6.

 

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(19) Comments:

  1. Posted by Tricia on

    No dynamic pricing is the best!!! I hope you guys are going to take off and not squashed by the “we will get you to Montreal in less than 4 hours” airline.

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    • Posted by Inuk from Nunavik on

      Competition is good for ones wallet !!

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  2. Posted by Mr. T on

    Am I going to Montreal? No

    Am I flying Chrono? Yes

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    • Posted by Silly on

      So if you know you are going in advance you are willing to pay more and go somewhere you don’t want to go? That makes sense…

      If you book with Canadian 2 weeks in advance on a flight that is not full you are still cheaper than 699 to Ottawa

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  3. Posted by Sarvaq on

    Raise your hand if you recall what happened when Sarvaq Airlines tried to get off the ground. Will enough remember to either avoid it or have the same results? Will you fall for it again?

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    • Posted by alex on

      They are already flying that route for the mining charter, they are simply selling their excess seats. Completely different business model than Sarvaq.

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      • Posted by Pilot on

        yes and no
        different (already exists) but also same idea of supporting/not supporting, etc.

    • Posted by Unik on

      I remember.

      I remember price of something like $250.
      Then about a week before GoSarvaq went live Canadian North and first air decided to launch seat sales for $100.

      All the people with little foresight that had booked with GoSarvaq devided to cancel their tickets and book with First air and CN instead.
      They saved themselves a couple hundred bucks and in so doomed an airline that would have saved Nunavummiut thousands in the long term.

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  4. Posted by Confused on

    Would be nice to have them in the Kivalliq region and take over Calm Air.

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  5. Posted by Eskimo Joe©️ on

    Yeah take that Carbon Tax! They might over book if they tap into the YOW passenger market. English Money is the same as French Money 🤑

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  6. Posted by Traveler on

    I went to the website.
    It’s one way fare they are advertising. It’s still cheaper going canadian north.

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    • Posted by Will on

      Nope, it’s not. I tried to book Iqaluit-Montreal May 27, over a month away. $1649.00 plus tax one way. And that is standard for that route. If it suddenly gets cheaper and they suddenly have bigger, better planes for that route, be assured it is only because they heard rumblings of Chrono’s new venture.

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    • Posted by Correct on

      That is correct the last medical contract used the GNs buying power to make more lowest economy fares available if booked before a timelimit and a capacity threshold.

      Anyone who has traveled to or from Montreal to Iqaluit knows that routing moves a handful of people. The focus is to move people between YVP and YUL. It is always cheaper to fly to Yow

  7. Posted by Mr. Coming Soon on

    They once ambitiously claimed they would become the Netflix of aviation, promising eight daily flights between Saint-Hubert and Toronto. Yet, the number of flights completed on this route remains at zero.

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  8. Posted by Co-op Shopper on

    Do we get dividends for flying Chrono, I wonder.

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    • Posted by SARCASM on

      Only free peanuts

  9. Posted by Headin’ South? on

    So many people have been treated like trash by Canadian North that they would rather walk than ever fly with them ever again. Family and friends of many former Canadian North employees are so enraged with how their loved ones were treated by the company they will never fly with the airline ever again. Any airline competing with Canadian North has a pretty low bar to meet before they will easily exceed Canadian North’s dismal performance.

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    • Posted by Ian on

      The magic word AEROPLAN, all gov of Nunavut, Gov of Canada, NTI, RIA s , gov consultants , medical travel comes from one source, 95 percent will use Cdn North , the actual 5 percent that buy their own tickets will use crono , and CDN know this good luck

  10. Posted by Plane Spotter on

    What kind of movies or shows will they have on the in flight entertainment?

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