First Air improves Resolute-Ottawa connection

JOHN THOMPSON

Bleary-eyed passengers aboard First Air flights travelling from Resolute to Ottawa will no longer be stuck in Iqaluit for a night, following schedule changes that will take effect next month.

Beginning April 3, all four flights that travel from Resolute to Iqaluit will connect with a flight bound for Ottawa. Since December, these flights often meant an overnight stay in Iqaluit.

The airline also plans in April to resurrect its route from Resolute to Yellowknife, via Cambridge Bay, which it cancelled in 2002 following the closing of the Polaris zinc mine.

The flight to Yellowknife, to begin April 7, will leave every Friday, using ATR-42-300 aircraft, which can carry up to 42 passengers.

But if the company hopes these changes will calm High Arctic residents upset with First Air’s decision in December to replace 727 jets with aging Hawker 748 turboprops, they can think again.

“We’re not very happy with the service we have right now. It’s terrible,” said Susan Salluviniq, Resolute Bay’s mayor.

Despite the increase from two to four flights a week to Iqaluit via Nanisivik, she says she’s found more residents than ever complaining that their travel plans are delayed because the plane is full. “We’re getting more bump-offs than before,” she said.

The longer flight time doesn’t sit well with residents, either. “It’s not good for the elders,” she said.

She’s even heard of residents afraid of flying in the Hawkers ever since one was forced to perform an emergency landing in Nanisivik after an engine failed, which some passengers said caught on fire. Now, fearful passengers fly out with another airline instead, Salluviniq said.

Meanwhile, spring is approaching — a time of year when scientists and Arctic adventurers usually flood the community, and spend money at local businesses during their visit. Salluviniq said she’s concerned the smaller, cramped planes could deter researchers and other visitors.

“It brings business here. We need the jets back.”

First Air officials agreed to meet hamlet representatives in Resolute after hearing a barrage of complaints earlier this year, but that meeting was postponed until later this month.