Iqaluit-Greenland jet route may die

IQALUIT — Circumpolar air travellers might have to hire their own planes to get from Canada to Greenland after next month.

That’s because Greenlandair wants to terminate the agreement under which it uses First Air jets for a weekly scheduled service between Iqaluit and Kangerlussuaq, also known as Søndre Strømfjord.

Hans Peder Hansen, Greenlandair’s marketing and freight manager, says the route is producing “a significant loss” for his company in both freight and passenger traffic.

“We lost a small million (in Danish kroner, equivalent to about $190,000) last year and expect a deficit this year of more than double that amount,” Hansen said in a recent Greenlandair press release.

Greenlandair intends to pull out of the agreement by the end of September.

First Air spokesperson Tracy Beaman said First Air has begun an internal study to find out if it’s feasible to run the service on its own.

“We’re in the process of just going through the facts and figures of what makes the most sense,” Beaman said. “That will determine what we will do with that route — if we’re going to continue operating it, or if we’re going to make any changes to it.”

If First Air can’t find a way to operate the route on its own, then the service would end and travellers would have to use chartered aircraft to fly between Nunavut and Greenland.

Nuka Møller, an advisor to Aqqaluk Lynge, the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, said the ICC plans to protest Greenlandair’s decision.

“The main purpose of the ICC is to promote Inuit unity, and of course when such a vital link such as the one between Nunavut and Greenland is aborted, it is a big step backwards,” Møller said.

“The interaction between our regions would be brought to a minimum. We are very sorry to see Greenlandair backing out.”

Greenlandair says two recent developments hit its freight business hard.

Brugsen, a chain of retail stores in Greenland, stopped importing fresh fruit and vegetables from Canada. Also, Canadian geologists in Greenland have finished surveying projects, causing a drop in the shipment of rock samples from Greenland to Canada.

When asked about the odds of First Air deciding to pull out of the service for good, Beaman said that’s impossible to measure right now.

“We really don’t know. We won’t know until we look at it,” she said.

Beaman said First Air will have enough information to make a decision in about two weeks.