Skyward heads groundward

Skyward Aviation, which until 2003 provided a scheduled airline service in the Kivalliq region, had its air operator certificate suspended this week, after failing a Transport Canada safety audit.

“Transport Canada has taken this action in the interest of public safety, because the department identified safety deficiencies during an audit of the company,” a Transport Canada press release says.

An “air operator certificate” is a kind of license required by commercial airlines. Without it, an airline may not legally operate in Canada.

All Skyward planes – whether they carry scheduled passengers, freight or medical patients – are now grounded until Transport Canada says their planes are safe enough to fly.

In 2003, Skyward complained bitterly about not getting a contract to perform emergency medical evacuations in the Kivalliq region.

The Government of Nunavut awarded the medevac contract instead to Keewatin Air, a company with many years of experience operating an air ambulance service. Like Skyward, Keewatin Air is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

But Skyward claimed that not getting the medevac contract threatened its ability to run a scheduled airline service in the Kivalliq region.

The airline supported these claims with an aggressive lobbying effort, which included portraying itself as a “northern” company, flying various elected officials into Rankin for a meeting, and encouraging people to go on CBC Kivalliq to support Skyward.

Eventually, Skyward, which had been competing against Kivalliq Air, a Keewatin Air subsidiary, pulled its schedule airline service out of the Kivalliq, though it still maintains a charter business there.

CBC Winnipeg reported this week that 13 of the company’s 25 aircraft had “airworthiness” issues, and that other Manitoba airlines will be used to fill the gap left in the province’s air ambulance system.

Transport Canada says the audit reveals problems with the company’s ability to “exercise operational control, which includes proper record-keeping, training and aircraft maintenance.”

For its part, the company says its management team is now “working closely” with Transport Canada to get the safety problems fixed.

In a notice to customers posted on its company web site this week, Skyward points out that it has flown more than 250,000 hours and more than 50 million miles of fatality-free operations.

The company also brags that it operates the “most modern commuter and medevac fleet in the province.”