by Nancy Gardiner
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 03/97) - Royal Airlines may be looking at flying into Yellowknife next year using a smaller aircraft.

But one local travel agent who asked not to be identified said "we don't want to deal with them."

The agent said there's been problems the past two summers with the charter airline travelling to Yellowknife.

"We've just really warned people this year, they're a charter airline and they can cancel or run late," said the agent.

The travel agency has been asking passengers to sign waivers saying it's not responsible for the airline due to cancelled flights or missed connections, "because we were blamed last year," said the agent.

Royal was supposed to fly into Yellowknife on Saturdays this past summer, but that didn't happen.

The airline cancelled its Yellowknife Saturday flights from the first day of operations. It was supposed to fly to Yellowknife twice a week during the summer months, from June 23 to Sept. 2.

But the airline cut its season one week short, forcing travel agencies and passengers to scramble, said the agent.

Stephan Poitras, sales co-ordinator for Royal Airlines, confirmed the flights were cancelled due to a "lack of sales."

The company was operating a 727 jet with a 186-seat capacity. He said next year, a smaller aircraft may be considered, "but it's still on the drawing board."

Meanwhile, those passengers who had booked on Royal from Aug. 26 to Sept. 2 were put on Canadian Airlines flights, he said.

"For the last week, we fly to Edmonton, then put them on Canadian," said Poitras.

Royal Airlines has not received any complaints about the cancellations directly from passengers "because we deal with the tour operators," said Poitras.

The airline is headquartered in Montreal. For the past two summers, it's been flying to Yellowknife from Edmonton, with stops to Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. But the Vancouver flight was cancelled this summer also.

Dave Taggett, Quality Control Manager for Royal Airlines was unavailable for comment.