SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Discovery Air will move its corporate headquarters to Yellowknife from London, Ont. by February of next year. The number of jobs the relocation might create for Yellowknifers is still unclear, said president and CEO David Jennings.

Discovery Air, owner of Air Tindi, Discovery Mining Services and Great Slave Helicopters, will move its head office to Yellowknife from London, Ont., by February next year, said president and CEO David Jennings. Here, an Air Tindi charter plane prepares to depart Lutsel K'e for Yellowknife. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

Under the conditions of its funding agreement with the GNWT earlier this year, through which the company received $34 million in bailout funds, Discovery Air agreed to the move.

The company's current London office has 10 employees, but not all London staffers have confirmed whether they will move to Yellowknife, making it hard to predict just how many Yk jobs will be created by the move, said Jennings.

"Those 10 positions will be moving," he said. "At the same time there'll be this consolidation where a lot of the functions that used to exist at our operating units will move to (the new office)."

The company has already hired an attorney from Yellowknife to represent it, however.

"One of the things we definitely have noticed is it used to be very difficult to get qualified staff in Yellowknife," said Jennings. "I'm not going to suggest that it's easy at this point, but we're certainly seeing that the labour market is improving for us from a hiring point of view."

Though the move was stipulated by the GNWT, "I think it simply makes sense to have our corporate functions take place close to all of our key operations," he added.

"I think this move will have a positive impact on Discovery Air because we'll really have the whole team, aside from operations that take place in other parts of the country, sitting beside each other and be able to work together."

Jennings said the company is considering several potential locations for the new head office - one of its existing offices in Yellowknife, a new building across from Air Tindi at the Yellowknife airport or an entirely different building.

News that the move will create some job growth in Yellowknife was met warmly by Kevin Bradshaw, an independent business owner in Yellowknife.

"I didn't see anything ... about it," he said of the move and its potential job creation. "It was very quiet. I talked to a few people and I said, 'Yellowknife probably got screwed again.'"

Now that he's heard Discovery Air's plan, he said, "As long as they're keeping their word and they're doing what they said, it's a good thing.