LLI GOLINE/NORMAN WELLS
Sahtu Helicopters, majority-owned by the Fort Norman Metis Nation land corporation in partnership with Great Slave Helicopters, has taken major step forward with its business.

Great Slave Helicopters president Adam Bembridge, left, and Danny Yakeleya, chairman of Sahtu Helicopters stand with Sahtu Helicopters' newly arrived Astar 350 B2 helicopter, in Yellowknife on May 6, 2014. Sahtu Helicopters is a joint venture between majority stakeholder Fort Norman Metis Land Corporation, and Discovery Air subsidiary Great Slave Helicopters. The $1.2 million purchase was the first for Sahtu Helicopters, and will be based out of their hanger facility in Norman Wells. - Walter Strong/NNSL photo

Created in 2004, Sahtu Helicopters is distinct from other Aboriginally-owned helicopter partnerships in the region in that the company holds its own operating licence, and maintains its own approximately 4,000 square foot hanger facility and office complex in Norman Wells.

Until purchasing this helicopter, the company relied on Great Slave Helicopters to supply aircraft that Sahtu Heli would operate under Sahtu’s own licence.

“Today has been a long time in the making,” said Danny Yakeleya, chairman of Sahtu Helicopters. “This was one of our goals, to own our own assets. We have the shop in Norman Wells and now this helicopter, the first hopefully, of many more.”

The Astar 350 B2 - purchased for approximately $1.2 million - can be outfitted to seat up to six passengers. Sahtu Helicopters reports an external payload of 1,247 kilograms, and can maintain operating performance from sea level to 2,743 metres above sea level.

Once the aircraft is outfitted for service at Great Slave Helicopters in Yellowknife, it will immediately go into service near Norman Wells on an 80-day ministry of environment forestry contract.

“It will be the primary base machine there,” Sahtu Helicopters president Adam Bembridge said. “It will typically fly 400 or 500 hours per year.”

Sahtu Helicopters has a long list of clients in the region, including natural resource companies, land surveyors, the forest fire service, the GNWT ministry of environment, as well as deployment through emergency services. Yakeleya said the company is not reliant on the fortunes of a single industry.

If there were a long period of downtime expected for the helicopter, Sahtu Helicopters could keep the bird busy elsewhere within Great Slave Helicopter’s range of operation.

“If there were no work in the region we deploy aircraft like this all over the world,” Bembridge said.

Great Slave Helicopters has a fleet of approximately 90 helicopters with locations and subsidiary companies in Alberta, B.C., Nunavut, Ontario, Chile, and Peru.