Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Aug 10/98) - Amid the talk about rising airfares and discontinued flight routes, the Baffin region's little guy just keeps on expanding.

As of last Wednesday, Kenn Borek Air Ltd. added a new scheduled stop onto their daily route for a price that severely undercuts the competition. Now, for as little as $382.50 return, passengers can fly from Iqaluit into Broughton Island. First Air, the only other airline to offer the service, charges $789.66 for a full fare and $574.07 for a seven day advance ticket.

"There was only one carrier going into the area plus people were phoning and inquiring about running a service into Broughton. We took a look at it and said it's viable, let's do it," says Joan Griffin, the general manager of NWT operations.

Griffin says that even though the service is very new, her planes are almost fully booked for the next few weeks.

"The traffic is certainly there to make it work," says Griffin, a long-time employee of the airline that has been in the North for 27 years and in Iqaluit since 1992.

By extending the flight plan of the planes that already fly into Pangnirtung six times a week, Griffin says the new scheduled stop could eventually turn into a direct flight a few times a week if sales are high.

The new stop joins a host of other services offered by Kenn Borek including flights into Cape Dorset from Iqaluit and into Grise Fiord, Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay and Nanisivik from Resolute Bay. The 24 Baffin region pilots also fly charters into Greenland and hold the exclusive medevac contract for the Baffin region.

As for the future expansion plans of Kenn Borek and its Baffin fleet of six aircraft, Griffin says only time will tell.

"As far as increases to scheduled services, maybe we'll look at that. Right now, we'll work with what we're doing and see how that takes flight."