James Risdon
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 08/99) - Although the local charter flights market is taking a beating, some helicopter charter companies are booming.

Yellowknife-based Nunasi Helicopters, a joint- venture between Inuit-held Nunasi Corp. and Prince George, B.C.-based Northern Mountain Helicopters, is capturing more market share, says Martin Knutson, president of Nunasi Helicopters.

"The market itself has diminished, but our share of it has doubled in the last two years," says Knutson.

Nunasi Helicopters leases -- rather than buys -- its helicopters. The relative newcomer into this industry leases Northern Mountain's helicopters and keeps them only when they are needed.

"We do contract work," Knutson said. We bring (machines) in when they're needed and we keep them flying."

A "glut" of helicopters in the North is keeping lease rates relatively low and so it makes more sense for Nunasi to lease and not incur the cost of buying equipment, Knutson said. "We can generally offer a lower rate and still have a healthy profit margin," says Knutson.

In Fort Liard, Deh Cho Helicopters, another joint- venture with an aboriginal development corporation and Northern Mountain Helicopters, operates in much the same way. This arrangement allows charter helicopter companies to be set up in the North with far less money and these leasing deals for helicopters also provide these new, joint-venture helicopter charter companies with more flexibility in their operations