Arctic SunWest adding two Otters
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Apr 18/01) - Yellowknife-based aviation company Arctic Sunwest is buying a piece of First Air, it was announced last week.
The purchase includes two Twin Otters and First Air's float base in Old Town.
"As a smaller operator, our organization is more suited to the successful operation of this type of aircraft," Arctic Sunwest president Marvin Robinson said in a release. The firm is owned the principal shareholders of RTL Robinson Enterprises. RTL is owned by members of the Robinson family.
"We're looking forward to integrating (the Twin Otters) into our operations," said Janet Robinson, risks manager with RTL.
The de Havilland Twin Otter, powered by two turbo-prop engines, is used extensively for passenger and cargo operations across the North.
These will be the first Twin Otters to join Arctic Sunwest's fleet. The company operates two Turbo Beavers, a Cessna 185, and four other twin-engine aircraft as well as seven helicopters.
First Air said it plans to concentrate on its core business - scheduled flights. Some 450 of its 1,100 employees live in the North. It is owned by Makivik Corp., which is owned by the Inuit of Northern Quebec.
The deal is expected to close in four to six weeks, said Tracy Beeman, First Air director of marketing and communications.
Neither party is disclosing the value of the deal.
Asked if jobs would be lost, Beeman said First Air is making "every effort to deploy employees elsewhere in the company. At this point, we don't know (if any one will loose their job)."
The Twin Otters were aircraft First Air acquired in 1995 with the purchase of Yellowknife-based Ptarmigan Airways.
At the time of the deal, Bill Hettrick, a partner in Ptarmigan since 1964 with Clem Bekar, told Yellowknifer it was "time to retire."
When Hettrick started with Ptarmigan, he flew up to Yellowknife in a Stinson Reliant. It was the first plane the company owned.
When First Air bought Ptarmigan Airways, Ptarmigan had 65 staff and 11 aircraft.
