Yellowknife (May 25/05) - Some words of caution to those travelling beyond Edmonton: pack a lunch.

Air Canada recently made the decision to stop serving complementary meals on North American flights under four and one-half hours in duration.

The airline made the decision partly because it had been seeing "somewhat less" demand for food, said spokesperson Angela Mah.

Snacks and cold meals are still served on flights for the price of $2 to $7, a price which is offset by a drop in ticket prices after a 2003 fare re-structuring, says Mah.

You can't give away free meals and have bare bones ticket prices, said First Air's director of sales Mike Olson.

He credits "fare wars" among southern carriers for some of the low ticket prices. But "giving away seats" is not an economically viable strategy says Olson.

"It's obvious with Jetsgo you can't afford to do that," Olson said referring to the discount airline which shut down in mid-March after reputedly losing over fifty-million dollars in its final eight months of operation.

Major Northern carriers say they have no intention of cutting off the meal service on their flights.

Canadian North is, "absolutely not following that trend," says Kelly Kaylo, director of sales and marketing.

Both First Air and Canadian North say they are not dropping their meal service.

"It's a pleasure to come up and fly North," Olson said.