RANKIN INLET - Residents of Baker Lake and Arviat have another flying option since Unaalik Aviation begun scheduled flights into the two communities earlier this month.

Unaalik Aviation's Jimi Onalik had his Cambridge Bay manager in Rankin Inlet this past week to help set up operations for new scheduled flights into Baker Lake and Arviat.- Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Unaalik Aviation president Jimi Onalik said the airline had been looking at adding scheduled flights into Baker and Arviat for some time now.

He said the extra flights wouldn't have helped anyone if the airline had just announced a scheduled run into the two communities without a plan for better service.

"First off, we wanted to make sure the people of Baker Lake had better connections for medical travel and other flights to Winnipeg," said Onalik.

"We asked First Air if it was interested in working with us and its representatives were very open to the suggestion.

"So, we set up a schedule to get people from Baker to Winnipeg everyday First Air flies."

Unaalik has begun two scheduled flights to Baker every day of the week except Saturday.

It was also expected to begin scheduled flights to Arviat this week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to connect with jets bound for Iqaluit and Yellowknife out of Rankin Inlet. Unaalik is making the scheduled flights with a 15-passenger Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante (Bandit) aircraft.

Onalik said the new schedule allows his airline to take another step out of Rankin.

"We've done really well in Rankin with charters, and our intent with the new scheduled flights is to provide the people of Baker and Arviat with an alternative to their current service.

"With all the exploration work and medical travel out of Baker, and Arviat as well, it's the right move for us at this time."

Unaalik Aviation draws from a pool of 212 pilots on a rotational basis, with eight rotating out of Rankin.

The new schedule will increase flying hours for the pilots and create six jobs.

Onalik said the new schedule creates four jobs for Unaalik Aviation and two more at the First Air counter in Rankin.

"Reaction to our flights has been good, especially in light of the fact our full-fare tickets are close to stand-by fares of another airline serving the communities.

"We've had some raised eyebrows at our $260 price each way from Baker.

"We're making sure we have our systems working properly before starting our marketing campaign and we'll move forward from there."