NUNAVUT - Following on the heels of new flights to seven Baffin communities, Canadian North is planning several developments to its operations in the region.

The company, which is half-owned by the Inuit-owned Nunasi Corp., plans to build a new hangar and warehouse, plus move its call centre to Iqaluit and train 12 Inuit flight attendants to service the flights to Iglulik, Pond Inlet, Clyde River, Qikiqtarjuaq, Pangnirtung, Cape Dorset and Hall Beach that were launched in April.

Canadian North began flying to the Baffin communities with two Dash 8-100 twin-engine aircraft, which can carry up to 37 passengers, although most Baffin flights carry a maximum of 29, to allow for additional cargo storage, said Canadian North president Tracy Medve.

A third Dash 8, introduced a few weeks ago, is used in case of mechanical problems with the planes meant for the Baffin schedule.

Canadian North has made come cancellations and experienced some flight delays since instituting the Baffin service. While Medve could not say what specific mechanical problems were at fault, she said mechanical problems can include anything from a flat tire to a broken windshield visor or waiting for a part to come from a neighboring Baffin community.

"Just think of a car," she said. "There's a myriad of problems that can occur. It's normal for any airline."

Besides being used as a backup plane, the third Dash 8-100 also makes one weekly flight, sometimes more, to Baffinland Iron Mines' Mary River iron ore project, east of Arctic Bay.

Arctic Bay was not among the Baffin communities selected for service. There are two reasons for its omission, according to Medve.

"Given the rest of the schedule that we set up, there wasn't enough airplane time to serve Arctic Bay."

But economics also played a role, she added.

"We didn't receive any (contract) for any medical transport from Arctic Bay. We looked at it and said, 'If the Government of Nunavut had awarded us all of the medical traffic flying, we would have served Arctic Bay.'"

Contracts for medical transport were awarded to Canadian North for the seven communities it did start serving in April.

The new hangar, which will house the Dash 8s as well as cargo being held for customers, will open in early 2009. Medve was unsure how much the building will cost, as Canadian North was still waiting on some quotes for the project.

Depending on how busy the Baffin fleet is, "(The new warehouse) could very well create new positions," said Medve, although she was unsure about how many.

Relocating the call centre is meant to improve service to the company's Inuktitut-speaking customers. Canadian North currently contracts Nova Scotia-based company IMP to handle its service calls. Since no workers there speak the language, calls for service in Inuktitut are forwarded to Iqaluit.

Canadian North also hopes to hire 12 Inuktitut-speaking flight attendants in the next few weeks.

"It's our plan to have a flight attendant base in Iqaluit," said Medve. "Instead of getting on an airplane out of Edmonton and going up to Yellowknife, across to Rankin, and then to Iqaluit, they would just start their flying from Iqaluit and live in Iqaluit."

Joe Enook, vice president of Nunasi, applauded Canadian North's move to hire more Inuit workers.

"If we're going to serve our beneficiary shareholders, and a lot of them are unilingual Inuit, we have to do everything we can to serve them in their language," he said.