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Air Tindi recently instituted weekly round-trip service between Tlicho communities. Photographed here are some of the passengers on the inaugural flight to Behchoko, along with some Air Tindi staff. From left, Jackie Burke, schedule service manager, Jenna Weyallon, Erenstine Weyallon, Cecilia Wellin, Peter Zoe, Joe Liske, Behchoko sked agent, Violet Camsell, Rose Lamouelle, Jusley Lamouelle, Johnny Weyallon, and Air Tindi pilot Phil Leblanc. - Photo courtesy of Air Tindi

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - People living in the Tlicho region can now travel between communities without first stopping in Yellowknife thanks to a new service from Air Tindi.

The Yellowknife-based air carrier introduced what it's calling the Tlicho Connector on July 29.

"It's a new scheduled service linking all the Tlicho communities together," said Bob Schnurr, manager of operations for Air Tindi.

Every Tuesday, a plane leaves Yellowknife and flies, in chronological order, to Wekweeti, Gameti, Whati, Behchoko and back to Yellowknife.

The plane then charts the reverse flight path the following Thursday.

The round-trip service is in addition to the daily scheduled service each community has to Yellowknife.

"But they haven't had daily scheduled service between them until now," said Schnurr.

Saving money on a trip to Yellowknife was a big matter of concern expressed by members of Tlicho bands, said Schnurr, who added interest in the connector stemmed "a little bit from government, a little bit from business and a little bit from personal travel."

"The people in each community are related to each other, and we wanted to make it easier to get from one community to another," he said. "There's quite a bit of visiting back and forth between family members and friends."

While the new service has been slow to start, "It's summertime and a lot of people are out of the communities' traffic," said Schnurr.

Traffic picked up last week due in large part to the fourth annual Tlicho Gathering held in Whati.

Schnurr added the connector involved minimal investment on the part of the company, as it's using single-engine, nine-seat Cessna Caravans from its current fleet of planes to provide the service.

But the move has resulted in more staff.

"We've hired two station agents in Behchoko," he said.

Henry Gon, chief of Gameti, said the service is helpful in that it will save customers the hassle of arranging accommodations for overnight stays in Yellowknife. But he also said his community is hoping for twin-engine service.

"A lot of people are still talking about twin-engine service - getting a bigger plane instead of a single engine - for safety reasons," said Gon. "People want a twin-engine service, because if there's a problem with one engine, it's not safe."

Gon added his band hopes to have a meeting with Air Tindi in the future to address the matter.