YELLOWKNIFE/OTTAWA
First Air is collaborating with Air North to market expanded service between Iqaluit and Ottawa in the new year.

Air North plans to use its Boeing 737 500 aircraft, pictured, to transport up to 120 passengers from Whitehorse to Yellowknife to Ottawa. The new route will compliment First Air's existing service between Iqaluit and Ottawa, according to Chris Ferris, executive vice-president of marketing and sales with First Air. - photo courtesy of Air North

Air North plans to offer thrice-weekly direct flights between Yellowknife and Ottawa beginning on Feb. 6. First Air is preparing to add a second Wednesday flight from Iqaluit to Ottawa before summer.

"We're going to operate eastbound on Sundays and westbound on Mondays, and on Thursdays we are going to go eastbound and westbound on the same day," said Joe Sparling, president of the Yukon-based airline.

The new route was announced last month, but details of the schedule were not released until last week.

Flights between Yellowknife and Ottawa take about four hours, but the return trip takes an extra 20 minutes due to headwinds, according to Sparling. Flights between Yellowknife and Whitehorse take about an hour and 20 minutes.

"We're still sorting out ground handling and that sort of thing, but we haven't made those decisions, yet," he said. "We're working with the other Northern carriers so they can sell seats on the flight as well."

Currently, First Air offers daily flights between Iqaluit and Ottawa, with a second flight on Mondays and Fridays, which was added in September. The second flights allow for two-way, same-day service between Yellowknife, Rankin Inlet, Iqaluit and Ottawa on those days.

The second Iqaluit-to-Ottawa flight being added on Wednesdays will allow same-day service between the four communities by this summer, according to Chris Ferris, executive vice-president of marketing and sales with First Air.

Air North's service on the other days will increase options for First Air's leisure and business passengers, Ferris said.

"We've had some preliminary discussions with Air North to see if there is a way of jointly marketing the flights," he continued. "I'd much prefer this to a southern carrier coming into the North."

A formal ticket-selling agreement between Air North, Canadian North and First Air is expected early in the new year, according to Sparling and Ferris.

First Air flies Boeing 737-200 jets between Yellowknife, Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit, which seat from 60 to 115 passengers, depending on cargo configurations. The airline flies Boeing 737-400 jets between Iqaluit and Ottawa, which seat up to 135.

Air North plans to use its Boeing 737-500 aircraft to transport up to 120 passengers from Whitehorse to Yellowknife to Ottawa.

First Air, which is wholly owned by the Inuit of northern Quebec through Makivik Corporation, employs approximately 300 workers in Nunavut, 170 of whom reside in Iqaluit.

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