Less demand, fewer flights
Canadian North announces schedule changes
for Rankin Inlet and Qikiqtani
Walter Strong
Northern News Services
Published Monday, October 6, 2014
KANGIQLINIQ/RANKIN INLET
A shrinking passenger base for Canadian North's transarctic service means a one-third reduction in flights serving Edmonton and Iqaluit via Rankin Inlet.
At the same time that Canadian North Airlines announced a reduction in service on its Edmonton-Iqaluit flights, the company announced it will be reintroducing its Dash-8 service in the Qikiqtani in response to customer feedback. - photo courtesy Wikipedia commons |
"After a thorough review of our scheduled flights, we have seen a softness in a number of markets that led us to make adjustments to our schedule," said Lisa Hicks, Canadian North marketing manager, in an e-mail to Nunavut News/North.
"Load factors had fallen off to a point where a reduction in our own capacity was necessary."
Hicks attributed the decline in passenger volume to an expected seasonal variation, as well as to declining demand from the mining and energy sectors.
Changes now in effect mean the final Wednesday flight between Edmonton and Iqaluit via Rankin Inlet was Sept. 24, with service continuing to operate Monday and Friday.
According to Hicks, the Monday westbound flight will now depart Iqaluit at 1:30 p.m. and arrive in Edmonton at 7:40 p.m. Monday eastbound and Friday flights will operate as usual.
Both Monday and Friday flights will continue to serve Rankin Inlet as they did before.
At the same time, Canadian North has introduced changes to its Qikiqtani region schedule.
Canadian North will no longer be using the 19-passenger Beech 1900 in Qikiqtani. Instead, the airline will introduce the larger Dash-8, to use exclusively.
"We began using the Beech 1900 aircraft in mid-2012 as part of our Dash 8 aircraft fleet maintenance and renewal process, with the intention of eventually replacing the Beech with a Dash, or equivalent," Hicks said.
"Over the past two years, we received significant feedback from our customers - including our medical travellers - that the Beech aircraft was not a suitable replacement for the Dash."
However, the larger capacity aircraft means flight reductions. Flights between Iqaluit and Qikiqtarjuaq will fly six times per week (down from 10), while flights between Iqaluit and Clyde River will fly six times per week, down from nine.
Scheduled Iqaluit-Iglulik and Iqaluit-Pond Inlet flights will both see a two flight per week reduction, leaving Iglulik with 14 flights per week and Pond Inlet with 12 flights per week.
"There have also been schedule timing adjustments for flights to other Qikiqtani communities and additional stops on some routes," Hicks added.
Affected customers who have already purchased tickets are being contacted by Canadian North.
