NUNAVUT
Buffalo Airways is opening another door to the North with an expansion of its freight delivery service, which will now include the Kitikmeot region.

Greg Perdue, vice president and general manager of Buffalo Air Express, and Peter Gillingham, manager of charters and logistics with Buffalo Airways, are bringing cargo freight delivery to the Kitikmeot region. They're committed to making the process as simple as possible. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL Photo

The company now has cargo flights available to individuals and businesses alike to Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Gjoa Haven, Kugaaruk and Taloyoak.

"What we've found is there's a need for cargo aircraft going into those particular communities," said Greg Perdue, vice president and general manager of Buffalo Air Express.

"Right now all the communities have are passenger airplanes, so certain items like dangerous goods have to go on a cargo aircraft only."

Items like snow machines and quads often take a long time to make it to these remote communities, as passenger planes have to wait until they have space to load them and there's no guaranteed schedule.

That's going to change with Buffalo Airway's new service.

"We're going to have a cargo aircraft go to your community on (a set date), we'll give several weeks notice so people can get all of their products together, it'll come on that date and they'll know that they're going to get it," said Perdue.

"Right now a snow machine could sit in Yellowknife for up to a couple of months because they just don't have room to move them, so what we're trying to do is fill that niche, that need in the communities. We'll have strictly cargo aircraft. If you order your product you know it's going to come. You won't have to guess anymore and say, 'Geez I hope it comes on that aircraift,' because it'll be on there."

The first cargo plane left on Feb. 4 to Kugluktuk and the next is scheduled for March 4 to Cambridge Bay.

"It went very well," said Peter Gillingham, manager of charters and logistics with Buffalo Airways. "The people loved it. We've already got reorders for the next shipment we go there."

These northern communities will now have access to southern markets like Yellowknife and Edmonton. Before, shopping online in the Kitikmeot often involved messages that items couldn't be delivered there or the shipping price would be exorbitant.

"We're trying to open up that market so it benefits businesses in Yellowknife and Edmonton as well as the consumer," said Gillingham. "It's a two-way venture."

Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk have about 3,000 people between them, which opens up a new market for Yellowknife businesses.

"From that perspective, we just added practically 3,000 people to their customer bases," said Gillingham.

He explained how easy the process is: order an item from a Yellowknife business, tell them to hold it for Buffalo Airways, phone Buffalo Airways to pick it up and then it'll be on the next shipment.

Scheduling of the shipments is flexible, too. A large order can help dictate when the next shipment will be and other orders will be organized around it. Gillingham emphasized his company's flexibility in all regards.

"It gives every individual in the community - not just business or a contractor - it gives any family access to freight on that airplane," he said.

"We're just dividing up one airplane to many, many people, so we carry many bills and that's how we pay for it. We've gotten tremendous feedback. We service everything from RCMP detachments looking for furniture, schools, hamlets looking for cleaning supplies, small boats, ATVs, diapers - whatever you can imagine that you need that you go through on a regular basis and you want to avoid the expense of northern prices. In this case you basically do a one stop shop so you don't have those compounded prices. It opens up the market."

The service will not include perishable goods but stick to things Buffalo can guarantee. The company's truck-air service is included, which means items from Edmonton can be brought up to Yellowknife and then shipped to the Kitikmeot communities.

Gillingham says the service will satisfy whatever demand is there.

"If the demand was there, we'd go every day," he said. "We don't know how it's going to go. Whenever the demand is that's when we'll go. We start small and then just build to the customer's needs."