NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Healthy traffic growth has Air North optimistic about its Yellowknife route a little more than one year since opening.

Air North has seen healthy traffic growth in its Yellowknife market since opening last year. The company isn't ready to make any changes just yet but hopes to fill more seats in the future. - photo courtesy of Air North

Twice-weekly seasonal flights between Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Ottawa started February last year.

Every new business venture comes with challenges, but Air North president Joe Sparling said he wouldn't have launched the route if he didn't expect success.

"I think we recognized that there was certainly an element of risk involved," said Sparling.

"I think our first year's experience has left us reasonably happy with the route results. They're not where they need to be yet, particularly during the winter months, but we certainly saw healthy traffic during the summer and we are seeing year-over-year traffic growth even in the winter months."

The company has only one month of year-over-year experience but this February's traffic has been almost double last year's February traffic, which Sparling called encouraging.

Through trade shows in Ottawa that Air North marketers have attended, Sparling said a strong message has been an appetite for people from Eastern Canada to go north to see the aurora. He's hoping to market that potential more heavily.

"This is a quick, convenient and affordable way for them to do so," said Sparling.

Originally, Sparling expected the Northern route to be dominated by government and the corporate sector but it hasn't exactly worked out like that so far.

"It's a mix," he said. "Certainly in the summer there was more visiting friends and relatives travel than I expected, and perhaps our overall public sector travel has been slightly less than what I expected."

Despite the optimism about Yellowknife, Sparling doesn't plan to make any expansions just yet.

"We've still got lots of seats to sell on the flights we've got," he said. "We don't plan on doing anything differently except trying to fill the airplane a little bit more."

Sparling says the Air North service has turned a 10-hour, two-stop flight into a four-hour, non-stop flight dropping airfares by about 40 per cent.

"I think we've made travel to the east quite a bit more affordable and convenient for people in the Yellowknife market," he said.