NUNAVUT
Three Northern airlines are teaming up and taking to the sky - arguably like the superhero collective, the Avengers.

A First Air passenger jet at its offices in Yellowknife. The company recently announced a new codeshare agreement with Canadian North and Calm Air, a move that vice president of commercial services Bert van der Stege said will definitely help his company purchase new aircraft more quickly. - Karen K. Ho/NNSL photo

First Air, Canadian North and Calm Air recently announced a new codeshare agreement for selected flights. This standard practice means that the three companies can sell and market seats and cargo space on the same flight.

Both First Air's vice-president of commercial services Bert van der Stege and Canadian North's senior vice-president of scheduled services, Peter McCart, said many clients had advocated for the companies to consolidate for a variety of reasons, including increased long-term viability.

"In the end, there are some regional differences, but it was a balanced deal between the two parties," McCart said.

However, the executives emphasized to Nunavut News/North this was definitely not a merger. All three companies will continue to operate independently with their own offices, competitively setting their own market prices for seats and cargo services.

"The key advantage is an increased flexibility to travel north-south, as well as south-north on the same day," van der Stege said. "There's less need for an overnight stay."

The First Air executive admitted that Nunavut will benefit more than NWT. And a press release from the company specifically highlighted additional flights between Iqaluit and Pond Inlet, Clyde River, Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq. Daily flights between Yellowknife and Kugluktuk, 13 flights per week between Rankin Inlet and Winnipeg were also listed, as well as better connections to Calm Air flights between Rankin Inlet and communities in Kivalliq.

For Yellowknife and Cambridge Bay, McCart said the new codeshare schedule to launch in late July will shift the daily route onto a Boeing 737.

"That's a tremendous increase to the amount of jet capacity, good for cargo customers, good for passengers," he said. "It's a faster airplane and greater on the customer comfort side."

In the case of the Iqaluit-Ottawa route, McCart said changes to the schedule as a result of the codeshare will mean that both First Air and Canadian North can offer two flights per day instead of just one.

"We have spaced out the timing so that we have a flight leaving in the morning and a flight leaving in the afternoon," McCart said, adding that his company was looking into investing in a Boeing 737-300 Combi for that route for better fuel efficiency and customer comfort.

"You can have a same-day business trip."

As well, van der Stege said an increased number of available flights means that customers will have more options for connections to destinations across Canada and the United States.

Along with the recent sale of their last Hercules cargo plane, First Air plans on investing the efficiency gains into the acquisition of new aircraft.

The codeshare will also reduce the number of duplicate or "wing-to-wing" flights between First Air and Canadian North, which van der Stege and McCart mentioned as one of the ways all three companies are making their operations more efficient.

"At this time there is an overcapacity problem in the North," McCart said. "This exercise has allowed us to take out a little bit of that capacity to make those operations really sustainable for the long-term in the North."

Citing the Yellowknife-Rankin Inlet-Iqaluit route that is being reduced from five flights per week to three, McCart said there are simply not enough passengers to make the route sustainable at that frequency.

Other possible efficiencies being looked at as a result of the codeshare agreement include the examination of facilities like hangar space, the possibility of sharing equipment as well as rental agreements.

As to whether Northerners can expect lower prices as a result of the new agreement, McCart said that sales in the region have struggled in the profitability department for a while.

"In a good year, they would break even," he said. "With less empty seats, the requirement to increase fares just to break even is not as urgent."

Shares of Calm Air's parent company, Exchange Income Fund (TSX:EIF) set a new 52-week high on May 13, the date the codeshare agreement was announced. The stock price closed sharply higher after rising 81 cents or 3.6 per cent to $23.28.

First Air said the codeshare agreements are expected to go into effect with Calm Air in June and Canadian North at the beginning of August. Customers are encouraged to check the websites of all three airlines for further updates.

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