NWT
Communities in the Sahtu region are bracing for higher prices on freight and groceries after airline Buffalo Airways was suspended from flying indefinitely by Transport Canada on Nov. 30.

Joe McBryan (left) thanks Peter Magill in October 2014 for his time working for Buffalo in Yellowknife while living in Hay River. McBryan said the 1,000 flights on a DC-3 Magill undertook as a daily commute must surely be some sort of record. All of the company's operations - charters, scheduled passenger flights, and cargo services - were suspended on Dec. 1 by Transport Canada. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo

The federal safety organization said the move "prohibits the company from providing commercial air services," including all schedule passenger flights, cargo, freight and charters.

"Transport Canada took this serious action in the interest of public safety because of Buffalo Airways' poor safety record," stated the announcement, posted online on Dec. 1. "The department will not allow Buffalo Airways to resume its commercial air service until it proves it can keep its operations consistently compliant with aviation safety regulations."

"When air operators, like Buffalo Airways, fail to comply with aviation regulations, the department takes appropriate action in the interest of public safety."

In Fort Good Hope, Chief Wilfred Glenn McNeely Jr. said, after talking to the town's Northern store, a halt in deliveries would hurt everyone because Buffalo is in charge of delivering fresh food products like milk, eggs and cheese.

"They must bring in about seven or eight pallets of food for Northern and four or five for the Co-op," he said.

While Buffalo stated in its news release it anticipated the suspension period by Transport Canada will be short, North West Company has already made alternative arrangements with Cargo North to make deliveries to its stores in the Sahtu region: Fort Good Hope, Deline, Tulita and Norman Wells.

"We expect a fairly seamless transition and expect shipments to commence by tomorrow," director of business development Derek Reimer said, adding his company has used Buffalo's Air Express service for many years to ship to each of the four communities a minimum of twice per week. "We expect to continue to use Cargo North to service the region as long as required. We'll make an assessment of our long-term service partner once Buffalo Airways has resumed operations and meet the necessary safety and viability requirements."

First Air's vice-president commercial, Bert van der Stege, also confirmed by e-mail that his company had not been approached by Buffalo Airways to operate flights on its behalf.

However, van der Stege said the company did recently launch a seat sale on its Yellowknife-Hay River route on its double daily service. The all-in one-way prices are $183 per person, until Jan. 20.

"Lots of seats available," he stated. "This way we ensure we can take care of stranded Buffalo Airways passengers. Should there be an increase in demand as a result of Buffalo Airways terminating its services, First Air is ready to step in and increase capacity immediately."

Hay River Chamber of Commerce president Joe Melanson said Buffalo Airways is currently a member of his organization and pointed out this time of year so close to Christmas normally means many deliveries of gifts, cargo and freight along the Mackenzie to communities in the Sahtu region.

"I know they can still bring freight up via their trucking system," he said, adding he hadn't yet spoken to anyone at Buffalo the day after the news was announced. "To disperse it from here to where they're going is the problem."

Melanson said as a result many in Hay River will have to pay higher rates for other service providers.

"It's normally not good when you lose an airline, your prices increase," he said. "We're looking forward to them getting their permits back in order."

Suspension followed months of reports and inspections

Transport Canada said it liaised with Buffalo Airways throughout the period leading up to the suspension and that commercial services means "any flight for hire or reward" - be it charters, passengers, combi or cargo.

In a written statement to News/North, Transport Canada spokesperson Julie-Anne Codaire said that her agency conducted an inspection of the airline in October that identified deficiencies in the company's operation and maintenance control systems.

"Several of the alleged deficiencies in its operational control system had been identified during previous inspections," she wrote, citing the use of various enforcement measures such as financial penalties to encourage compliance. "These tools have not been strong enough to convince the company to significantly improve its safety record."

In their news release, Buffalo Airways stated it had proposed to Transport Canada contracting an independent manager to oversee operations during the suspension period so the company could continue to provide aviation services. It said it is currently waiting for Transport Canada's response.

Multiple reports of problems

Earlier this year Transport Canada issued a 32-page report on the crash landing of Buffalo's flight 168 on Aug. 19, 2013. The report cited Buffalo's practice of overloading the aircraft with cargo, in this case the amount was 1,235 pounds over the maximum certified take-off weight.

At least three reports from Transport Canada's Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS) in the last six months show incidents involving Buffalo Airways, including its C46D not taking off, delaying a Discovery Air DHC-6 from landing on Aug. 14, the wheels-up crash landing in Deline on Sept. 25 as well as a recent incident at the Hay River airport involving a communications error from a pilot landing a Buffalo DC3.

All the CADORS reports state they contain preliminary, unconfirmed data which can be subject to change. Transport Canada did not confirm whether these three recent reports contributed to the organization's recent decision to suspend Buffalo's services.

Future uncertain

Buffalo posted an update to its Facebook page on Dec. 2: "Buffalo Airways would like to thank all of it's (sic) customers and passengers for their continued support during this unfortunate time. Buffalo Airways will continue to support all of our customers travel and freight needs though chartered aircraft until such time Buffalo Airways has resolved this issue with Transport Canada."

GNWT spokesperson Andrew Livingstone said the territorial government currently does not have any significant contracts with Buffalo Airways beyond an as-needed basis.

"We'll be looking to fill that void in the interim until the situation is dealt with," he said. Livingstone said multiple departments used the company for courier services.

According to the Open NWT website, Buffalo had not been given any contracts exceeding $5,000 for the 2015-2016 year. Its largest contracts were for aerial forest fire management won in 2008-2009 for $23.5 million and $24.3 million with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

In reference to the rarity in which airlines are given notices of suspension, Codaire ended her e-mail to News/North by stating that the federal safety agency suspended Buffalo due to its poor aviation safety record.

"Transport Canada will not allow Buffalo Airways to resume its commercial air service until it demonstrates it had met the conditions in its Notice of Suspension," she wrote.

-with files from Shane Magee

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