Canadian North to add B737NGs for Greenland routes

Canadian North (5T, Yellowknife) will acquire two B737-700s next year as part of plans to launch new regular flights to Greenland. In a joint statement issued on December 9, Canadian North and Air Greenland (GL, Nuuk) said they had signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to explore partnership opportunities for air service and sustainable tourism development between Greenland and Canada. The agreement would have been signed in March this year if only for the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus. However, the recent advent of a vaccine has renewed hopes that international travel may resume in 2021. “Now that there is a vaccine in distribution, it’s time to start looking ahead to partnering on flights through Ottawa Int’l-Iqaluit-Nuuk and Ottawa-Iqaluit-Ilulissat,” Canadian North President and CEO Chris Avery said. “We’d also like to connect Greenland directly with southern Canada, possibly via Toronto Pearson during the tourism season, which includes March, April and August to October.” Avery elaborated that the two B737-700s will allow Canadian North to run direct flights from Toronto to Nuuk or Ilulissat. “Although we have yet to enter the planning stages of providing this connectivity, the LOI is a reflection of our common goal; to bridge the vast distances between Canada and Greenland,” he added. Air Greenland operated flights between Iqaluit and Nuuk from 2012 to 2014, before terminating the route citing inadequate demand. In 2019, the carrier’s shareholder, the Greenlandic government, rejected a plan to revive the services preferring instead to focus on new airport construction. Wholly-owned by Makivik Corporation and Inuvialuit Development Corporation, Canadian North currently serves 26 towns and villages within Canada’s Northwest Territories, Nunavik, and Nunavut, as well as Ottawa, Montréal Trudeau, and Edmonton Int’l. Its in-house fleet entails two B737-200(C)s, eight B737-300s, two B737-300(QC)s, two DHC-8-100s, and one DHC-8-300, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. It also wet-leases in one ARJ100 and two ARJ85s from Summit Air Charters alongside three ATR42-300s, three ATR42-300(QC)s, and six ATR42-500s from sister carrier First Air (7F, Carp).