Air North will begin regular flights to Yellowknife and Ottawa in early 2014.
The new twice-weekly route will leave Whitehorse in the morning, make the 1.5 hour flight to Yellowknife, then touch down for roughly 45 minutes before going on to the nation’s capital.
Allan Moore, Air North’s director of commercial development and government relations, sees the new route as the most efficient way to serve Yukoners’ needs. It provides a link to a neighbouring northern city and the airline’s first link to a major eastern city at the same time - neither of which would be sustainable on their own. “It allows us to service Ottawa and make it viable, and it allows us to service Yellowknife and make it viable,” he said.
The new route is slated to launch in the first quarter of 2014. Air North expects it to create 10 new Yukon-based jobs.