Air Tindi suspending service between Yellowknife and Whatì

Air Tindi is suspending its three-times-weekly service between Yellowknife and Whatì from October 12 “until further notice.”

The airline announced the change in an email to some customers and partners.

Speaking with Cabin Radio, Air Tindi president Chris Reynolds said the volume of passengers and freight on the route had dropped significantly since Whatì’s all-season road opened four years ago.

“We’ve lost a quarter of a million dollars trying to basically subsidize the route over the last four years,” Reynolds said.

“Obviously, we can’t continue to do that. Unless something changes it’s suspended for now, which is unfortunate.”

In Air Tindi’s latest published schedule, the Yellowknife-based regional airline operates flights between the territorial capital and Whatì on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This week’s flights will be the last, at least for the time being.

Reynolds said finding even one passenger for each flight had become a challenge.

“It was almost like death by a thousand cuts. The store continued to send freight on us for quite a while, all the fresh produce and that sort of thing continued to go on the airplanes. That helped quite a bit, but it started to trickle down,” he said.

“The airplane frequently flies with just one person on board and a lot of empty legs. So I guess it’s been coming for quite a while.”

Reynolds said Air Tindi had heard little enthusiasm from the community to keep the flights in place. (The community government has been approached for comment.)

He said his main concern was the possible impact on people who would have to drive for medical travel instead of fly.

The route will remain “suspended” rather than terminated for a period in case someone comes in with a subsidy to keep it going.

“Whatì is accessible via road to Yellowknife and other places pretty easily, but it’s not a quick drive either, so you hold out hope,” Reynolds said.

“We’d be happy to do it if it just broke even or paid for the fuel for the airplane, but right now it’s not doing that. We had to make a difficult decision, but we didn’t take it lightly.”