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Iqaluit-Greenland flight lands for the last time

Travellers worry cultural links will die.

DENISE RIDEOUT

A 20-year link between Canada and Greenland was broken this week when the First Air jet flying from Kangerlussuaq to Iqaluit landed on the runway for the last time at approximately 4:47 p.m. on Oct. 30.

Passengers picked up their luggage, checked through the Canada Customs office and entered the airport lobby, just as thousands of other travellers have done in years past.

But this Flight 869 was a historic flight.

As of Oct. 30 there are no more scheduled flights between the two Arctic communities. Now, anyone wanting to travel between Canada and Greenland will have to take a detour through Copenhagen, Denmark, or charter a plane.

First Air and Greenlandair have run the jet service since 1994 by pooling their revenue and expenses. But Greenlandair pulled out of the agreement in August because the company said the weekly flight between Kangerlussuaq and Iqaluit was a money-losing operation.

Then, in September, First Air announced it couldn’t afford to keep running the service on its own.

While First Air and Greenlandair have only operated the service since 1994, a Canada-Greenland route has been running since 1981.

Some of the 24 passengers who landed in Iqaluit on the very last flight weren’t aware the service had been dumped.

A Department of Fisheries and Oceans technician who was working in western Greenland said there was nothing special on the flight to indicate it was the last send-off for the Greenland-Canada route.

But one passenger, businessman and author Kenn Harper, is livid that the airline is pulling the service.

Harper, an Iqaluit resident, has family and business ties to Greenland.

"It’s a shame," he said angrily. "Twenty years is a long time. It’s a historic link between Nunavut and Greenland."

In the airport, luggage in hand, Harper blasted the airlines and the government for abandoning the route instead of finding an alternative solution.

Harper has been on a one-man campaign to keep the Iqaluit-Kangerlussuaq route alive. Earlier this month he wrote a letter to the two airlines, the premier of Nunavut, the prime minister of Greenland and to Nunavut’s and Greenland’s ministers of transportation.

In the letter, Harper warned that ending the route would cut decades-long business and cultural links between the two countries.

He then criticized the airlines and governments in both countries for throwing in the towel. "But I for one cannot believe that enough creative and positive thought has been brought to bear on the possibilities for continuing the route and making it a success," Harper wrote.

He then listed several options to maintain the route. Harper suggested instead of flying to Kangerlussuaq, the flight would have more passengers if it went to Nuuk, a highly populated city and a tourist destination.

Harper reiterated that recommendation to Greenlandair officials this week. During his business trip to Greenland, Harper met face-to-face with the airline’s vice-president.

According to Harper, Greenlandair officials said they’re trying hard to find ways to bring back the route.

But Harper said the governments also have to step up to the plate in the matter.

He said the governments of Nunavut and Greenland should assure the airlines that government personnel who have to travel between the countries will fly on scheduled flights, rather than chartering planes.

"Our government gives lip service to the importance of culture and to links with other northern communities that share a similar culture and language," Harper said.

Caroline Cournoyer is also worried about Nunavut and Greenland losing their cultural ties.

On Oct. 30 Cournoyer was travelling on the last scheduled flight destined for Greenland.

As part of her job, Cournoyer is organizing cultural programs for the 2002 Arctic Winter Games, which are being played in Iqaluit and Nuuk. She was travelling to Greenland to check out the cultural center and meet with the games’ cultural organizers there.

She said a major goal of the Arctic Winter Games is to build on the cultural relationship between the Inuit in Canada and Greenland.

"It doesn’t make sense to work so hard to create links and then not have the mode of transportation to continue the links," Cournoyer said before boarding the plane.

Because there’s no return flight to Iqaluit, Cournoyer will fly back on a chartered plane once she finishes her business in Nuuk.

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