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Kenn Borek resumes flight to Resolute Bay

Partnership with Canadian North connects high Arctic communities with Ottawa

MIRIAM HILL

The return of flight service from Resolute Bay to the south Baffin region will be a boost to the community, the mayor of Resolute Bay says.

When Kenn Borek Air Ltd. stopped flying between Arctic Bay, Pond Inlet and Resolute Bay last October, it made it difficult for people to visit relatives in other communities, Aziz Kheraj said.

"Over the last month, a couple of our hamlet employees wanted to go to Pond Inlet," he said. "One family had to fly all the way to Iqaluit and back up and the other family had to charter a plane over to Pond Inlet and back."

Kenn Borek has been flying in the Arctic since the 1970s and discontinued the Resolute Bay-Pond Inlet-Arctic Bay route last year because there wasn’t enough traffic.

But the company recently formed an agreement with Canadian North to fly from Resolute Bay to Pond Inlet to Igloolik, landing in Iqaluit in time for passengers to connect to a Canadian North flight to Ottawa on the same day. The flights will run Mondays and Fridays and will begin Aug. 12.

"The traffic will increase because we have many members of Resolute who originated from Igloolik," Kheraj said. "Currently when they want to go they have to fly to Iqaluit and back up and it takes two days to get there and two days to get back so four days is lost in travelling. Now you’re there in an afternoon."

Kheraj also runs a hotel in the community of about 240 people. He said diminished flight service has an impact on traffic to the community because there are fewer seats to bring people in and out.

Eva Onalik, Canadian North’s sales manager for Nunavut, said the company did a north Baffin tour in March and received a strong message from residents to improve air service. While north Baffin residents have always been able to connect to western communities and Yellowknife through Kenn Borek Air, flying in Baffin had become a problem.

Tim McCagherty, marketing manager for Kenn Borek Air, said Kenn Borek and Canadian North flights have been scheduled to connect in Iqaluit, meaning a person in Pond Inlet could get to Ottawa in one day.

The agreement also means someone going from Pond Inlet to Ottawa will only require one ticket from Canadian North, rather than one from Kenn Borek and a separate one from Canadian North.

Kheraj said the move is a good one because it allows people and goods to be transported more easily through Baffin Island. He also owns a construction company based in Pond Inlet.

"We haven’t done any work in Pond Inlet for two years now because of the plane, and it’s too late this year to do anything," he said. "But next year we’ll pick up where we left off and keep on working there. We still operate a base there, but it’s been at a reduced scale."

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