September 7, 2001

First Air dumps Greenland jet service

Circumpolar air travellers grounded

JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — Canada-Greenland air travellers will face big problems because of the cancellation of scheduled air services between Iqaluit and Kangerlussuaq.

The last scheduled flight between the two communities will take off Oct. 30.
After that, anyone wishing to travel between Canada and Greenland will have to make a big detour through Copenhagen, Denmark, or charter their own aircraft.
Iqaluit businessman Kenn Harper, who has family and business ties in Greenland, said the decision is shortsighted.

"This is a regressive step," he said.

Harper said it's "detrimental to the continuation of commercial and cultural links between Canada and Greenland."

First Air and Greenlandair have operated the Canada-Greenland jet service since 1994 by pooling revenue and expenses.

But last month Greenlandair gave notice that it wishes to pull out of the pool agreement by the end of September. This left First Air with a tough choice: run the service solo, or drop it.

Last Friday, First Air announced its decision: they'll suspend the service Oct. 30.
AWG disruption?

That decision will disrupt travel plans for participants in next year's Arctic Winter Games.

The 2002 games have been split in two, with half the events happening in Nuuk, Greenland and the other half in Iqaluit.

AWG organizers chose First Air's competitor, Canadian North, as the "official" airline for the games. But Canadian has never operated a commercial route between Iqaluit and Nuuk.

The games are intended to forge closer ties between the two cities. But, organizers say, with no regular flights between Canada and Greenland, that goal will be difficult to achieve.

The lack of regular flights will also create immediate problems for AWG organizers.
"It clearly will make it more difficult for personnel and interested spectators," AWG spokesperson Tamara MacPherson said.

Athletes will probably be shuttled between the two sites on chartered aircraft.
During the games, a Hawker-Siddley 748 may also be chartered for a daily service between Iqaluit and Nuuk.

The Canada-Greenland route began modestly in 1981, with a scheduled 748 service between Frobisher Bay — and Nuuk.

But neither First Air nor Greenlandair has any plans to reinstitute a scheduled service to Nuuk on a 748, unless there are "radical changes" in the volume of traffic, says Tracy Beeman, First Air's marketing director.

"We don't want to get the public's hopes up," Beeman said.

The runway at Nuuk, Greenland's largest city, is too short to accomodate jet aircraft.

Kangerlussuaq, has one of only three runways in Greenland long enough for jets. The others are in Thule and Narsassuaq.

Neither First Air nor Greenlandair is willing to provide information about the number of passengers who use the soon-to-be cancelled route, but Beeman said it was "very, very low," with about 90 per cent of them originating in Greenland.

ICC must charter flights

The Inuit Circumpolar Conference, whose employees in Nuuk regularly fly through Iqaluit for connections to Alaska, says the decision to pull the plug on the route is "very unfortunate."

ICC President Aqqaluk Lynge deplored the end of an important link between his country and North America.

"The two governments, the home rule government and Nunavut, signed a memorandum on co-operation," Lynge said. "Where is that document now?"
Lynge blames Greenlandair and other government-subsidized groups in Greenland for not promoting the route in North America.

"It is an irony that now we are planning to open up the Bering Strait communities, when, at the same time, the flight route across the Davis Strait is being frozen," Lynge said.

Lynge said ICC will have to spend $300,000, much more than expected, to ensure Greenland's participation in the August 2002 ICC conference in Kuujjuaq.

Travel agent Vivi Hard from the Vejle Rejser travel agency in Nuuk says her clients appreciated the direct service from Greenland to Canada as a quicker and cheaper way to reach North America than through Copenhagen, Denmark.

"We're not so happy that it stops," Hard said.