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Founded | 1989 | ||||||
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AOC # | Canada: 5343 [2] United States: Q1NF069F [3] | ||||||
Hubs | Iqaluit Airport Oshawa Executive Airport | ||||||
Fleet size | 14 [4] | ||||||
Destinations | Air charter/MEDEVAC | ||||||
Headquarters | Iqaluit, Nunavut and Oshawa, Ontario [5] | ||||||
Key people | Jeff Mahoney (president) | ||||||
Website | Air Nunavut / SmoothAir Charter |
Air Nunavut, trading as Smooth Air, [2] is an airline based in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada. It is the only local and Inuit-owned [6] [7] air carrier in the eastern Arctic, operating charter services throughout Canada's Arctic, northern Quebec and Greenland. Its main base is Iqaluit Airport. [8]
The airline was established and started charter operations in 1989 as Air Baffin. Scheduled services were inaugurated in May 1992. [8] It was renamed to Air Nunavut in 1996.
The airline also has two main bases of operations, Oshawa Executive Airport and Iqaluit Airport. Under the division company name SmoothAir Charter operate Dassault Falcons out of Oshawa Executive Airport offering charter services. [9] The Beechcraft King Air 200s remain in Iqaluit servicing the surrounding communities.
According to Transport Canada the Air Nunavut fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of November 2024): [4]
Aircraft | Number | Variants | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Beechcraft Super King Air | 4 | 200 | 8, 11 or 13 passengers, gravel strip capable. |
Dassault Falcon 10 | 7 | Falcon 10 | Listed by Air Nunavut as Falcon 10 Jet, 7 passengers, gravel strip capable. One aircraft is listed by Transport Canada as having an expired temporary registration certificate. [10] Only two listed at the SmoothAir Charter site. [9] |
Dassault Falcon 20 | 3 | Mystère/Falcon 20F5 Falcon 200 Fan Jet Falcon | Only two listed at the SmoothAir Charter site. [9] |
Iqaluit is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is the territory's largest community and its only city, and the northernmost city in Canada. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the large bay on the coast on which the city is situated. Its traditional Inuktitut name was restored in 1987.
Bradley Air Services Limited, operating as First Air, was an airline headquartered in Kanata, a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It operated services to 34 communities in Nunavut, Nunavik, and the Northwest Territories. First Air has assisted in various humanitarian missions such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, airlifting relief supplies and equipment. Its main base, which included a large hangar, cargo and maintenance facility, was located at Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport, with hubs at Iqaluit Airport, and Yellowknife Airport. On November 1, 2019, the airline consolidated operations with Canadian North.
The Qikiqtaaluk Region, Qikiqtani Region or the Baffin Region is the easternmost, northernmost, and southernmost administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. Qikiqtaaluk is the traditional Inuktitut name for Baffin Island. Although the Qikiqtaaluk Region is the most commonly used name in official contexts, several notable public organizations, including Statistics Canada prior to the 2021 Canadian census, use the older term Baffin Region.
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Air Inuit is an airline headquartered in the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canada. It operates domestic passenger services and charter and cargo services in Nunavik, southern Quebec, and Nunavut. Its main base is Kuujjuaq Airport.
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Iqaluit Airport serves Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada and is located adjacent to the city. It hosts scheduled passenger service from Ottawa, Montreal, Rankin Inlet, and Kuujjuaq on carriers such as Canadian North, and from smaller communities throughout eastern Nunavut. It is also used as a forward operating base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). In 2011, the terminal handled more than 120,000 passengers.
Resolute Bay Airport is located at Resolute, Nunavut, Canada, and is operated by the government of Nunavut. It is the second northernmost aerodrome in Canada to receive scheduled passenger airline service with Grise Fiord Airport, which is served from Resolute, being further north. Alert Airport, the northernmost airport in Canada and the world, Tanquary Fiord Airport, and Eureka Aerodrome are all further north but have no scheduled services. Alert and Eureka are both served by Resolute.
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Perimeter Aviation is an airline with its head office on the property of Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Perimeter Aviation operates more than 30 aircraft on scheduled, charter, and medevac service. It was established and started operations in 1960. It operates scheduled passenger services from Winnipeg to 23 destinations, freight and MEDEVAC services. Its main base is Winnipeg International Airport.
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Apex is a small community in Iqaluit located on Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. It is about 5 km (3.1 mi) southeast of Iqaluit on a small peninsula separating Koojesse (Kuujussi) Inlet from Tarr Inlet. Historically Apex was the place where most Inuit lived when Iqaluit was a military site and was off-limits to anyone not working at the base. The community is accessed by bridge or causeway, and bordered by a local creek (kuujuusi) and waterfall (kugluktuk). Located here are the women's shelter, a church, Nanook Elementary School, and a bed-and-breakfast, along with housing for about 60 families.
FLYGTA Inc., operating as FLYGTA Airlines, established in 2014, is a Canadian air operator serving southern Ontario and Quebec. FLYGTA is a jet charter company with official bases in Toronto, Niagara, Oshawa, Muskoka, and Montreal, and provides air tourism services in Toronto and Niagara Falls, air charter, cargo, and scheduled flights. As of November 6, 2017, the airline served over eight destinations with scheduled flights from Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to/from destinations such as Barrie/Simcoe, St. Catharines/Niagara, Kitchener/Waterloo, Wiarton/Bruce Peninsula and Muskoka. The flight between Toronto-Billy Bishop and St. Catharines/Niagara is the shortest link between the two cities and is advertised as the shortest commercial flight in North America at 10 minutes according to the company and 15 minutes according to Global News.
Chrono Aviation Inc., and its wholly owned subsidiary Chrono Jet Inc., is a charter airline headquartered at Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport. It operates aircraft in passenger, cargo and combi roles. It has bases at MET – Montreal Metropolitan Airport, Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport and Rimouski Aerodrome. It has over 265 employees. As of 18 October 2024, it was announced that Chrono Group, the owners of Chrono Aviation, had been placed in receivership. This was ordered by the Superior Court of Quebec under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act as Chrono was unable to pay their creditors.
Air Nunavut: BFF, BAFFIN