Air North at 40: How Yukon's homegrown airline took off, and stayed aloft

JoeSparling, the president of Air North, seemedas surprised as anybody to find himself celebrating his company's 40thbirthday this past week.

"It's gone by fairly quickly,"he said.

Sparlingis not the kind of guy to sit back and reminisce, and reflect on his success he's still too busy running the business, even piloting his own jets on regular passenger flights between Whitehorse and points north and south.

"We don't have a lot of fat in the operationeverybody works," he said. "The airline business is a very competitive business."

So competitive,Sparlingsays, that it threatenedto ground his homegrown companyat times.But Air North kept flying.

"It was very challenging, when I think our maincompetitorswere being very aggressive with us and fuel prices were highthose were some tough times,"Sparlingsaid.

"I'm proud of the fact that we've been able to show that we can actually compete with the largest carriers in the country."

Taking flight

Air North had, as the familiar story about start-ups goes,"humble beginnings" just two guys(JoeSparlingand Tom Wood) with asingleCessna206 offering charter services around Yukon, and flight training.

The business took flight and within a few years,Sparlingand Wood hadexpandedtheir fleet of aircraft and began offering scheduled service in Yukon and to Alaska.

The seasonal charter service,Sparlingsaid, just wasn't enough.

"You're busy in thesummer,and there's nothing to do in the winter. And it was very, verydifficultto have to lay people off every winter, and then hope that they'd be available the following summer."

The airline gradually added new routes over the years toFairbanks, Alaska, Dawson City andOld Crow in Yukon andInuvik, N.W.T.

By 2002, Air Northwas ready to buy two Boeing 737 jets, thanks to an investment by the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation in Old Crow.That's when the airline added regular flights to Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary,Alta., something Sparlinghad at one time thought was a "ridiculous" idea for his small company.

It doesn't seem so ridiculous now.

Air North now with hundreds of employees even added a regular scheduled flight to Ottawa (via Yellowknife)a few years ago.

"The market has grown hugely," Sparlingsays.

Cruising altitude

Bob Cameron, a retired pilot and author of Yukon Wings, a history of aviation in the territory, says Air North can take a good chunk ofcredit for building that market over the years.

"I think they tapped in to the local spirit in many ways," Cameron said. "I think Air North was promoting the wonderful affordable convenience now of having outsiders have the privilege of coming to the Yukon."

"[Sparling]'s a pilot, he greets and meets the passengers, and how can you get more connected to your customer base than that?"

Sparlinghimself thinkscompetition has been key to building the market a bigger factor, even, than Yukon's growing population.

"It's simply price-stimulated growth," he said."People are travelling more often, and more people are travelling."

He's not sure what the coming years will bring, but he knows Air North will stay true to its name.

"We certainly have no aspirations to be a trans-continental carrier, or take on routes in the south. All of our flying has a northern component to it.

"I think we have carved a bit of niche out of the market now.I think that probably the big guys know that we are here to stay."

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