Condor Airlines won't fly to Yukon for at least the next 2 summers

Non-stop flights between Whitehorse and Frankfurt have been a summer staple for over two decades. But that's coming to an end for at least the next two summers and maybe longer.

Condor Airlines, which has long offered the weekly service through the summer, still has direct flights between Germany and the Yukon scheduled this year. It was the only regularly scheduled flight from Europe to Canada's North. However,changes at the Whitehorse airport and with the German airline will soon make it impossible for the airline to land in the Yukon.

The Yukon government is spending about $250 million to repave the main runway at Eric Nielson Whitehorse International Airport. That work will start later this year, and is expected to finish in 2026. In the meantime, all airlines will use the airport's second, smaller runway.

At the same time, Condor will switch next year from using smaller Boeing 767 aircraft to largerAirbuses A330s, and the new planes will be too big for the Whitehorse's alternate runway. So, after Labour Day, the airline won't be able to fly in and out of Whitehorse for at least the next two years.

And even after work on the runway finishes, Condor might not be able to returnto the Yukon.

In an email to CBC News, the Yukon government says that evenonce the runway is repaved, the airport may not be able to accommodate the Airbuses that Condor will be flying.

"There are additional airport improvements, staffing, and procedural systems that would be required to accommodate this larger aircraft safely," said Tourism and Culture department spokesperson Cameron Webber.

"The airport can only intake planes of this size under emergency circumstances."

CBC News contacted Condor Airlines but did not receive a response before publication.

Repaving the runway, Webber wrote, is intended to ensure "the shipment of personnel, goods, critical medical services,"and to support Yukon's tourism and resource sectors, as well as Arctic security.

To help maintain travel to and from Germany, the government, along with the Crown corporation Destination Canada, will jointly spend $120,000 to market indirect flights that connect Yukon's Air North with Condor flights to other Canadian cities, Webber said.

Most German-speaking Europeans who visit Whitehorse already connect through Vancouver, Webber added about 15,000 people annually, compared to 7,000 through Condor's direct flights.

Air North is already connecting Condor passengers to Whitehorse through other Canadian cities such as Edmonton and Vancouver, said Ben Ryan, spokesperson for the Yukon airline. He says they're also streamlining those connections.

"So next year, your bags will automatically transfer and hopefully that'll start sooner, like this summer," Ryan said.

He says Air North is now also working to offer more convenient connecting flights through those other cities, in line with Condor's schedule.

"We're trying to really create well-thought-out flight schedules that connect, particularly with their two flights a week to Edmontonwhich are Tuesdays and Fridays," Ryan said.

Impact hard to predict, says tourism association

Dylan Soo, executive director of the Tourism Industry Association of the Yukon (TIAY), said it's too soon to tell whether losing that weekly direct flight between Frankfurt and Whitehorse will have a big impact on visitation to the Yukon.

"It really is hard topredict any outcomes at this stage. There could be no loss, quite frankly, if Air North and Condor reach agreements," he said.

Sooalso said there could be added benefits for those who connect through Edmonton, for example.

"Processing through immigration and customs might be actually a little faster throughthe Edmonton airport, than the current Yukon airport."

But Werner Walcher, a German who ran a tourism business in Yukon for years, is sceptical. He calls the loss of Condor's direct flights to Whitehorse "extremely unfortunate."

"I think tourism and hospitality in the Yukon will be badly hurt with no direct flights," he said in an email to CBC News.

"Many possible guests will hate to go twice through another airport. More time, higher costs, language issues... just [inconvenient]."