Northern airlines and rotary wing operators received a $2.9 million lift on Friday from the GNWT.
The package includes the following allocations:
- Summit Air $1,245,000
- Great Slave Helicopters $497,000
- Buffalo Airways $397,000
- Acasta Helicopters $319,000
- South Nahanni Airways $164,000
- Denendeh Helicopters $132,000
- Landa Aviation $81,000
- KSA国际影视传媒檃hsho Helicopters $42,000
- Sahtu Helicopters $38,000
- Dehcho Helicopters $29,000
The funding announcement comes as other NWT airlines this month have been able to resume some flights after the Covid-related downturn decimated their operations.
photo courtesy of Summit Air
North-Wright Airways in June restarted some of its passenger flight schedules in the Sahtu region, with Northwestern Air Lease able to do the same to some degree in the South Slave.
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Both companies ramped up their schedules with the help of the $8.7 million in federal funding for Northern airlines, announced in May.
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The Norman Wells-based North-Wright received $589,000 from that assistance and Northwestern, based in Fort Smith got $793,000.
Air Tindi, which received $1.5 million from Ottawa, increased its services to 40 per cent of normal in May and was looking at a 75 per cent rise in June.
"This funding will help northern aviation companies continue to operate as they deal with the effects of the Covid-19 global pandemic," said Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek. "While this is an important step that will help these companies to stay in the air in the short-term, we must continue to work with our federal partners to ensure that longer-term support is available to support the aviation industry."
Including the funding announced on Friday, the GNWT has also helped NWT aviation businesses save about $2 million through the waiving of leases, licences, and concession fees for businesses operating at NWT airports, and the waiving of landing fees at those airports.
