Rankin Inlet Coun. Mike Shouldice was singing the praises of Calm Air — the only airline still servicing the Kivalliq region — after a recent presentation to hamlet council by airline president and CEO Gary Bell.
Shouldice said he made a positive post on Facebook concerning the airline because the meeting with Calm Air was really positive with lots of information.
He said Bell added lots of clarity to the questions asked of him.
“It sort of reminded me of the code share years with the president of First Air saying here's how much it cost to run a jet in the Arctic,” said Shouldice. “He'd say here's how many hoops you have to dance through to get it pressurized and authorized at -40 C and get it certified.”
“And, at the end of that, I was saying, 'Oh my goodness, that is mega-expensive. And then you, sort of, walk away from it saying I'll give it to them that they're not all going to retire rich off of my back on this. So, I'm open to it's hard to do business in that climate.
“But during this one, the presentation from Calm Air said quite clearly that “you know, we're trying to do the best job we can and where we can we're cutting people as many breaks as possible.'
“And then they went on to demonstrate that they ran more flights into small communities than the other carriers over into Quebec and the Western Arctic. They're not going to have figures for Northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario for remote carriers.”
Shouldice said Calm Air is running a dozen flights per week into the three largest Kivalliq communities and the airline has 150 employees in the Kivalliq region.
“So, they're making investments. They've built residences here. They've built hangars here. They're demonstrating that they're in it for the long haul.
“They're running a flight school to try and encourage young people to get into the air industry. They're not government subsidized and they're not getting government grants to run their airline.
“The beneficiary rate, in comparison to the data they gave us, is better than the other airlines, and your ability to use it as many times as you want during the year — one airline is once a year and another airline is three times a year and there's luggage restrictions and all kinds of other things — gives you the best rate and allows you to use it as often as possible. And they also offer a family rate.
“At the end of it, you're sort of saying here's a group of people who are not quadrupling my food rates. They're still at the old per kilogram, which are more than competitive. They're also a good corporate citizen, so they have my support right now.”
