Canadian North partners with Air Greenland to offer first international flight

Starting next June, Nunavummiut will have a much more direct route to Greenland.

Canadian North is partnering with Air Greenland to offer flights from Ottawa to Nuuk with a connection in Iqaluit.

The flight is the first time Canadian North spreads its wings internationally and will run Wednesdays from June to October.

One Nunavut resident is already looking forward to the simple travel itinerary.

Born in Nuuk, Navarana Beveridge is Denmark's honorary consul in Iqaluit, a volunteer position where she acts as a resource for Nunavummiut to access information about Greenland, Denmark and the Faroe Islands.

Whenever they want to go back, it takes Beveridge and her family at least two days and multiple layovers over thousands of kilometres, usually in Toronto and Reykjavik, Iceland not to mention the price.

"Usually for the three of us to go home, let's say for Christmas, the flights alone are going to set us back about $9,000 dollars, plus hotels and meals," she said. "It's an expensive affair."

A price tag for the new flight has not been released, but according to Air Greenland, the Iqaluit to Nuuk leg of the trip should take about two hours in a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-200, which can accommodate about 38 passengers.

"The new route to Greenland embodies Canadian North's dedication to fostering connectivityand cultural exchange, creating more opportunities for discovery and interaction across theArctic," reads a news release from Canadian North.

Beveridge echoed this.

"I think it's such an important connection between Inuit in Canada and Greenland in terms of just increased cooperation," she said.

Kevin Kelly, CEO of Travel Nunavut, sees the flight as an opportunity to increase tourism.

"Here, in Iqaluit, there is now the hotel capacity and the [...] outfitting services are also there, so the time is definitely right," he said. "There's opportunity for those passengers to actually have something to do."

There have been flights connecting Iqaluit and Nuuk in the past. Air Greenland operated a flight connecting the two capitals from the late 1980s to 2001 and then again from 2012 to 2014.