New Canadian North Officially Launches

For all practical purposes, Canadian North and First Air are now a single airline with one schedule, one reservation system and a unifying logo that, like the new airline, represents elements of both historic carriers. Although there is still plenty of work for the lawyers and regulators to do, the new airline has combined all the services relevant to its customers (and eliminated some redundant functions and jobs) and is now flying to a total of 24 northern communities connected to its southern hubs in Ottawa, Montreal and Edmonton.“Today’s launch of our unified flight schedule, customer service functions and brand are extremely important milestones within our ongoing integration journey,” CEO Chris Avery said Thursday in a press release. “We know that our customers and stakeholders depend on the essential services we provide, so we’ll maintain our focus on safe and reliable operations as we continue to integrate our operations over the coming months, while providing caring and helpful service every day, every flight.” The two former airlines, both owned by Inuit corporations, were under increasing pressure from southern carriers cherrypicking their most profitable routes. The rationalization is an attempt to cut costs to maintain the expensive service to the North’s more isolated destinations.