Air North, Yukon's Airline

We were founded in 1977, by Joe Sparling and Tom Wood, as Air North Charter and Training. Joe and Tom's original intent is right there in the name - we were to offer charter flights to the mining industry and flight training services - but it didn't take long for us to grow beyond that original vision.

By the early 1980s, our fleet had grown from a single Cessna 206 to include a variety of aircraft on wheels, floats, and skis - until we acquired the famous and world-tested Douglas DC-3 and DC-4 aircraft. It's then that the time was right to begin offering scheduled flights within the Yukon, and into Alaska.

Just over ten years later, two important changes began: we retired the Douglas aircraft in favour of Hawker Siddeley 748 turboprops, and the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation of Old Crow expressed an interest in investing in Air North. The investment from the Vuntut Gwitchin made it possible a few years later, in 2002, for us to enter a whole new era: we purchased two Boeing 737 jets.

On June 2002, we began flying between Whitehorse and Vancouver, and also connected the Yukon with Alberta with our flights to Calgary and Edmonton. Our growth was mirrored in new branding, as we adopted our current operating name of Air North, Yukon's Airline.

Since then, we've bought more aircraft and modernized our fleet with Boeing 737-400 and -500 jets, and expanded our route network to include Kelowna, in 2013, and an ambitious new flight connecting Whitehorse with Yellowknife and Ottawa in 2014. The new route has won praise from our passengers for our attention to detail, service, and in-flight meals.

Much of what we serve on our flights is made fresh by our Whitehorse-based flight kitchen. Our talented team work hard every day to serve special treats in-flight.

We're an airline that invites you to expect something more-especially the unexpected. Did you know that our President and co-founder, Joe Sparling, is one of our Boeing 737 captains? Also, we're one of the largest employers in the Yukon Territory, with over 250 full and part-time employees - in addition to the more than 250 full and part-time employees who work in our Vancouver base, providing above and below the wing services for some of the world's biggest airlines in addition to our own flights.

One in fifteen Yukoners, including the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, hold an equity or employment stake in our airline.