New owner of Canadian North says no immediate changes planned for routes or prices

The new owner of Canadian North says there are no immediate plans to change the routes, frequency or prices of flights. 

Carmele Peter is president of Winnipeg-based Exchange Income Corporation (EIC), which officially took over Canadian North last month after the transaction was approved by the federal government.

Peter said the company will meet with local communities and stakeholders to discuss how to improve the airline. She said there also may be a change to prices at some point, though not right away. 

"Ultimately, you know, we've had significant increases in, I'll call it aviation inflation. [We'll] see where those flight costs are in relation to pricing and, where there is an economic need, we'll address that," she said. 

"But we're not looking to do anything immediately — we'll make sure we do our homework."

News of the sale was first reported in February, but the sale required approval from the federal Competition Bureau and Transport Canada.

Geneviève Chassé, a spokesperson for the Competition Bureau, confirmed in an email that her organization had reviewed the transaction and decided not to challenge it. 

Chassé said she couldn't provide any details on the decision due to confidentiality. 

Peter said the bureau looked at whether the acquisition would lessen the number of choices northerners would having when flying, but ultimately determined it wouldn't. 

EIC owns several aviation companies that operate in northern and remote regions, including Calm Air, Perimeter Aviation, Keewatin Air and Custom Helicopters.

Peter said Calm Air currently serves the Kivalliq region in Nunavut, while Canadian North offers similar service to the east and west of that region.

"So there was no overlap that existed. So there wasn't going to be a lessening of competition," Peter said. "What you have here is effectively a change of owners, not one less airline." 

Peter said this situation is different from one that occurred in 2019, when "old Canadian North" and First Air merged. That merger effectively created a monopoly on air travel in Nunavut and the Competition Bureau had flagged several concerns about it.

"That obviously was a material difference in that transaction compared to ours," Peter said. "[Here, there's] no elimination of competition, which is I think obviously why the Competition Bureau got comfortable."