Air North announces new flight to Toronto beginning in May

Air North will offer seasonal passenger service from Whitehorse and Yellowknife to Toronto beginning in May.

It is the first time the airline will have a scheduled flight to Toronto.

The flights will originate in Whitehorse and pick up passengers in Yellowknife before flying to the Ontario capital. The service will run until the end of September.

"The idea here is to pull the two markets where there is demand between Yellowknife and Toronto, and there is demand between Whitehorse and Toronto, so you put the two markets together and I think it will justify the service, in the same manner we justified the Ottawa service," said Joe Sparling, president of Air North.

The airline has been operating seasonal service to Ottawa since 2014, and has flown numerous charter flights to Toronto.

He said there will be two weekly flights to Toronto, and one to Ottawa.

Sparling said the airline's market data showed there was demand for a flight to Toronto from Whitehorse and Yellowknife, but it wasn't able to partner with one of the major Canadian airlines to offer the service.

"We thought, 'well, we will just fly there ourselves,'" he said.

Sparling says residents in Dawson City can also fly to Toronto on a same-day connection.