First Air's Yellowknife to Inuvik flights to no longer stop in Norman Wells

First Air is ending service between Yellowknife and Norman Wells this May, the airline announced Friday.

The airline says it will now offer non-stop daily service between Yellowknife and Inuvik, using ATR42-500 aircraft.

The route change takes effect May 17.

"The demand just wasn't there on that [Norman Wells] route but it was between Yellowknife and Inuvik," said Dan Valin, manager of marketing and communications for First Air.

"More people were flying the entire route and we weren't getting a lot of people boarding just for Norman Wells."

He said the airline will monitor and review the demand for the route in the future.

Flights between Yellowknife, Norman Wells and Inuvik are currently being operated as a codeshare route between First Air and Canadian North.

The codeshare agreement between First Air and Canadian North ends May 16.

Canadian North says it will continue to offer daily 737 jet service to Norman Wells.

"Norman Wells has long been an important link within our overall Mackenzie Valley network and we enjoy tremendous support from our customers there," said Kelly Lewis, spokesperson for Canadian North, in an email to CBC News.

"We are confident that there is sufficient demand for Canadian North to operate daily flights to Norman Wells."