Wasaya eyeballs northeastern expansion: Thunder Bay air carrier says Sudbury, Sault, Timmins in long-range plans.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: NEWS

Could Dash 8 service between Sudbury and Thunder Bay become a reality someday soon?

"In a word, 'yes,'" responded Michael Rodyniuk, CEO of Wasaya Airways, who said the Thunder Bay-headquartered regional air carrier is keen to expand service into northeastern Ontario.

As the opportunity allows us to, it is definitely on our radar and we're monitoring the market very closely. It's much more of a question of when as opposed to if.

The First Nations-owned carrier recently announced the launch of double-daily flights between Winnipeg and the northwestern Ontario communities of Sioux Lookout, Sandy Lake First Nation and Pikangikum First Nation, scheduled to begin August 14.

But running scheduled east-west service out of Thunder Bay to cities in the northeast is definitely in their long-range plans, confirmed Rodyniuk, who declined to get into specifics on flight frequency and timeframe.

The airline has been doing its market research and is procuring more Dash 8 aircraft.

Our long-term strategy does encompass all of Ontario, and it moves east and west out of Ontario.

Strengthening service into Winnipeg remains a priority but they've also evaluated making market entries into northern Manitoba, the Far North, and northeastern Ontario as well.

"We've looked at it a lot and see great potential in that area," said Rodyniuk, when asked if Northern Ontario could support competition with Bearskin Airlines on the east-west route.

Wasaya, which is owned by 12 Cree and Oji-Cree communities in northwestern Ontario, runs a fleet of 21 passenger and cargo aircraft.

The once debt-ridden and safety-challenged carrier emerged from corporate restructuring in 2016.

Rodyniuk was hired to clean up many internal issues and make the 27-year-old airline safer, profitable, and provide more opportunity for First Nation peoples to participate.

That means solidifying its core operations in the northwest first before expanding outward, he said. "But I also see some really high yields on the eastern traffic coming out of Thunder Bay which certainly begs a second look."

Rodyniuk confirmed that he's received expressions of interest from First Nations in the northeast, particularly the Cree communities.

He said they've run some initial numbers on two-way daily passenger runs and cargo tonnage into the Manitoba communities of Thompson, Churchill, and even further north into Rankin Inlet.

"We've also done the same going east out of Thunder Bay into Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie...