Wasaya takes off into package freight: North Bay aircraft refurbisher reveals leading-edge cargo carrier.

• Author: Dawson, Chris
• Position: NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO

Voyageur Aviation Corp. showed off its latest refurbishing project at its North Bay hangar on April 20. A former Air Canada Jazz airliner has been transformed into a unique package freighter.

"It is a conversion from a Dash 8-100 passenger aircraft into what we call a package freighter," explained Scott Tapson, president of Voyageur Aviation Corp.

"So our engineering group at Voyageur has developed the conversion for the aircraft to take out the passenger seats and basically fit it with what we call a Class E cargo compartment."

"It really creates a new life for this aircraft as a freighter, and we believe this aircraft is going to fit very well in the category of freighters, as it will be able to carry between three and five metric tons," he added.

"We are able to get a 10,000-pound payload out of this aircraft, which is quite significant --highest payload of any aircraft in its class."

The refurbished Dash 8-100 is one of two package freighters that Thunder Bay's Wasaya Airways has purchased.

Michael Rodyniuk, president-CEO of First Nations-owned Wasaya, said they will utilize the two refurbished Dash 8-100s for moving various goods such as food, fuel and even building supplies up to remote Northern communities that are next to impossible to reach by road.

"It came in very affordable and it comes in as a market dominant machine that will give us a competitive advantage in the marketplace moving goods in and out of the North," Rodyniuk said about communities they service, such as Sandy Lake and Fort Severyn in Northern Ontario.

Rodyniuk said the new service will allow them to bring in fresh produce, which is tough to deliver with the planes in their current fleet.

"This aircraft will allow us to get in and out of the communities and deliver good product and frequency...