Demand pushes northern airline to bring in bigger plane

Higher demand from passengers flying to northern Saskatchewan out of Prince Albert has led Pronto Airways to more than double its flight capacity once a week.

The northern airline flies out of Prince Albert five days a week, but its flights are typically 16-seaters. But now, on Friday afternoons, it’ll be using a 39-seater, the ATR-42.

“We’ve added extra larger capacity to meet the demand of our customers and our passengers,” Dennis Baranieski, Pronto’s vice-president and general manager said.

The weekly flight services Wollaston Lake, Stony Rapids, Fond-du-Lac and Uranium City, Sask.

Barianeski said demand has been building for some time. The airline began flying out of Prince Albert to the far north in 2006.

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“There’s been a steady growth in demand for the services we provide for passengers and cargo. We’ve added an extra aircraft over the years and still that demand was increasing to the point where we decided to add a large gauge of equipment or larger aircraft on certain flights to meet the demand on those particular days and flights.”

Its passengers are mainly people travelling for business, mining, area residents and tourists. But he said a large number of the passengers are local residents travelling in and out of the North.

Pronto Airways is 25 per cent owned by the Black Lake First Nation.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames