Wasaya Airways (WP, Pickle Lake) will induct ten additional Dash 8 aircraft into its fleet over the next five years airline Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Rodyniuk has disclosed.
Speaking to provincial newspaper Sudbury, Rodyniuk said the added capacity would allow the resurgent Canadian regional operator to meet anticipated market demand and expansion across the province of Ontario.
“If market opportunities present themselves, we have the capacity to be able to accelerate that,” he said.
The turboprops will be sourced via partner Air Canada (AC, Montréal Trudeau) and Chorus Aviation, a Halifax-based holding firm that recently delivered the world's first Dash 8-100 P2F-converted freighter via its Voyageur Aviation Corp. subsidiary.
“They’ve got aircraft available for us to pick up quickly and move them into our fleet.”
Wasaya Airways, which is owned by 12 Cree and Oji-Cree First Nation tribes in northwestern Ontario, operates a fleet of twenty-one aircraft including Cessna (single turboprop) 208B Grand Caravans, Beech 1900Ds, BAe 748s, PC-12s, and Dash 8-100 and Dash 8-300 passenger and cargo aircraft. It recently acquired two surplus Beech 1900Ds from Air Borealis (LBR, Goose Bay).
In terms of network growth strategy, Rodyniuk said Wasaya Airways was looking at using the added Dash 8 capacity to expand its network beyond northwestern Ontario to include scheduled east-west services out of Thunder Bay to cities in the province's northeast in the longterm.
“Our long-term strategy does encompass all of Ontario, and it moves east and west out of Ontario.”
As part of its restructuring and growth plan, Wasaya Airways made its maiden foray out of Ontario earlier this year with the launch of Sioux Lookout to Winnipeg International, Manitoba flights in May. Given their popularity, the carrier will add 2x daily services from Sandy Lake and Pikangikum First Nations to Winnipeg later this month.
