Canadian North

If you are standing at the fence in Ottawa and an older Boeing 737 with a stone figure on the tail lands, it is probably Canadian North. The airline supplies the Canadian Arctic – with passengers, mail, food and building materials, often all in the same aircraft. For spotters this is a small treasure trove: combi versions of the 737 Classic, ATR 42s approved for gravel runways and, until 2023, even the legendary 737-200 with gravel kit. Here you learn how the airline came about, what it flies and how to recognize it.

Canadian North at a glance

Canadian North is a Canadian regional and supply airline based in Ottawa. It flies to the territories of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories as well as to Kuujjuaq in Nunavik, the Inuit region in northern Québec. Most places there have no road connection to the south. Whatever does not arrive by ship in the short summer arrives by air – which is why cargo plays a much bigger role at Canadian North than at an ordinary passenger airline.

The hubs in the north are Iqaluit on Baffin Island, the capital of Nunavut, and Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories. Cambridge Bay is also an important node in the Kitikmeot region. In the south, Ottawa and Edmonton link the network with the rest of Canada, and Winnipeg is also on the schedule.

If you know the history, you understand the fleet better. Canadian North is really two airlines in one: the old Canadian North from the western Arctic and First Air from the east.

Two roots: Canadian North and First Air

The old Canadian North

Canadian North was formed in 1989 as a subsidiary of Canadian Airlines International, which had emerged in 1987 from Pacific Western Airlines and CP Air – both brought experience in northern service. Wardair, taken over by Canadian in 1989, also had its roots as a bush airline in Yellowknife.

In 1998 the company Norterra took over the airline. It was owned in equal parts by the Inuvialuit Development Corporation, which represents the Inuvialuit in the western Arctic, and the Nunasi Corporation from Nunavut. From 2003 the logo showed three symbols of the north: polar bear, midnight sun and northern lights. In 2014 the Inuvialuit also took over the second half.

First Air and Bradley Air Services

The second root is much older. Russ Bradley founded a flight school in Ottawa in 1946, which became Bradley Air Services in 1950. Scheduled service began in 1973 under the name First Air, at first with a small eight-seater between Ottawa and North Bay. Later First Air grew into the Arctic, buying Ptarmigan Airways in 1995 and NWT Air from Yellowknife in 1997. Since 1990 First Air had belonged to the Makivik Corporation (today Makivvik), which represents the Inuit of Nunavik.

First Air was always interesting for spotters: Boeing 727s as combis and freighters, a Boeing 767 as a freighter, Hawker Siddeley 748s and, until 2015, the Lockheed L-100 Hercules. The last civilian Hercules flight in Canada ended in April 2015 with a First Air aircraft.

The merger

A first attempt at a merger failed in 2014. In September 2018 Makivik and the Inuvialuit group then signed a binding agreement, and in June 2019 the federal government gave the green light with conditions. On November 1, 2019 both airlines were combined. The result is a mixture that tends to confuse newcomers:

• Name: Canadian North
• Livery: the new First Air look with the inukshuk
• Legal operator: Bradley Air Services, the former First Air company
• Code: 5T from Canadian North, the First Air code 7F was dropped

In early 2021 the old callsigns “FIRST AIR” and “EMPRESS” also disappeared. Since then the airline has flown as 5T/AKT with the callsign “ARCTIC.”

New owner: Exchange Income Corporation

For decades the airline was in Inuit hands. In February 2025 Makivvik as majority owner and the Inuvialuit Development Corporation announced the sale to Exchange Income Corporation (EIC) of Winnipeg, reportedly for 205 million Canadian dollars. The authorities approved, and the purchase was completed on July 2, 2025.

EIC already operates other airlines in the north, including Calm Air, which also flies to Nunavut, and Perimeter Aviation in Manitoba. The Kuujjuaq–Montreal route was not part of the deal; it was slated to be taken over by Air Inuit, Makivvik’s airline for Nunavik. For spotters little changed at first: name, codes and livery stayed.

The fleet: 737 Classic, 737-700 and ATR

Canadian North flies two aircraft families: Boeing 737s for longer routes and larger runways, ATR turboprops for short and unpaved runways. According to the Canadian civil aircraft register, there are around three dozen aircraft, all registered to Bradley Air Services (as of 2026).

Type	Seats according to Canadian North	Combi	Spotter tip
Boeing 737-700	134 or 138	no	Most modern type, 737 Next Generation
Boeing 737-400	156	no	Longest 737 in the fleet
Boeing 737-400 Combi	72 plus 4 pallets	yes	Large cargo door at the front left
Boeing 737-300	136	no	737 Classic with flat-bottomed nacelles
Boeing 737-300 QC	80 plus 3 pallets	yes	Quick Change: cabin can be reconfigured
ATR 42-300/-320	up to 42	yes	Combi for gravel and ice runways
ATR 42-500	up to 42	no	Six-blade propellers
ATR 72-500F	Freighter	–	Pure freighter

The Boeing 737-700 is the youngest model and flies mainly on the long routes south. The Boeing 737-400 and the Boeing 737-300 belong to the 737 Classic generation – types you hardly see in passenger service in Europe anymore. The manufacturer in both cases is Boeing.

For turboprops Canadian North relies on ATR. The ATR 42-300 is used here as a combi and can land on gravel and ice runways. The ATR 42-500 flies as a pure passenger version, the ATR 72-500 only as a freighter. Dash 8s, Fokker F28s and Fokker 100s also flew for the airline in the past.

Farewell to the 737-200 combi with gravel kit

For a long time Canadian North was one of the best-known operators of the Boeing 737-200 with gravel kit. This modification kit allows the jet to take off and land on gravel runways, as found at many Arctic locations. Most striking is a deflector on the nose gear that keeps kicked-up stones away from the fuselage. Protective measures on the landing gear and engines are added so that no gravel is ingested and no lines are damaged.

The last one was C-GDPA, a 737-200 combi that was a good 43 years old at its farewell. In December 2022 Canadian North announced the end: on gravel runways the airline has since relied on ATR turboprops. The last scheduled flight went on May 6, 2023 from Yellowknife to Cambridge Bay, and the day after the aircraft was ferried to Edmonton. ATRs took over the Yellowknife–Cambridge Bay–Kugluktuk rotation.

If you still want to experience the 737-200 in the north today, you have to look at other operators. In Canada the 737-200 last flew with Nolinor Aviation. You will find more on telling the generations apart in the guide Telling the Boeing 737 Original, Classic, NG and MAX apart.

Combi explained: cargo and passengers in one cabin

The combi principle is ideal for the Arctic. Many places get only a few flights per week, and every flight has to carry both people and supplies. On a combi, the front part of the main deck becomes the cargo hold, with the passengers seated behind it. A partition separates the two areas.

The 737-300 QC is a special variant: QC stands for Quick Change. The cabin can be reconfigured quickly, so the aircraft carries either more passengers or up to three pallets plus 80 passengers, depending on demand.

How to recognize Canadian North

The most important recognition feature is the inukshuk on the tail. This human figure built of stacked stones is an Inuit waymarker and comes from the livery that First Air introduced shortly before the merger. Since December 2021 the entire operation has run under the name Canadian North. The former logo with polar bear, midnight sun and northern lights, on the other hand, is history.

Further clues:

• Registration: Canadian aircraft carry a C- at the front, usually C-F or C-G for airliners.
• Type mix: An airline that flies 737-300s, 737-400s, 737-700s and ATR 42s at the same time is rare in Ottawa or Edmonton.
• Tracker: The ICAO code AKT appears there, not the flight number with 5T.

For the turboprops, the guide Telling the ATR 42/72 and Dash 8 apart helps. In short: the ATR is a high-wing aircraft with a T-tail and main landing gear in fairings on the fuselage, and the ATR 42 is clearly shorter than the ATR 72.

Network and partners

The network concentrates on the north: around two dozen places in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, from Grise Fiord and Resolute in the high north to Inuvik, Hay River and Fort Simpson in the west. Add to that Kuujjuaq and the southern gateways Ottawa, Edmonton and Winnipeg. Toronto, Calgary and Montreal were on the schedule at times but were dropped again.

Canadian North does not belong to an alliance. Instead there are partnerships: codeshares with Air North from the Yukon and with Calm Air, plus connection options for passengers transferring to the south, for example to Air Canada and WestJet. Since 2024 the airline also offers connections to the weekly flight of Air Greenland between Nuuk and Iqaluit.

Besides scheduled service, Canadian North flies charters throughout North America, for example for mining projects or groups, and maintains its own charter terminal in Edmonton for this.

Spotting Canadian North

For spotters from Europe, Canadian North is a target for a Canada trip, since there are no scheduled flights to Europe. Here are your best chances:

The north adds special conditions: long polar nights in winter, extreme cold and light that hardly sets in summer. You will find tips on cold and batteries in the article Plane spotting in winter. And because Canadian North is a real rarity in Europe, it is worth a look at spotting rare aircraft and How rare is my sighting?. You can find individual aircraft with the guide Tracking an aircraft by registration. If you want to compare Arctic flying, also take a look at Air Inuit, which operates similarly in Nunavik.

A serious accident: First Air 6560

The history also includes a tragic chapter. On August 20, 2011, a First Air 737-200 combi, registration C-GNWN, crashed on approach to Resolute in Nunavut. Of 15 people on board, twelve died and three survived with serious injuries. Canada’s investigation authority, the TSB, found that the aircraft had drifted sideways off the approach course in a cloud approach; a late-started descent, a partially unintentionally disengaged autopilot, a deviation in the compass system and coordination problems in the cockpit all played a part. The aircraft struck hills east of the runway shortly after the crew had initiated a go-around.

Common mix-ups

• Confusing Canadian North with Canadian Airlines – Canadian Airlines International was the parent of the old Canadian North and disappeared in 2001.
• Taking the inukshuk livery for First Air – since the merger the aircraft fly as Canadian North, even though the look comes from First Air.
• Looking for the old code 7F – First Air flew with 7F/FAB, today 5T/AKT applies.
• Taking every 737 for a 737-200 – Canadian North retired the 737-200 in 2023; today it is 737 Classics and 737-700s.
• Equating combi and passenger versions – the 737-400 combi has a large cargo door and fewer seats than the regular 737-400.
• Taking the ATR 42 for the ATR 72 – at Canadian North the ATR 72 flies only as a freighter, and in passenger service it is the shorter ATR 42.

Conclusion

Canadian North is not an airline for a quick checkmark in your collection but a piece of living Arctic aviation. Behind the name are two traditional companies, a fleet of 737 Classics, 737-700s and ATR 42s, and an operating style in which cargo is just as important as passengers. The 737-200 with gravel kit is now history, but combi jets and gravel-runway turboprops continue to make every sighting special.