Air North launched a new stakeholder appreciation program Sunday that will provide all Yukoners with a $50 travel dividend.

Air North’s board of directors developed the stakeholder dividend as a way to recognize the contribution Yukoners have made to the airline’s success over the years.

“This initiative is unique, just as the relationship between Air North and the Yukon is unique,” board director Greg Charlie said Friday.

Charlie is also a member of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, which owns a 49 per cent stake in the airline.

“It is rare to find a bond between a business and a community as strong as the one our airline shares with Yukoners, and we don’t take that bond for granted,” he said. “We cherish it.”

All Yukoners are eligible for the dividend.

To redeem it online, Yukoners can log in to their account at flyairnorth.com and answer a series of “skill-testing questions,” including the difficult choice of which in-flight dessert they prefer.

Once they’ve gone through this process, the $50 is automatically loaded into their account as a credit that can be applied to future purchases, including flight reservations, air passes or gift certificates.

Yukoners who do not use an online account can also redeem the dividend by calling in. The program will run until May 15.

Air North President and CEO Joe Sparling said the initiative speaks to the relationship between Air North and the Yukon. It also speaks more broadly to the benefits of choosing local goods and services instead of relying on Outside sources to provide them.

“When Yukoners choose to fly with us, they indirectly strengthen the local economy – they help us generate revenues to support the Yukon’s GDP, they help us create jobs as we grow, and they help us maintain the quality, frequency, and affordability of our service,” Sparling said.

“In other words, when Air North succeeds, the Yukon benefits, and, to bring the relationship full-circle, our success is largely thanks to strong local support.

“Every Yukoner is a stakeholder in our business in some way, and our philosophy is to share our success with those who’ve helped us achieve it.”

The stakeholder dividend, Sparling added, “is our way of saying thank you to all Yukoners for choosing us to be their airline.”