Air North held its annual general meeting on Tuesday evening to cap off what president Joe Sparling calls another successful year.

One hundred and sixty shareholders showed up at the meeting to discuss the achievements of the company over the past year, and where it's headed in the future.

'It was a strong year, I'm very happy for us,' Sparling said in an interview this morning.

Air North generated $37.5 million in revenue in the past year, up 25 per cent from the previous year.

Ridership also rose from just under 100,000 passengers to approximately 107,000 passengers.

The airline also moved four million pounds of cargo, which also experienced a slight increase from the previous year.

'The shareholders present were all pretty happy,' Sparling said. 'There wasn't much in the way of concerns.'

Come September, class-C shareholders with Air North will have to choose from two offerings.

If they want their money back, they can turn in their shares. Or, they can convert them into a different type of shares if they wish to retain their flight dividends.

Sparling suspects the majority will convert them to a different type in order to hold onto their flight benefits.

Air North has almost 600 shareholders.

Sparling said the airline is exceeding expectations in the Alberta market, where it's experiencing larger-than-expected passenger loads.

Air North currently flies to Calgary and Edmonton four times a week. It may begin flying there five times weekly to accommodate the bigger loads over the summer season.

While it hasn't been as successful within the Yukon and British Columbia, Sparling said both passenger and cargo traffic had still increased in those markets from the previous year.

The company recently launched a television ad campaign on Global television. It also painted the tails of all its aircraft orange and added a Yukon logo to the aircraft.

'It's really distinctive and eye-catching,' Sparling said. 'In all the places we go, people are able to identify us as from the Yukon.'

The airline will be doing interior refurbishments on all of its aircraft in the near future, such as replacing the cabin upholstery, and Sparling said it also has a couple long-term plans.

He said there is the possibility of bringing in a newer generation of Boeing aircraft for the airline's southern routes within the next year, and that they would like to begin offering jet service to its northern destinations of Dawson City and Old Crow.

Before it adds jet service, however, there will have to be infrastructure improvements such as runway work, which is up to the territorial government.

Sparling said Air North has been encouraging the government to think about making such improvements.