Air North is doing what it can to share the reduced workload among employees who have not been laid off in efforts to maintain its workforce, says company president Joe Sparling.

Sparling said in an interview last Thursday that at the end of 2019, Air North had a staff of 371 full-time equivalent positions.

That has been reduced to 208 full-time equivalent positions, he said.

“That doesn’t mean we have laid off half of those positions,” Sparling explained. “It means that some people are working reduced hours but are still working.”

The company president said Air North has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, like so many other businesses.

He said they estimate they lost approximately $6 million in 2020, after the financial assistance provided by the Yukon and federal governments.

Travel in the first months of the border closure in March and April were the worst, though there was improvement later in the spring as the border was opened to B.C., the N.W.T and Nunavut.

He said once the bubble was created with B.C. and the two territories, travel improved through the summer but slowed down heading into the fall, as is typical.

But with the closure of the border again in November, Sparling said, the number of passengers dropped like a rock, and December and January have been terrible.

Closing the border and removing the travel bubble with B.C. means that anyone arriving from outside the territory is required to self-isolate for 14 days.

“We are kind of back to where we were in June before the travel bubble opened,” Sparling said.

He said people are listening to the advice to stay home unless travel is essential.

As people in the territory, B.C. and Canada are now being vaccinated, Air North is hopeful it won’t be long before another travel bubble with B.C. can be re-established, Sparling said.

“We are not going to be back to pre-pandemic travel, I would suggest, for years rather than months,” he said. “So at Air North, we need to prepare ourselves.”

Sparling said travel inside the Yukon on the company’s northern routes is down but not as much as the travel south on their Boeing 737s.

People are more comfortable travelling inside the Yukon than outside, he said, adding that for communities like Old Crow, air service is essential for everything from groceries to medical travel.

Sparling said the 737 routes have been heavily impacted.

The company is no longer offering flights to Alberta, and trips to Vancouver have been reduced from 14 a week to seven, he said.

“The company is going to survive,” said a confident Sparling. “We are going to get through it.”

He said Air North is most thankful for the financial assistance it has received from the governments.

And he’s thankful when Yukoners do travel that they choose Air North.

In sharing the workload, for instance, pilots who are in management are flying the minimum to stay current with their licensing requirements– at least three take-offs and three landings every 90 days, he explained.

Sparling said it’s important to share the load to try to keep qualified personnel around so the company has the workforce it needs when the time comes to open back up.