Keewatin Air (

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tarif ...

: FK) is an airline that operates from

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada.Company Bases
/ref> The airline was started by Frank Robert May (who had been a pilot for

Lamb Air Lamb Air Ltd. was a Canadian airline that began operations in 1934 in The Pas, Manitoba, and went out of business in 1981. History Tom Lamb was the son of Thomas Henry Peacock (THP) Lamb, who had emigrated from England in the late 19th centu ...

) and his wife Judy Saxby in 1971, in the Keewatin Region, then part of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

. It was formed as "Keewatin Air Limited" to provide charter services to the region. It was the first airline to have a permanent base in Nunavut (then known as the Keewatin Region of the Northwest Territories). In 1987 it expanded to include

medical evacuation Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...

(MEDEVAC) services, to what would become the

Kivalliq Region The Kivalliq Region (; Inuktitut syllabics: ᑭᕙᓪᓕᖅ ) is an administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. It consists of the portion of the mainland to the west of Hudson Bay together with Southampton Island and Coats Island. The regional c ...

, using a fleet of aircraft that began with a Tradewind aircraft - a multi-modified Beech 18 with a

turbine engine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the direct ...

and

tricycle gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle ...

. This aircraft was followed by a Westwind, another modified Beech 18 with turbine engines and eventually these were replaced by Merlin IIA aircraft that had the added benefit of being pressurized and had turboprops. The MEDEVAC service is now known as "Nunavut Lifeline". Currently three Kingair 200 aircraft are based in Rankin Inlet, one in

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname ...

. and two in Iqaluit, where the airline also bases a Lear 35 for the long hauls to

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the c ...

and a

Pilatus PC-12 The Pilatus PC-12 is a pressurized, single-engined, turboprop aircraft, manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Stans, Switzerland, since 1991. It was designed as a high-performance utility aircraft that incorporates a large aft cargo door in ...

to access the short strips. In 1998 the company formed

Kivalliq Air Keewatin Air (IATA: FK) is an airline that operates from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The airline was started by Frank Robert May (who had been a pilot for Lamb Air) and his wife Judy Saxby in 1971, in the Keewatin Region, then part of the Northwe ...

to provide scheduled air service within the Kivalliq Region and to Winnipeg and Churchill. That service has since been cancelled. In 2005 the company was sold to Exchange Industrial Income Fund (now Exchange Income Corporation), owners of Perimeter Aviation,

Bearskin Airlines Bearskin Lake Air Service LP, operating as Bearskin Airlines, is a regional airline based in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It is a division of Perimeter Aviation and operates services in northern Ontario and Manitoba. Its main base is at Thun ...

and

Calm Air Calm Air International LP. is a full service airline, offering passenger, charter and freight services in northern Manitoba and the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut. It is owned by Exchange Income Corporation with its main base in Winnipeg, Manitoba. ...

. May and Saxby continued to manage the airline for a short period after the sale.

Destinations

Charter services are available to destinations throughout North America.Charter Services
/ref>

Fleet

As of February 2011 the following 24 aircraft were registered with

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transporta ...

and at least 9 listed with Keewatin Air.Keewatin Air fleet
/ref> The Transport Canada website also shows a

Beechcraft Model 18 The Beechcraft Model 18 (or "Twin Beech", as it is also known) is a 6- to 11-seat, twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. Continuously produced from 1937 to Novem ...

3NM but with a cancelled certificate from 1999.Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Aircraft Details
/ref>

Accidents and incidents

* On December 22, 2012, a Fairchild Metro 3/23 twin-engine turboprop aircraft belonging to Perimeter Aviation but chartered by Kivalliq Air crashed near the end of the runway at

Sanikiluaq Airport Sanikiluaq Airport is located at Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, Canada, and is operated by the Government of Nunavut. It is one of the few airports in Nunavut that uses magnetic headings for the runway rather than true headings. Airlines and destinati ...

northern Canada Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories an ...

, killing a six-month-old baby and injuring the eight other people on board. The cause was not immediately known.

References

External links

Keewatin Air official site
{{Airlines of Canada Air Transport Association of Canada Regional airlines of Nunavut Airlines established in 1972