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Bearskin Airlines

Bearskin Airlines
Bearskin Airlines Logo.svg
IATA ICAO Callsign
JV BLS BEARSKIN
Founded July 17, 1963
Hubs
Focus cities Sudbury Airport
Frequent-flyer program Aeroplan
Fleet size 14
Destinations 12
Company slogan Let the Bear take you there!
Parent company Exchange Income Corporation
Headquarters Sioux Lookout, Ontario
Key people John Hegland, Founder
Website www.bearskinairlines.com

Bearskin Lake Air Service LP, operating as Bearskin Airlines, is a regional airline based in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It operates services in northern Ontario and Manitoba. Its main bases is Thunder Bay International Airport (YQT), with a hub at Greater Sudbury Airport (YSB).

The airline was established in 1963 by bush pilot Otto John Hegland and started operations in July 1963 from its base at Big Trout Lake, Ontario (but was named after Bearskin Lake where Hegland had a general store). It started out by providing only charter services to the remote First Nations reserves in northern Ontario, using bush planes equipped with floats in the summer and skis in the winter. In 1977, it began its first regular scheduled flights between Big Trout Lake and Sioux Lookout.

From then on, other scheduled flights were progressively added, first to Thunder Bay, followed by Kenora and Winnipeg. This was also the period when the Government of Ontario began constructing new airfields that would make the northern communities accessible year-round. Therefore, in the late 1970s to the early 1980s, Bearskin made the transition of bush planes to wheeled commuter planes.

Following the collapse of NorOntair in 1996, Bearskin picked up over two thirds of that carrier's routes, thereby adding scheduled service to all the major northern Ontario cities. Three years later, it expanded operations to destinations in northern Manitoba. In 2003, it sold its routes and assets servicing northern First Nations communities to Wasaya Airways. This marked as a break with its bush flying background to focus on becoming a regional carrier.


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