Canadian Airline Series: Canadian North
Today’s topic is the first of a series of posts, every Tuesday, outlining some of the smaller airlines in Canada, namely excluding Air Canada, Porter Airlines and WestJet Airlines.
Over the weekend, I was attempting to create a good air travel strategy for my brother who recently moved to London (Ontario) for work and has been driving back almost every weekend to see the family. My research turned into a more detailed one as I realized that there are a huge number of smaller sized airlines in Canada which fly to less populated cities in the country. I will be writing a series of posts introducing these smaller airlines and mention any frequent flyer programs associated with them.
This first post will recap the Canadian North airline, which is an airline headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Its major hub is the Yellowknife Airport. It mainly operates services to major communities in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Canadian North Route Map
| Airport | Destinations |
| Ottawa (Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport) |
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| Iqaluit (Iqaluit Airport) |
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| Pangnirtung (Pangnirtung Airport) |
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| Clyde River (Clyde River Airport) |
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| Igloolik (Igloolik Airport) |
|
| Yellowknife (Yellowknife Airport) |
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| Edmonton (Edmonton International Airport) |
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| Norman Wells (Norman Wells Airport) |
|
| Cambridge Bay (Cambridge Bay Airport) |
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| Kugaaruk (Kugaaruk Airport) |
|
| Rankin Inlet (Rankin Inlet) |
|
Canadian North offers both Aeroplan rewards points both to collect and to redeem. Passengers can redeem Air Miles points for travel on Canadian North.
Canadian North travels to many of the larger airports in Canada such as the Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW) and Montreal-Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport (YUL). If you’re looking for a direct flight from Ottawa to the North, such as Iqaluit, Canadian North offers those services.
Aurora Rewards
Canadian North also offers its own loyalty program called the Aurora Rewards that has an elite status program called Aurora Concierge. Some of the benefits of holding a Aurora Concierge elite status are the following: priority check-in, priority boarding, extra checked baggage, free alcoholic beverages, no fee changes. Another great benefit is that Aurora Concierge loyalty members have access to Air Canada’s Maple Leaf Lounges.
Elite Status
There are three elite status with Aurora Concierge: Silver, Gold, Diamond:
| Silver (12 qualifying one-way flights in one calendar year) |
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| Gold (20 qualifying one-way flights in one calendar year) |
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| Diamond (30 qualifying one-way flights in one calendar year) |
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There are two ways to earn Aurora Concierge membership; you will need Qualifying Points (QPs) or Qualifying Segments (QSs):
Wow, this is so inaccurate as to be farcical. Canadian North only operates scheduled service to two southern airports – Ottawa and Edmonton. All the other destinations are in the NWT or Nunavut. Elsewhere, they either codeshare or operate charter flights, for example from the Maritimes to the oil sands.
If you don’t believe me, check out their route map: http://www.canadiannorth.com/route-map (which is slightly out of date) and http://www.canadiannorth.com/info/codeshare (which is current)
Hi Thomas, thank you for pointing that out and I apologize for the misunderstanding with the Canadian North codeshare destinations. It has been clarified in the post now.