News
Air Tindi assists with wildfire evacuations
July 27, 2011, Yellowknife, N.W.T. - Discovery Air Inc. subsidiary, Air Tindi Ltd., has been called in by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources to help with ongoing efforts to protect residents of Northwestern Ontario’s many remote First Nations’ communities from the numerous forest fires currently raging across the region.
July 27, 2011 By Carey Fredericks
One of Air Tindi’s de Havilland Dash 7 aircraft has been repositioned to Ontario to aid with evacuation flights. The airplane’s short take-off and landing capabilities combined with its 46-passenger, 10,000-pound capacity made it the ideal solution for getting residents out of air-access-only communities as quickly as possible in the face of this evolving natural disaster.
“We make our home in the North and our employees, Aboriginal business partners and customers deal with the threat of forest fires every summer,” said Air Tindi President Chuck Parker. “In situations like this we all collectively understand the need to make sacrifices and act quickly to help keep fellow Northerners out of harm’s way.”
In particular, Air Tindi and its majority Aboriginal-owned partnership Tli Cho Air Inc. would like to thank Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. for its willingness to release one of the Dash 7 aircraft it has under contract so that it could be used to assist with the evacuation effort in Ontario.
“The team at Diavik was willing to work with us to come up with a slightly revised transportation schedule for the mine to accommodate our assistance in Northwestern Ontario,” said Parker. “Their flexibility during this extremely hazardous time is greatly appreciated.”
Discovery Air would like to express its condolences to all of the people in Northern Ontario that were displaced from their home communities and wish them a speedy return home.
