Air North raises $4.8 million for new planes

[Henry Tenby]

http://whitehorsestar.com:80/archive...ed-48-million/

Air North raised $4.8 million in this week's offering of 636 company shares, said company president Joe Sparling. Sparling said Thursday the offering opened Monday and all the shares had been subscribed to by early Thursday afternoon.

Air North raised $4.8 million in this week’s offering of 636 company shares, said company president Joe Sparling.

Sparling said Thursday the offering opened Monday and all the shares had been subscribed to by early Thursday afternoon.

“It was pretty amazing,” he said of the speed at which the shares went for $7,500 each.

Air North will be using the money to help finance the purchase of a newer Boeing 737 to augment the fleet’s two existing 737s, as well as a newer turboprop to add to the company’s four Hawker Siddeleys, Sparling said.

He said Air North isn’t looking to buy another Hawker, but rather some other turbo aircraft, while looking toward a de Havilland Dash-8.

Both aircraft will be coming from the generation of the 1990s.

Sparling said the company has already been browsing to see what’s available on the market.

But now that the additional financing has been raised, the search will become much more focused and sophisticated, he said.

Sparling said buying a commercial passenger aircraft is a process that is quite involved.

There are no plans to expand the regular schedule to Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, he said.

Sparling said adding to the fleet builds capacity, as well as providing more back-up options.

There are plans, for instance, to add another aircraft to its summer charter business flying sport fishing enthusiasts between Vancouver and the Queen Charlotte Islands, he pointed out.

And Air North is currently flying two charters per week from Edmonton and Calgary to Nevada.

Sparling said with the anticipated slowdown in the economy, air travel isn’t expected to be as busy as last year, though last year was a “robust” year.

“I think we are approaching ‘08 a little bit more cautiously, although in our market, things are pretty healthy.”

Sparling, who pilots the 737 and co-founded the company in 1977, owns 51 per cent of air North while the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation owns 48.8 per cent through its Vuntut Development Corp.

The first 640 public shares sold by the company were offered in 2002 for $5,000 each.

Those shares and the shares subscribed to this week for $7,500 both provide the shareholder with four free flights per year, as well as a territorial tax benefit.