Jet fuel runs out at some Nunavut airports
Last Updated: Friday, August 17, 2007 | 9:19 AM CT
CBC News
Airports in Rankin Inlet, Resolute Bay and Baker Lake are out of jet fuel, while the supply in Hall Beach is running low, according to a Nav Canada notice issued Thursday.
As a result, Calm Air had to turn back two flights that day, while the Nunavut government said it plans to fly in more fuel Friday to tide over the Rankin Inlet airport until its usual supply comes in by ship.
"Looks like we're going to do an airlift into the community to at least get us through between now and when our marine resupply occurs," Shawn Maley, Nunavut's assistant deputy minister for community and government services, said Thursday.
Maley said the resupply ship is expected to arrive in Rankin Inlet in about a week and a half. Meanwhile, a tanker of fuel has already arrived in Resolute Bay and its fuel is being tested.
Calm Air vice-president Rebecca Condon said two of its flights bound for Rankin Inlet, considered to be a hub community in Nunavut, had to turn back Thursday when they learned of the fuel shortage.
"They had left Churchill en route to Rankin and we're notified in the air that there was no fuel," Condon said.
Jet fuel is available for medevacs and emergency uses, Maley said.
He stressed that this kind of situation is not unusual, as there has been a higher demand for fuel mostly because of an increase in aircraft activity in the mining sector.
"This time of year in communities that have tank farms, you know, there's a finite line between your ability to supply and the ability to sell, and we're just at that threshold now," he said.
"It's never good to run out in a situation like Rankin Inlet, where you're a hub. But we have, and we're making a quick, aggressive move to ensure there is a fuel supply here and we're dealing with the airlines."
Friday's airlift of fuel to Rankin Inlet is expected to cost the Nunavut government $200,000 — a high price, Maley acknowledged, but he added that money for such contingencies is included in the government's budget.
