North Star Air has a new aircraft flying around Northwest Ontario as COVID-related freight demand remains strong. In December, North Star Air’s newest aircraft, an ATR 72, entered service. “The timing was fortunate,” says Frank Kelner Chairman and CEO of North Star Air.
“This was one the busiest fall/winters for freight we’ve seen in some time. The aircraft joined the fleet at exactly the right time.”
This ATR, the 5th now in North Star Air’s fleet, is one of the newer 500 series variants. In 2018, North Star Air became the first operator of the 500 series ATR 72 in Canada. North Star Air says the reliability and performance of the newer variants provides a competitive advantage. But there is something else unique about the newest member of the fleet. A large cargo door (LCD) modification was made on the aircraft, increasing the cargo door size from 50”x60” to 117”x71”. “We see this as being a huge hit with our customers” says Kelner. “The days of loading lifts of plywood sheet by sheet are over.”
The door, which is over twice the size of existing ATR aircraft, enables full lifts of lumber, drywall, large drilling equipment and other over-sized items to be loaded as a single unit. North Star Air believes this will make the loading and unloading process easier and less cumbersome. North Star Air has made the loading process even easier by installing a roller floor system in the aircraft. “The plane can take five 108”x88” cookie sheets. We think that by pre-loading the cookie sheets before the plane arrives, we can turn the plane in 15 minutes instead of an hour today,” says Kelner. With a useful load of 17,000lbs, North Star Air says the ATR 72 will be the largest and most efficient pure-freight aircraft in Northwest Ontario.
While North Star Air is pleased with the airplane today, the journey to getting it into service was not easy. “Shopping for airplanes is a bit like shopping for cars. There are many brokers and many planes, but instead of searching around Thunder Bay, we had to search around the world” says President and COO Jeff Stout. The complications of COVID made the evaluation process even more difficult. “When you’re making a big investment, you want to see it firsthand to make sure you’re not buying a lemon,” Stout adds. North Star Air finally identified an aircraft in Australia. At the time, Australia was still under severe travel restrictions, prohibiting the airline from sending evaluation staff in. “We did all our evaluations electronically. Our maintenance team was on video chat multiple times a week examining the aircraft and watching test flights,” Stout says.
Finally in June, North Star Air purchased the aircraft and arranged for its flight to Canada, which included stops in Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Russia and Alaska, Stout adding “once the aircraft was in Canada the real work began.”
Once in Canada, North Star Air worked with Sault Ste. Marie, ON based Springer Aerospace to convert the aircraft from its passenger configuration to all-freight and to install the large cargo door. Additional modifications were also made to protect the aircraft from gravel damage seen when operating into remote Northern airports. “The large door modification gave us some anxiety” Stout says, “it required that Springer cut the new door directly into the aircraft’s fuselage. If the cut was off by more than a couple of centimeters, the aircraft could have required substantial repair.”
Over the course of six months, Springer Aerospace worked diligently to install the large door into the aircraft, along with a new interior to withstand the long hours the plane would see in Canada’s north. While the original plan was for the aircraft to begin revenue flying in late January, it was around September that Kelner knew it would be needed sooner. “We saw the amount of extra freight flying still happening because of COVID. I knew we needed this plane sooner,” he says. Springer met the call to action. “They were working 24hrs per day,” Kelner says.
Finally in the last week of November, the aircraft modifications were complete. “We were hoping to have a party when the aircraft came out of the hangar, but it had to get to work right away,” Kelner says, adding that now that winter roads have begun, they have had a chance to catch their breath and celebrate the achievement.
Although Kelner, ever the entrepreneur adds, “now our focus is getting ready for a busy summer season.”
North Star Air’s newest freight ATR can be found flying out of its bases in Kapuskasing, Pickle Lake and Red Lake, ON. To learn more about all of our aircraft, you can visit www.northstarair.ca or email Charter Sales team at charters@northstarair.ca
