Air Tindi


Air Tindi is an airline based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. It operates scheduled and on demand charter services. Its main base is Yellowknife Airport and the airline was previously owned by the Arychuk family. The name Tindi means "the big lake" or "Great Slave Lake" in the local native Tłı̨chǫ Yatiì language.

History

Air Tindi was established by two families, Alex Arychuk and his wife Sheila, and his brother Peter Arychuk and his wife Teri. It began operations on 1 November 1988, with four float/ski aircraft. In 1990, it purchased its first De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter with the help of the Rae-Edzo Development Corporation, allowing the airline to expand and provide more services to the growing mining exploration industry. In 1991, Air Tindi merged with Latham Island Airways and acquired a further four aircraft in the process. By mid-1992, Air Tindi was operating four Twin Otters on floats. In 1993, its first large aircraft was purchased, a DHC 4 Caribou for re-supply work with the mining industry. A DHC Dash 7 was acquired in 1996.
On 19 December 2006, Air Tindi was sold to Discovery Air, a publicly traded holding company based in London, Ontario. The founders originally maintained their positions with Air Tindi, but various corporate disagreements led to Alex Arychuk leaving as president, and departing the Discovery Air board.
In August 2011 the Government of Nunavut announced that it had awarded a contract to Air Tindi and its partner Aqsaqniq, owned by Dennis Lyall, to provide medivac services to the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut. The previous holder of the contract, Adlair Aviation, appealed to the Nunavummi Nangminiqaqtunik Ikajuuti and a decision was expected by 11 October 2011. The decision to dismiss the appeal was made 29 October 2011 and the news released 31 October. Adlair was given an extension on their contract until the end of November 2011.

Destinations

Air Tindi operates services to the following domestic scheduled destinations :

Fleet

As of August 2019, Air Tindi had the following aircraft registered with Transport Canada and listed with Air Tindi:
AircraftNo. of aircraft
No. of aircraft
VariantsNotes
Beechcraft Super King Air56Model 200, Model 200C, Model B200GTThe B200GT is listed at Air Tindi as a King Air 250 and TC lists only two Model 200. Air Tindi site is blank for the Beech 200 but the Wayback Machine shows a fleet of three.
Cessna 20843208 Caravan, 208B Grand Caravan7 and 9 passengers
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter56Series 30019 passengers
Dash 755DHC-7-102, DHC-7-103Combi aircraft, 46 passengers

The Transport Canada site lists two de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter DHC-3-T Turbo-Otter with cancelled certificates.

Accidents and incidents

On 4 October 2011, a Tindi owned Cessna Caravan en route from Yellowknife Airport to Lutselk'e Airport crashed about west of the community. There were, including the pilot, four people on the aircraft and two were reported killed. The condition of the two survivors was not disclosed but they had been sent to Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife.