As Air North boasts an approximate $5-million profit after taxes from the past year, it has some major plans for the coming year.

Those activities will help it continue to solidify its role as a northern carrier based in the North, president Joe Sparling said today.

The Yukon airline held its annual general meeting this week.

The event drew approximately 200 shareholders, who make up 10 per cent of the company’s total shareholders, Sparling said in an interview.

He noted he was pleased with the impressive turnout.

While Sparling didn’t get into specific ridership and sales numbers, he said officials are pleased with the record sales and passenger levels the airline has experienced over the last year.

Air North flys to Old Crow, Dawson City, Inuvik, Yellowknife, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, Kelowna, B.C. and Vancouver.

It also holds down private contracts with organizations like Holland America.

Last year’s success is translating into the $5-million profit after taxes.

Sparling stressed the successful year – which follows a couple of leaner years – had little to do with the company’s business model.

“It was mainly due to low fuel prices,” he said, also noting that despite a tough economy, “people are continuing to travel.”

The past year has also seen the airline expand its Whitehorse hangar to 40,000 square feet.

“We’ve basically doubled it,” he said, pointing out Air North has been able to fit up to three jets in the expanded space.

The airline also welcomed two new ATR 42-300 to its fleet earlier this month for its Old Crow-Dawson-Inuvik route.

As officials look to the coming year, Sparling said the focus will continue to be on its role as a northern airline.

The ground has already been broken on an 11,000-square-foot operations and maintenance building, expected to be finished in December.

“That’s a big project,” he said.

The building will mean no longer having to hire a third party out of Calgary to deal with dispatch for the airline, he said.

The move will also addd to Air North’s staff in the Yukon by about 10 full-time equivalent skilled positions once the function is moved here.

It will also mean having operations and maintenance staff all under one roof, Sparling pointed out.

Air North is working with local contractors in an effort to promote local jobs on the building construction. The precise number of workers and positions on the construction project will vary depending on what phase it’s in.

The airline will also add another two Boeing 737s to its fleet – moving to the 737-500 series while it retires its older 737-200s – partly in anticipation of a paved runway at the airport in Dawson. (It’s now gravel.)

In the meantime, the company continues to employ 600 staff in full- and part-time positions with approximately 300 positions in the Yukon and another 300 in gateway communities it flies to.

With the focus on further solidifying its place in a northern market, Sparling said the airline is not looking at expanding any time soon.

“We want to be the hub (in the Yukon),” he said.

Statistics show the airline employs about 20 full-time equivalent staff for every 100 takeoffs, he added.

By STEPHANIE WADDELL Star Reporter