First Air, Canadian North to codeshare flights starting this summer

First Air and Canadian North have announced they will now "codeshare" some routes,selling seats and cargo space on the other airline'sflights.

This comes after an announcementlast October that the two airlines were no longer planning tomerge.

On its website, Canadian North says the Northern airlines' "extraordinarily high operating costs versus relatively low passenger and cargo volumes" meant the scheduled flightsof both airlines were not sustainable.

The airlinessaycodesharesare less complex than mergers but carry many of the same benefits, including better flight schedules and improved connections for passengers.

Canadian North/First Aircodeshare routes

• Edmonton -Yellowknife
• Yellowknife -Norman Wells -Inuvik
• Yellowknife -Kugluktuk -Cambridge Bay
• Yellowknife -Rankin Inlet - Iqaluit
• Ottawa -Iqaluit
• Iqaluit-Pangnirtung -Qikiqtarjuaq
• Iqaluit-Clyde River -Pond Inlet

The airlines will operate a new flight schedule between Iqaluit and Ottawa. From Ottawa, First Air will flyeveryday at 9:15 a.m. and Canadian North will flyat 12:45 p.m.Flights to Ottawa will leave Iqaluit at 1:45 p.m.and 5 p.m.

Also as part of the partnership, new daily jet service will replace Dash 8 flightsbetween Yellowknife and Cambridge Bay. Non-stop flights between Yellowknife and Inuvik will be added Mondays and Fridays,and aMonday morning flight southbound from Yellowknife will be introduced.

Shared flights between First Air and Canadian North are expected tostart in August.