Norman Wells, N.W.T., is running out of aviation fuel

‘To have this land on our lap, it’s not good, It’s not good at all,’ says North-Wright Airways president

The town of Norman Wells, N.W.T., is running low on aviation fuel — forcing some airlines to make adjustments and possibly throwing a wrench in people’s holiday travel plans.

Pascal Audet, the town’s deputy mayor, says it’s because low water on the Mackenzie River this year, along with the summer wildfires, disrupted the normal shipment of fuel to the community.

“It was kind of a double whammy there of of natural disasters so to speak, and that caused us not to get resupplied correctly,” Audet said.

“And here we are now, we’ve got a shortage of jet fuel now because of that.”

Norman Wells is about 700 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife and not accessible year-round by road, so many local supplies are shipped by seasonal barge on the Mackenzie — including aviation fuel. A winter road to the community is not yet open for this year, and it’s not expected to open to large trucks for several more weeks.

The shrinking supply of aviation fuel came as a surprise last week to North-Wright Airways, a regional airline that’s based in Norman Wells. Company president Travis Wright said he was notified by email on Dec. 7.

“It was quite a shock,” Wright said.

“Obviously our core business is here in Norman Wells, and we need fuel for airplanes to operate throughout the Sahtu region, and down to and from Yellowknife.”

Wright said the fuel supplier, Imperial Oil, told the affected airlines that fuel would be rationed in Norman Wells until the winter road is open to allow for resupply to the community.

North-Wright’s ration is not nearly enough to maintain its regular service, Wright said. That means the company’s planes need to carry more fuel from Yellowknife, and therefore less cargo or fewer passengers.

“Everyone’s traveling, has more stuff. People are visiting families, getting ready for the Christmas holiday season — and you know, they don’t need this,” Wright said.

“We’re losing and bleeding money daily, for us losing charters that we have already had booked that we cannot do.”

According to Wright, it’s a problem that could affect any airlines that fly in the N.W.T. and Yukon, if they go to Norman Wells or even use it as an alternate location for refueling. Those airlines will have to adjust their schedules too, he said.

Devin Lyall, chief pilot of Yellowknife-based Summit Air, agreed that the fuel shortage in Norman Wells came as a “total shock,” and that it’s already having an impact on business. The airline typically delivers groceries to communities in the Sahtu, and refuels in Norman Wells.

“We now have to tanker more fuel out of the Yellowknife which, you know, we can only take so many pounds of fuel or cargo. So the more fuel we have to take, the less freight we get to take,” Lyall said.

Groceries will still get to the communities, he said, but it may require more flights.

“We’re still going to find a way to get them there, but they might take a little longer than before,” he said.

In an emailed statement to CBC News, an Imperial Oil spokesperson said the company was aware of the issue in Norman Wells.

“We notified our sole customer, World Fuel Services, who provides fuel to the airlines in Norman Wells,” the statement reads.