Arctic & Northern Aviation
Dateline: December 10, 2025.
This list of 35 companies was published in 2012 in "Yukon Wings" by R. B. "Bob" Cameron, the definitive, heavily-illustrated (over 700 photos on 354 pages) reference book on early Yukon aviation. Available everywhere quality books are sold, including YukonBooks ("Mac's Fireweed") on Main Street in Whitehorse.
British Yukon Navigation (BYN) Company - The Canadian subsidiary of the American-owned White Pass & Yukon Route Railway, which operated the railway from Skagway to Whitehorse, as well as the coastal steamship service from Vancouver to Skagway. The Canadian arm, the BYN Company, operated the sternwheelers on the upper Yukon River connecting Whitehorse and Dawson City.
BYN Company air service - The air arm of the BYN Company described above.
Callison's Flying Service - The fixed-wing air charter service owned and operated by Pat Callison in Dawson City from 1947 to 1956.
Canadian Airways Ltd. (CAL) - Pioneer air carrier founded by Winnipeg businessman James Richardson in the 1930s. By the time CAL was merged into the national
conglomerate that became Canadian Pacific Airlines, it had spread its wings and services over virtually all of Canada.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) - The giant national railway company that also owned and operated a large fleet of coastal steamers known as the Princess boats. By the end of 1941 the directors of the CPR had agreed to finance and organize Grant McConachie's conglomeration of 10 far-flung Canadian air carriers under the banner Canadian Pacific Airlines Ltd.
Canadian Pacific Airlines Ltd. (CPAL or CPA) - The national airline formed by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1942 from a conglomeration of 10 air carriers across Canada.
Coast Range Airways - The Atlin-based air service operated by Herman and Doris Peterson after a name change in the early 1960s from Peterson's Air Service.
Connelly-Dawson Airways - Air service established in Dawson City in 1956 by Ron and Dawn Connelly when they purchased and renamed Callison's Flying Service.
Great Northern Airways - A scheduled and charter air service established in Whitehorse in the mid-1960s following a name change and re-organization of Connelly-
Dawson Airways in Dawson City. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, the company went into receivership in December of 1970.
International Airlines - A short-lived air service formed by Clyde Wann in Skagway in late 1934 after his one-plane Skagway Airlines went up in smoke earlier that year.
Klondike Airways - An overland transportation company owned and operated in the 1930s by Whitehorse businessman T.C. Richards and lawyer W.L. Phelps. Neither of the men were aviators, although the company did own one small two-seater airplane, the Cirrus Moth Rilla Martha, which they did not operate commercially (freight and passengers were hauled between Whitehorse, Dawson and Mayo using "Cat-trains" - a string of heavy sleighs pulled
by a Caterpillar tractor).
Klondike Helicopters Ltd. (KHL) - The Yukon's first home-grown helicopter charter company, established in Dawson City by Pat Callison after he sold his Callison's
Flying Service in 1956. In 1965 Callison sold KHL to Foothills Aviation in Calgary, after which the company became known as Klondike-Foothills, and later as Klondike-Kenting.
Mackenzie Air Service (MASL) - An Edmonton-based air service owned and operated by Leigh Brintnell during the 1930s. MASL was one of 10 air carriers that was absorbed into the amalgamation that became Canadian Pacific Airlines in 1942.
Marine Airways - An air service operating out of Juneau in the 1930s.
North Canada Air Express - An air service operated by American pilot Frank Barr from 1934 to 1937 from a base in Atlin, B.C.
Northern Airways Ltd. (NAL) - An air service owned and operated by George Simmons from 1933 to 1950 from a base at Carcross, a gold-rush town located 50 miles south of Whitehorse.
Northwest Airlines - A major U.S. airline which was contracted to operate and maintain U.S. Army aircraft in Whitehorse during the Second World War.
Pacific Alaska Airways (PAA) - An Alaskan air carrier that in 1935 inaugurated a scheduled air service connecting Fairbanks, Whitehorse, and Juneau. The company was
eventually absorbed into the giant Pan American World Airways.
Pacific Western Airlines (PWA) - An airline established in the early 1950s by Russell Francis Baker by amalgamating several B.C. air services and later, in 1955, Whitehorse Flying Service in the Yukon. In the 1990s PWA purchased Canadian Pacific Airlines, all of which was eventually swallowed up by Air Canada.
Peterson's Air Service - An air service established in Atlin in 1950 by Herman and Doris Peterson after they left the defunct Northern Airways.
Public Roads Administration (PRA) - While not a public air carrier, PRA did own some aircraft, including two 1929 Travel Air 6000s, which they leased to Northern Airways for use on the wartime Alcan and Canol projects.
Prairie Airways - A mid-Canada air carrier with headquarters at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan that operated during the 1930s. The company was one of the 10 air carriers
across Canada absorbed into the amalgamation that became Canadian Pacific Airlines in 1942.
Skagway Airlines - An air service established by Clyde Wann in Skagway in 1933. The airline was short-lived, as in August of 1934 its one and only aircraft, a Fairchild, was destroyed by fire during start-up.
Trans North Turbo Air (TNTA) - An air service established in 1967 by Ron Connelly, Gordon Davis, Chuck Hankins and Al Kapty. Since its inception TNTA has operated a wide range of fixed-wing and helicopters. In 2011 the company marked its 45th year of operations in the Yukon.
Treadwell Yukon Mining Company Ltd. - A pioneer mining company that owned and operated the rich silver mines at Elsa and Keno in the central Yukon. The mine superintendent, Livingston Wernecke, was a great believer in aviation, and in 1928 purchased a new Fairchild, G-CARM, to expedite company business. American pilot Everett Wasson flew and maintained the Fairchild for Treadwell Yukon from 1928 to 1934, when both he and the Fairchild left the company and joined Northern Airways in Carcross.
United Air Transport (UAT) - An Edmonton-based air carrier established by pioneer pilot and entrepreneur Grant McConachie in 1934. In late 1939 the company changed
its name to Yukon Southern Air Transport (YSAT). It was YSAT that began absorbing other air carriers, including Mackenzie Air Service and the BYN Co. air service, to eventually form Canadian Pacific Airlines.
White Pass Airways - Established in Skagway in 1934, White Pass Airways was the first foray of the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway into the aviation business. It operated in concert with its Canadian sister company, the BYN air service, until 1941, when its aircraft and personnel were transferred to the BYN roster in Whitehorse.
Whitehorse Flying School - Established in 1947 by ex-Canadian Pacific Airlines pilot George Milne, it was the first flight school in the Yukon. The company opened its doors for business that year with a new Fleet Canuck trainer, CF-DPM.
Whitehorse Flying Service (WFS) - In 1948 Whitehorse Flying School purchased a Stinson 108-2, CF-FJY, and expanded its service to include charter work, changing its name to reflect its expanded scope of operations. At the same time Milne's one-man operation was doubled when Gordon Cameron joined as a partner, aircraft maintenance engineer, and new student pilot.
Yukon Airways and Exploration Company - The Yukon's first commercial air service, established by Clyde Wann and partners in 1927 with the acquisition of the Ryan Brougham Queen of the Yukon. Operations ceased in late 1929 after the company had lost all three of their aircraft and their chief pilot, John Melville "Pat" Patterson, in accidents.
Yukon Airways Ltd. - A Whitehorse air charter service established in 1947 by partners Norm Hartnell, Bud Harbottle, Harry Gordon-Cooper, Ron Greenslade, and Clyde Wann. In 1949 they merged with George Milne and Gordon Cameron's Whitehorse Flying Service, under the latter company's name.
Yukon Flying School - A flying school established c. 1956 by Lloyd Romfo, who purchased the flight instruction portion of Pacific Western Airlines' Whitehorse operation.
Yukon Flying Service (YFS) - Established c. 1959 by Lloyd Romfo when he added charter services to the Yukon Flying School and changed the company name. In the mid-1960s he sold YFS to Great Northern Airways.
Yukon Southern Air Transport (YSAT) - An Edmonton-based air carrier that evolved from Grant McConachie's United Air Transport, the name change taking place in late 1939. In late 1941 YSAT purchased the BYN Company air service, which it added to its collection of air carriers that in 1942 would become Canadian Pacific Airlines.
