Air Inuit takes Quebec government to court over maintenance of Nunavik runways

Regional airline Air Inuit is seeking damages from the Kativik Regional Government and the Quebec Ministry of Transportation over what it says is a lack of maintenance of runways in Nunavik. 

The lawsuit, filed with Quebec's Superior Court and first reported by Le Journal de Montreal, alleges a lack of maintenance of the gravel runways at Nunavik's airports is causing premature wear and tear on the aircraft. 

Air Inuit is seeking $8.97 million in damages for the repairs and replacements it's made to its planes, according to the court documents. 

The company points the finger at the "state of deterioration and ruin of the landing strips, which are the responsibility of the defendants," the lawsuit reads in French. 

Air Inuit says the gravel runways in Nunavik are poorly maintained, which creates too much dust. That debris gets caught in the planes' engines and causes damage. 

Last August, the chair of Air Inuit's board of directors Noah Tayara told Radio-Canada that this dust reduces the lifespan of engines by around 50 per cent. 

Unsuccessful meetings

The allegedly poor state of Nunavik's gravel runways was reported more than 174 times to the Kativik Regional Government by Air Inuit teams between 2019 and 2024, according to the lawsuit. 

Meetings took place in 2023 between the regional administration and Air Inuit to fix the situation, but without the results the airline was looking for. 

The Quebec government and the Kativik Regional Government declined to comment for this story. 

A common problem

The state of runways in the North has been the subject of criticism for years. 

Marco Prud'Homme, the president of Nolinor Aviation, said his fleet of aircraft are also experiencing premature wear and tear. Nolinor mainly deals with private companies and has to adjust its pricing according to these additional costs, he said. 

"If an engine is certified to do 3,000 hours of flight, it is not uncommon that after 1,500 hours we have to change the engine. This reduces the lifespan of our engines by 50 per cent," Prud'Homme said in French. 

But paving all of the North's runways is not a realistic solution, according to Prud'Homme. He said better maintenance of gravel runways would benefit all carriers. 

"If we maintain the gravel runways on a daily basis, we can have excellent quality runways for our operations."

According to some carriers, the small size of northern runways prevents, among other things, most large aircraft to land. This in turn raises the cost to transport both people and goods to isolated communities. 

"If money was invested to lengthen the runways and ensure that the equipment is present to maintain them on a daily basis, then there could be a better service offering for the communities," Prud'Homme said. 

Money for Nunavik

Maintenance of runways in the North is both a logistical and financial challenge for governments. 

In April, Quebec announced almost $90 million over two years for airports in Nunavik. 

According to Quebec's Ministry of Transportation, some of that money went toward repairing the runways in Salluit and Akulivik in 2024. 

Paving work at the airport in Puvirnituq, planned for 2024, has been pushed to this spring

The transport ministry said it has to do supplementary testing to assure the conformity of the material used to pave the runway in Puvirnituq, the second-largest community in Nunavik.