First Air sells its remaining Hercules cargo plane

A First Air-owned Hercules took off for the last time from the Yellowknife airport Tuesday morning.

In February, First Air announced it had sold one of its two Hercules planes for parts and was in talks to sell the other. The second plane has now been sold to Alaska company Lynden Air Cargo as of April 30.

Brock Friesen, First Air's president, says the sale is a result of softer demand from the mining sector.

"It's not really economical for us to keep one or two Hercs as a side business, without the certainty of knowing how we are going to be able sell the capacity," Friesen said. "It's better for us to partner with someone who can use the plane 365 days a year and bring it here as required, and that's how we have done it."

First Air began operating its first Hercules aircraft in 1997 and added a second to its fleet in 2006.

The two aircraft were the only civilian-owned Hercules freighter planes in Canada.

Lynden Air Cargo runs a fleet of Hercules planes out of Anchorage. First Air will now charter the large cargo plane from Lynden as needed, subject to regulatory approval.

Friesen says services will not be disrupted, but they'll need to plan ahead to fly in the plane from Anchorage, Alaska.

It's still unclear if Lynden will make the aircraft available for Yellowknife's annual Herc pull fundraiser.