Little Red River band members complain - Air service denies gouging

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The manager of an Indian band-owned air service denies that it is price gouging its clients, many of whom are Little Red River band members.

Speaking on behalf of Little Red Air based in Fort Vermilion, John Rogers counters a letter that appeared in the Nov. 6 issue of Windspeaker claiming that band members must now pay $120 for a flight to Fox Lake compared to a supposed $20 fee charged by the former air service, Peace Air.

The $120 rate, says Rogers, is based on the cost of a return charter flight for which the fee was paid by only one person.

If that same person had hired Peace Air for that flight, the cost "would have been about $60 to $70 more than the $120 charge by Little Red Air, says Rogers. He explained that charter flights differ from the scheduled flights Peace Air used to offer.

Little Red Air flights cost about $1.10 to $1.20 a mile whereas "in Saskatchewan you'd be paying $1.90 . . . $1.50 in Alberta." If a total of six people use the flight, the fee would average out to $20 each or $40 each it if were just three people he added. However, Peace Air does not agree. High Level base manager, Terry Hall, says their (Peace Air) charter rate between Fox Lake and Fort Vermilion was $110 and scheduled flights cost $27.

Hall says the entire situation has become highly political.

The band "slapped us with a $70 landing fee which made it fairly unfeasible for us to continue especially on days when we had several flights touching down at Fox Lake," he said.

After serving the communities of Fox Lake and Garden River for seven years, Hall is bitter, saying it is not fair that Peace Air be turned out to pasture.

Garden River is an example of how Peace Air's rates are better than those of Little Red Air he says, charging about $30 less to fly to High Level.

But Jim Webb, the superintendent for economic and employment for Indian affairs also defends the Little Red Air rates saying that complaints are nothing more than "apples and oranges."

"The rates that Little Red currently charge is a chart rate for the exclusive use of the airplane to go from one location to another," says Webb.

"I would suspect you'll probably see a schedule service back," he stated. Such a service he adds, is not really a paying proposition for the band. But, it is a convenience for band members.

Rogers also points out that existing mail service is being conducted by the airline free of charge. Hall, however, claims that Peace Air flies the mail into Fox Lake.

Little Red Air owns and operates three Cessna airplanes. The largest can accommodate up to seven passengers including the pilot.