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Aklak Air brings back Inuvik-Tuk flights during highway closure

Samantha McKay

Aklak Air has temporarily reinstated its scheduled flights between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk while the highway is closed.

According to a tweet from the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) Infrastructure Twitter account, the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk (ITH) highway closed in the morning of May 12.

Michael Wieleba said it took him nearly five hours to drive from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk.
Photo courtesy of Michael Wieleba

Earlier this month, the GNWT closed the highway intermittently due to warming temperatures and muddy, slippery roadway surface conditions. The highway was closed from noon until midnight, and open from midnight to noon.

"As I've said in the past, if the highway was to close for any great period of time, we would start flight service again," said Ken Dalton, general manager of Aklak Air. "We'll be offering service day-by-day depending on what information is given to us on the road condition."

According to a special notice posted by Aklak Air May 15, the airline will be offering service until May 18 or until the road re-opens.

Inuvik resident Michael Wieleba said he drove to Tuktoyaktuk with his fiancée early on Saturday morning before the closure was instated, and had to fly back to Inuvik, leaving his truck in Tuktoyaktuk.

"We left around 3 a.m. on Saturday morning, and it took us four hours and 45 minutes to get to Tuk," said Weileba. "We almost got stuck a couple of times … there were times where there was so much mud that we couldn't stop or we definitely would have got stuck."

Michael Wieleba said it took him nearly five hours to drive from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk.
Photo courtesy of Michael Wieleba

He said the worst patch of mud was on the stretch of road near Jimmy Lake and spanned approximately 100 metres.

Wieleba said he took an Aklak Air flight back to Inuvik May 14, which cost approximately $220 one way.

Weileba said his truck is now stuck in Tuktoyaktuk, and he isn’t sure when he is going to be able to get it back to Inuvik.
“I had to fly back because I have commitments I had to attend to this week in Inuvik. I really wanted to drive back, I thought the road would be frozen enough, but it obviously wasn’t,” said Weileba. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the road is open in the next two weeks. I really need to get my truck out of there because I have to get it to Whitehorse to get it serviced.”