McDougald International will once again see commercial air service starting in 2026.
Kenora Airport Authority held a launch event on December 20th at the airport with representatives from the KAA, Northstar Air and the City of Kenora. If you haven’t heard yet Northstar Air and the KAA have a partnership in place to bring commercial air service from Kenora to Thunder Bay starting on January 15th, 2026.
This air service will see 5 flights a week go to Thunder Bay as well as 5 flights from Thunder Bay to Kenora. One-way flights start at $350+TAX+SERVICE FEES.
Flights leaving from Kenora to Thunder Bay at 7:00amCST and making it to Thunder Bay at 9:15CST on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Flights leaving from Thunder Bay to Kenora at 6:00pmEST (18:00) and making it to Kenora at 6:15CST on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Chair of the Kenora Airport Authority Ryan Reynard first words of the day “We are happy, we are thrilled.” He goes on to say “this has been a 4-year process to reach this monumental day with the partnership with Northstar Air. Air service is critical for everybody that has family, medical appointments, business trips, it’s critical and it’s an essential economic part for our community to have this.”
Jeff Stout from Northstar Air was present for the launch event and with the winter storm that effected our area around the time of this event, Jeff stated “How crucial air travel is because who wants to drive to Thunder Bay in blizzard like conditions”. He goes on to say, “That Northstar Air is excited to start this service in the Kenora area, and starting with 5 flights a week the aim is to get that reliability, trust to increase service overtime.” Stout also stated that this could lead to the use of bigger aircrafts in the future along with already plans in place for fleet revitalization that will be introduced in the new year.
101.3 The Gap was present for the launch event and was able to tour the 9 seat Pilatus aircraft that will be used. More details on the aircraft are posted down below from the Northstar Air Website. For more details on this new air service, you can visit www.northstarair.ca
