Juneau-Whitehorse flights likely to begin this month, company says

After facing delays in May, Alaska Seaplanes is on track again to make its Juneau-Whitehorse route available this summer.

The airline made a dry run on Tuesday, with its9-passenger Pilatus PC-12 landingat theWhitehorse Airport at about 1:45 p.m.

Alaska Seaplanes' general manager Carl Ramsethwas on the flight. Ramsethtold CBClast week that the company had hoped to launch the route in May, but itfaced delays in obtaining a Foreign Air Operator Certificate from Transport Canada.

Transport Canada issued the certificatelast Friday. The airlinestill needs to obtain a licence from the Canadian Transport Agency.

"We're working through some of thetarifflanguage with the CanadianTransportationAgency, and it's my understanding that this part of the process will move a little quicker," he said.

"I don't wantto jinx anything, but I'm pretty confident saying it should happen inJune at some point."

Ramsethand a few others from the airlinemade the trip on Tuesday to bringsupplies to the airportand to test out landing.

This was the plane's first international flight with Alaska Seaplanes, though Ramsethsaid the companypreviously ran flights to Whitehorse in the early 2000s.

"We'relooking forward to building the relationship more betweenWhitehorse and Juneau, and giving the people the opportunity to get back and forthagainon a scheduled basis," he said.