Rise Air banks on incoming ATR turboprops for far-north expansion

Canadian passenger and cargo carrier Rise Air is counting on incoming ATR 72 turboprops to spearhead a new era of growth that may see it expand beyond its home province of Saskatchewan. 

Options are limited for carriers in the market for in-production utility aircraft, particularly for those operating in remote, subarctic conditions, Derek Nice, Rise Air’s chief executive, recently told FlightGlobal. 

Indeed, ATR is the only western producer of large civilian turboprops. De Havilland Canada had offered its Dash 8-400 but stopped producing that type in 2022, though it has talked of rebooting production.

“If you want a new aircraft and you’re flying into gravel runways, you don’t have much choice,” Nice says of the ATRs. 

In November, the company announced plans to become Canada’s launch customer for the ATR 72-600 series when it takes the first of the type later this year.

The turboprops, powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127XT engines, will be configured to seat 68 passengers.

Rise Air recently told FlightGlobal that it expects its first ATR 72 to enter service at the beginning of next year. It has also disclosed plans to lease another two ATR 72-600s, both due for delivery later in 2026.

Nice said the indigenous-owned airline’s decision to select the ATR 72-600 was based largely on maintenance and supply chain concerns. 

“We’re seeing significant reliability problems with older aircraft,” he says. “The supply chains aren’t working the way they did in the past and maintenance costs really are growing fast.

“There’s strong support for the -600 series in the aviation community,” he adds, “and the supply chains are more robust than we’re seeing on other aircraft types.”

But the new aircraft also represent long-term investments for the communities that count on Rise to provide critical passenger, cargo and medevac services in places where aviation is the only feasible option. 

“We’ve got customers that are making investments in the north that have 20- and 30-year horizons for those investments,” Nice says. ”With new aircraft, we’re able to match the life of the aircraft to the life of the customer operations we’re supporting.”

LIFELINE NORTH 

Rise Air operates primarily from its base in Saskatoon, the largest city in Saskatchewan, offering a mix of scheduled and charter flying. Mostly serving remote First Nation communities, it also specialises in workforce transportation for the energy and resource sectors and various government agencies.

“For example, the entire legal system in northern Saskatchewan is based on aviation,” Nice says. “We fly judges and lawyers and bailiffs into different communities. Same thing with doctors and other healthcare specialists that rotate through northern communities.”

Rise is one of the largest indigenous-owned airlines in Canada, a group that includes Boeing 737 operators Air Inuit and Canadian North, as well as Thunder Bay-based turboprop operator Wasaya Airways. Its shareholders comprise 12 different First Nation communities or territories

“Our shareholders expect us to be responsive to their needs and their concerns, and our mission really is to support them,” Nice says. “Without Rise Air, much of the north would grind to a halt – everything from the education system to the medical systems.”

In addition to its French-made ATR turboprops, Rise Air flies Beechcraft 1900s and De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters, as well as Beechcraft King Airs as part of a medevac operation.

“Those are all ageing aircraft and we haven’t made any decisions about the lifespan of those aircraft in our fleet,” he says. “We’re open to other options.”

Fleets data from aviation analytics company Cirium show Rise Air currently operating four older ATR 42s, with another two in storage. It has several Twin Otters that are more than 50 years old.

The carrier’s ATR 42 combi aircraft are configured to seat 34 passengers and to carry cargo, with the average passenger flying into the wilderness bringing about 45kg (100lb) of checked luggage.

“That’s because they’re carrying groceries or other items they simply can’t get in their home communities,” Nice says.

ROOM TO GROW 

Rise Air has a mandate from shareholders to create jobs in the communities it serves, and must therefore grow its network, fleet and workforce. 

The carrier says it would consider any new turboprop type that comes to market. In addition to De Havilland’s talk of restarting Dash 8 output, Embraer has teased of potentially developing a new turboprop. 

But Nice says the ATR 72 is the “large aircraft” on which the company is betting its future. 

“We’ve got to be able to continue growing,” he says. “We’ve got to believe that we’re establishing a very, very solid operational base with the new aircraft and the investments we’re making with our people and training, and that will give us the opportunity to grow.”

The carrier, celebrating 70 years of operating this year, employs some 90 pilots. Nice wants that figure to rise to about 120 within the next two years, and the carrier is undertaking a concentrated pilot-retention and recruitment initiative to get there. 

Flying in austere environments is “certainly challenging for the average pilot”, Nice says, but many of Rise Air’s captains and first officers come from elsewhere in Canada and the world to test their skills at Rise. 

It operates primarily on short, bitumen-surfaced gravel runways, which typically range in length from 915-1,219m (3,000-4,000ft) and create take-off weight limitations.

Its pilots regularly encounter extreme weather, including icing conditions, which further reduces payloads and “creates challenges for us”, Nice says. In summertime, the carrier is continually poised for wildfire-related evacuations.

“Last year, we evacuated about 250 mine workers from a mine site that is only accessible by air,” Nice says. “We did that over a 24h period when it was threatened by forest fires – and that happens quite often for us.”

Nice has worked as CEO of Rise Air since 2021, after previously leading the operations of island-hopping Air Vanuatu. Though the South Pacific seems a world away from remote Canadian villages, Nice sees parallels between the operations. 

“Apart from the fact that the temperatures can be very different, the kind of operation is very similar,” he says. “Domestic operations in Vanuatu were flying into rough strips or short runways, dealing with extreme weather events like volcanic eruptions and cyclones.

“Here, we’re not islands, but some of the airports we fly into are only accessible by air,” he adds.

Looking toward Rise’s future, Nice envisions growth opportunities outside of Saskatchewan. He points to neighbouring provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, where the carrier could connect more remote communities.