Cheap flights from Hay River to Yellowknife

Flying out of Hay River

The Arctic is a vast region that stretches across the hemisphere and is often overlooked by travelers due to the extreme weather and general isolation. Hay River, a small town in the Northwest Territories, has a small, single terminal airport that stands out with blue and white glass on the scenic tundra. The airport also goes by the name Merlyn Carter Airport (YHY), named for a bush pilot that was killed by a black bear in 2005. Air travel just doesn't get more Canadian than this.

At some times of the year, the entire region is only accessible by airplane.Tourists who are brave enough to rough it a bit more than usual can see some spectacular sights that exist nowhere else, like the Midnight Sun and the Northern Lights. If you're looking for basic amenities, you can find them here, but as for shopping or other upscale services, you may have to wait until you reach Yellowknife. Although it's also a small city, the capital of the Northwest Territories (NWT) is a bustling metropolis compared to Hay River.

Airlines that Fly from Hay River to Yellowknife

There are three regional airlines that fly this route on a regular basis. They are also the only three airlines that use YHY. Airlines here connect with points in the Yukon Territory, Nunavut, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, and Ontario.

 
• First Air serves this route regularly with several direct flights a week. This is the largest airline currently operating out of Hay River, and also has codeshare agreements with other Arctic airlines, including Air North and Air Greenland.
 
• Northwestern Air is based on the NWT and serves several communities in northern Alberta along with provincial and regional destinations, sometimes in partnership with German airline Hahn Air. Flights from Hay River to Yellowknife with this airline tend to have a stopover in Fort Smith.
 
• Buffalo Airways is a family-run Hay River based business that runs an aviation school in addition to scheduled flights between YHY and  YZF.

There are no big national or trans-continental flights from Hay River, which is why there are so many options of you need to connect with a longer flight in Yellowknife, or perhaps beyond to Calgary or Ottawa.

Yellowknife Airport Information

The nice thing about a small, national airport is the lack of paperwork, walking time, and the ease of finding a connecting flight in the single passenger terminal. Here is where you can connect with bigger players in the Canadian airline scene, like Westjet and Air Canada. This airport is significant enough to be considered a point of entry by Nav Canada, and therefore is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) maintains its own hangar here for official Mountie aircraft.