Air Inuit's Boeing 737-200 Combi operation into Puvirnituq (IATA: YPX), a gravel-strip airport on Hudson Bay in Nunavik, Quebec, represents one of the last remaining scheduled jet operations onto an unpaved runway anywhere in the world. The airline, a subsidiary of Makivik Corporation and the designated air carrier serving Quebec's Inuit communities, operates its 737-200 fleet with Boeing-certified gravel kits — a purpose-engineered package of vortex dissipators, engine inlet deflectors, and underbody protection developed specifically for northern Canadian and Alaskan operators decades ago. These kits, combined with the relatively high wing-mounted position of the Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines, allow the aircraft to operate from unimproved surfaces without catastrophic foreign object ingestion — a configuration that made the 737-200 the aircraft of choice for remote Arctic and sub-Arctic routes in the 1970s and 1980s. The combi configuration, which carries passengers and palletized cargo simultaneously on the main deck separated by a class divider, is also critical to the economics of northern operations, where communities depend on air freight for essential goods that cannot be transported by road.
The imminent retirement of Air Inuit's 737-200 fleet — targeted for completion by end of 2026 — is directly tied to infrastructure development at Puvirnituq. The runway is currently undergoing surface hardening to accommodate the airline's newer 737-800 aircraft, which lack gravel kits and require paved surfaces. This transition reflects a broader modernization pattern across northern Canadian aviation, where aging classic-series 737s that were purpose-built or retrofit for gravel operations are being phased out as ground infrastructure catches up with the demands of high-bypass turbofan equipment. The 737-800, while significantly more fuel-efficient and quieter than the JT8D-powered -200, requires the kind of prepared surface that many remote Nunavik communities have only recently begun to develop or have yet to fund fully.
For professional pilots — particularly those operating in northern Canada, Alaska, or remote international environments — the Air Inuit 737-200 Combi operation offers a concrete case study in the intersection of aircraft certification, runway surface requirements, and community air service economics. Gravel operations demand specific crew training and operational protocols, including attention to power settings during ground roll to manage FOD exposure, careful use of thrust reversers (which, as the article's author notes, produce visible gravel spray), and heightened maintenance scrutiny of engine inlets, fan blades, and leading-edge surfaces. The JT8D's relatively robust FOD tolerance compared to modern high-bypass engines is one reason the classic 737 remained viable for this role long after it was retired from mainline service elsewhere.
The broader operational context is significant for Part 91, Part 135, and international operators serving remote communities. As northern Canadian airports continue to receive federal and territorial infrastructure investment — driven partly by Indigenous land claims settlements and federal commitments under programs like the Northern and Remote Communities initiative — the calculus for fleet selection on these routes is changing. Carriers that once required specialized unpaved-strip aircraft now face runway environments that allow conventional commercial jets, but that transition involves years of overlap during which operators must manage mixed fleets, pilot currency across aircraft types, and revenue models that account for declining utility of specialized legacy equipment. Air Inuit's situation is a textbook example of that transitional pressure. The airline's Resident Airfare Assistance Program (RAAP) discount structure, mentioned by the author, also highlights how heavily subsidized these routes are — without fare support programs funded through Makivik and provincial agreements, the economics of jet service to communities of a few thousand residents would be unsustainable at unregulated market prices.
The end of scheduled gravel jet operations at Puvirnituq will mark the quiet close of a chapter that shaped Canadian northern aviation significantly. The 737-200 Combi's role in communities like Kuujjuaq, Inukjuak, and Puvirnituq over the past four-plus decades established the operational template that carriers across northern Canada and Alaska — including Alaska Airlines, which also operated gravel-kit 737-200s extensively — used to demonstrate that jet service to unprepared strips was not only feasible but commercially sustainable under the right conditions. As that era ends, the lessons it produced in aircraft design, crew training, airport infrastructure investment, and remote community air service policy remain directly relevant to operators planning operations into developing-world or off-grid environments where runway quality cannot be assumed.