Private company

Buffalo Airways

Logo: buffaloairways.com³

Airline based in Yellowknife, Canada

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1970Founded¹

HeadquartersHay River¹
Founded inHay River¹
Websitewww.buffaloairways.com

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Buffalo Airways is a family-run airline based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, established in 1970. Buffalo Airways was launched by Bob Gauchie and later sold to one of his pilots, Joe McBryan (aka "Buffalo Joe"). It operates charter passenger, charter cargo, firefighting, and fuel services, and it formerly operated scheduled passenger service. Its main base is at Yellowknife Airport, with two other bases at Hay River/Merlyn Carter Airport and Red Deer Regional Airport. The Red Deer base is the main storage and maintenance facility. The airline was also the subject of the History television reality series Ice Pilots NWT.²

Products and brands

Destinations

The airline operated scheduled passenger services between Hay River and Yellowknife from August 1986 until November 2015. However, due to the suspension of its Air Operator Certificate, scheduled service was replaced in December 2015, when the company chartered aircraft to make the run. The charter service was cancelled on 24 December.

As of Spring 2019, Buffalo has not resumed passenger service and currently does not have trained flight attendants, making passenger service unlikely in the near future. The airline carried over 186,000 passengers from 1986 to 2015. The route was taken over by Canadian North

Scheduled cargo services transport supplies from Yellowknife to Délı̨nę, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells, and Tulita under contract with the Government of the Northwest Territories. The service also includes an airport shuttle and a medical transfer bus. Buffalo also offers charters on their passenger aircraft across Canada in addition to cargo charters.

Fleet

According to Transport Canada, as of 5 September 2026, Buffalo Airways' fleet numbered sixty-four, with an additional two aircraft registered to the Buffalo School of Aviation, as well as the United States Federal Aviation Administration having one aircraft registered to Buffalo Airways USA.

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In 2023, Buffalo purchased their second jet aircraft, a Boeing 737 (registered as GTVO) from Chrono Aviation. The Boeing 737-200 series is a combi aircraft has the gravel kit, engine hush kit and LPV. McBryan states that they are looking at converting the aircraft to full cargo.

Reports show that Buffalo owns a Douglas DC-6, a Swingtail DC-6, and the only one of the two made that still survives. It was bought by Buffalo Airways.

KG330 (C-GWZS)

This Buffalo Airways DC-3 flew on D-Day dropping paratroopers over Normandy as part of 512 Squadron. KG330 left RAF Broadwell for Operation Tonga at precisely 23:15. It would have been part of 'C' flight as it crossed the English Channel towards its drop zone. The exact location for the drop was 4.8 km (3 mi) inland between Cabourg and Ouistreham, just north of the heavily defended city of Caen. It would be dropping the 9th Parachute Battalion as part of the 6th Airborne Division. The paratroopers the plane dropped were sent to destroy a heavy coastal battery and to position themselves on the canal between Caen and the port at Ouistreham. The coastal defence had earlier been successfully bombed by 100 Avro Lancaster bombers of RAF Bomber Command. No casualties were reported, and the aircraft returned to base at 03:35.

From Wikipedia’s article on Buffalo Airways, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Controversies and legal

Accidents and incidents

On 26 June 1994, flight BFL526, a Douglas C-47A (C-FROD), crashed on approach to Fort Simpson Airport, Northwest Territories due to fuel exhaustion. The aircraft was on a cargo flight from Sambaa K'e Aerodrome (then called Trout Lake). There were two crew on board at the time; both were injured and the aircraft was a write-off.

On 24 July 2001, flight TANKER602, a Consolidated PBY-5A Canso (C-FNJE) caught a wing tip in Sitidgi Lake (about 25 nautical miles (46 km; 29 mi) north of Inuvik) while fire fighting and crashed into the lake. Another aircraft landed on the lake and picked up the two crew. The aircraft was pulled out of the water; the engines and other valuable parts removed. The hull, which was left at the lake, was later retrieved by Fairview Aircraft Restorations Society and taken to Fairview, Alberta, where it is undergoing restoration.

On 28 August 2002, flight BFL928, a Douglas C-54E (C-GQIC), landed short of the runway at Diavik Airport. The right wing came off the aircraft, which travelled 1,000 ft (300 m) down the runway. The aircraft caught fire and was a write-off. The two crew escaped with minor injuries.

On 1 August 2003, a Douglas C-54G (C-GBSK) touched down short of the runway at the Ulu mine strip. The landing gear collapsed and the wings separated from the fuselage. The wings then caught fire and the fuselage veered off the right side of the runway. The four crew were unhurt, but the aircraft was written off.

On 25 May 2004, flight BFL326, a loaded Curtiss C-46D (C-FAVO), was seriously damaged at Yellowknife Airport while taxiing for departure. The company reported the tail wheel went off the threshold of runway 09 (now runway 10) while turning to align with the active runway for take-off, sinking into a soft gravel area in a 90° position from centreline. The crew applied power to try and free the stuck aircraft which resulted in a sideways loading of the tailwheel bulkhead at station 720, causing structural failure at the tail wheel to fuselage attachment points as well as buckling of the main fuselage between station 615 and 633. The incident caused the runway to remain closed for about six hours until the aircraft could be repaired sufficiently to allow safe removal. Although the aircraft was substantially damaged, it was subsequently repaired and returned to active service using a section cut from a derelict airframe of Everts Air Cargo Express, Fairbanks, Alaska; 42-96578 - N4860V

On 5 January 2006, flight BFL1405, a Douglas C-54G (C-GXKN), had departed Norman Wells Airport when the number two engine caught fire and stopped. The crew attempted to put out the fire but were not successful. While feathering the number two propeller, number one also feathered, leaving them with only two engines. They returned to Norman Wells and performed an emergency landing, but the aircraft left the runway and ploughed through the snow. The four crew were unhurt, but the aircraft was written off and the nose was later used to repair another C-54. The fire was caused by a fuel leak.

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On 29 December 2006, flight BFL129, a Douglas C-54A (C-GPSH), suffered a nose gear collapse following a runway excursion while landing on an ice strip at Carat Lake near Jericho Diamond Mine. The aircraft's nose dropped over an embankment at the end of the runway, damaging the nose section. The aircraft was transporting 9,000 L (2,000 imp gal; 2,400 US gal) of diesel in fuel cells, and some of these broke loose, spilling some of the fuel. The nose section, which could not be salvaged, was repaired in July 2007 with the nose section from C-54 C-GXKN.

On 24 June 2026, a Rockwell Turbo Commander 690, a bird dog aircraft #104, crashed near Fort Simpson during aerial firefighting duties. The crash resulted in three fatalities, including the Buffalo Airways pilot. The event is being investgated by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB).