The Minister of Tourism, Caroline Proulx, is pleased to announce the allocation of $5 million of financial assistance to Air Tunilik in order to support its expansion project, which will ensure better air services for tourists wishing to visit northern Québec.

The Minister made the announcement today, accompanied by the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and Minister responsible for the Côte-Nord region, Jonatan Julien, and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Tunilik, Simon Contant. On the same occasion, the two Ministers announced $8 million of support for the creation of an incubator-accelerator, which will have the objective of stimulating tourism projects north of the 49^th parallel.

The Air Tunilik project involves the acquisition of several assets of Location Air Saguenay, which is no longer in service since 2019, to maintain tourism aviation activities and increase traffic in the Nord-du-Québec and Côte-Nord regions. It will contribute to structuring the tourism offering by ensuring tourist transportation to the attractions of these regions.

The financial assistance is granted under the Programme d’appui au développement des attraits touristiques (PADAT), managed by Investissement Québec. More specifically, an amount of $2 million is allocated in the form of a grant and $3 million in the form of a loan. The total cost of the project is valued at over $10 million.