After four decades with Air North, Joe Sparling still loves what he does
Joe says that one of the best cards of compliment he’s ever received was one that truly sums up the experience. It said, “It feels like you’re home before you get home.”
When you look around Joe Sparling’s office at the Air North administration building, it’s hard to miss his connection to aviation.
From the many photos of aircraft and paintings of past commercial jets, to the historical news story of the crash of the Queen of the Yukon framed on the office wall, to a large collection of model airliners scattered over desks and bookshelves: the place is full of history.
When I met Joe, I was greeted with a smile and firm handshake, and promptly informed he hadn’t had a chance to eat anything yet, and joked that he’d probably be more conversational and less cranky if he had some food.
Thankfully Joe’s wife and longtime Air North matriarch Deb, is nearby and offers to get him some sustenance so he can keep motoring along.
Soon we are sitting in a pair of supremely comfortable brown leather chairs, among all that aviation memorabilia. With a hot cup of what looks like chilli in Joe’s hands, we continue our interview.
As the president of Air North, Yukon’s Airline, Joe has made a little history himself. The company is celebrating its 48th year in business in 2025 and from its humble, regional roots to the much-loved and respected commercial airline company it is today, Joe has been at the helm — or more accurately in the cockpit — piloting Air North to new heights.
As a young man, recently arrived in the Yukon in the summer of 1968 via an old 1952 Morris Minor and traversing the famed Alaska highway (all gravel back then by the way), Joe visited family (his grandfather came here during the Gold Rush) and decided to acquire his private pilot’s licence.
After returning south to complete university, he immediately began pursuing his commercial licence. He found himself back in the Yukon again in the summer of 1969. He said the plan was originally to spend just one year in the territory and then move on to other things.
“I’m still here,” he said.
Once back in the Yukon he bought his own small plane to log his hours, and he and a friend, Tom Wood, decided to pitch the idea of launching regional air service in the form of charters.
“I think there was an informal discussion … possibly with a couple of beers … myself and the guy that ended up being my co-founding partner, thought, ‘Why don’t we take this airplane and lease it to the guy that runs the flying school [and] charter?’” Joe said about Globe Air located in Whitehorse at the time.
So that’s what they did. They pitched their idea, and as it turns out the owner, Ed Phillips, was looking to sell, and pitched that idea back at the young entrepreneurs.
“We thought, let’s offer him $50,000 for his business, subject to financing. We’ll never get the financing, he’ll never say yes. We had nothing to lose. And that’s exactly what we did.”
Much to their surprise the offer was accepted and the duo got financing for the purchase.
“That’s how we got into business,” Joe said.
That was 1977. The outfit consisted of a few small aircraft, like the Cessna 172 and Cessna 206, and a small office-trailer.
“Our radius of operations was, maybe to Dawson City, on a charter basis only.”
Joe said the original idea was to tap into the boom of Yukon’s growing mining industry, flying people and equipment back and forth. The company began with just two employees.
Fast-forward to now, and the man sitting across from me has a staff of over 600 people, at an airline with its own branded in-flight kitchen, making its own food (not just for the planes, but also available at a local grocery retailer), its own restaurant at the Erik Nielsen International airport, and two newly-acquired Boeing 737-800 aircraft with routes to Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa, in addition to regional stops in the Yukon and NWT.
And let’s not forget Air North has its own cargo service too. The company has also held a long-time partnership with the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation (VGFN) in Old Crow, which lies in the north-west corner of the territory. The VGFN has invested heavily in Air North and secured a life-line to their community.
When Air North planned to stretch its proverbial wings and then evolved into scheduled flying to places like Dawson City and Old Crow and even Fairbanks, Alaska, it set the stage for what would be the transition to jetliner air travel for the Yukon.
Joe points out there was some skepticism about expanded routes, but Yukoners, who were hungry for a little competition and lower fares, embraced the idea of a Yukon-based airline.
“Yukoners seemed to have more confidence in us to provide the service.”
Joe is quick to point out that the business is not about making money, but about making the Yukon a transportation hub (rather than a spoke), thus enabling the territory to be showcased to travellers who come to visit — many by air. That, for him, is a point of pride.
“We’ve made it possible for Yukoners to travel and for Yukoners to travel more often,” he said.
Joe also said having this type of travel freedom opened up many more opportunities for families with children involved in sports for example. Citing his own children (when they were young), getting to and from competitions in hockey or gymnastics would often involve bus travel to places like Fairbanks or Fort Nelson.
“Now Yukon kids, almost every weekend, are travelling to major centres for their competitions, and I think it broadens their horizons and it has given them an opportunity to compete at a higher level. I think for Yukon kids who go out to university, I think being able to return home frequently and affordably makes it easier for Yukon kids to go out to university.”
He thinks that plays a big part in those same post-secondary Yukoners coming back to the territory to put those skills to use here. Another point of pride.
“I think when you put all those things together, the airline operation not only makes the Yukon a better place to live and work, but it kind of enables the economy.”
Again, that point of pride. He’s mentioned it a few times, and yet he remains very humble about all he’s seen and done in the Yukon through his time at Air North.
Like Joe, Air North is well known for its commitment to the Yukon. Whether air travellers are greeting him personally as he flies to places like Vancouver, or extending “hellos” to flight attendants on a first-name basis, or eagerly awaiting their famous warm cookie, they see a man who cares about his company and its place in the Yukon.
And really, it’s the passengers and Yukoners themselves that motivate Joe to do what he does.
He said one of the best cards of compliment he ever received was one that truly sums up the experience. It said, “It feels like you’re home before you get home.”
