The airline was established in 1966 as Vic Turner Ltd[7] which operated a single
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter providing air support for oil exploration activities in the
Canadian Arctic. Renamed Kenn Borek Air after being purchased by Borek Construction in 1971, the company acquired the Aklavik Flying Services which was founded in April 1947 by Michael Zubko operating a single
Aeronca Champion at that time.[8] In 1975 Kenn Borek acquired Kenting Atlas Aviation. Kenting Atlas Aviation had been formed in 1972 with the purchase of Weldy Phipps's Atlas Aviation (established in 1962) by Kenting Aviation.[9] This was the second iteration of the Atlas Aviation name, the first evolving out of the renaming of McGuire Flying School at Uplands Airport, Ottawa, Ontario formed in 1946 by Hugh McGuire.
The company has been operating in
Antarctica since 1985.[10]
In 2009, the company was commissioned to recover a crashed aircraft in the Antarctic, and employees spent 25 days in a makeshift camp to complete the project.[10]
The airline was used by the
BBC during the filming of the documentary Frozen Planet (2011), which was narrated by
David Attenborough, and one of its planes is seen in portions of the footage.
In June 2016 the company assisted in removing two sick workers from Antarctica during the polar winter. Two Twin Otter aircraft were used and successfully completed the mission.[15] The crew, captain Wally Dobchuk, first officer Sebastian Trudel and maintenance engineer Michael McCrae were honoured for their heroism by
Aviation Week.[16]
In 2020 one of the airline's converted DC-3s was used by
NASA to drop probes along
Greenland's Atlantic coast, as part of the NASA's annual Oceans Melting Greenland project. The project is intended to monitor the rate at which Greenland's ice cap melts into the sea.[17]
Operations
Kenn Borek Air offers a full service overhaul maintenance hangar in Calgary with routine maintenance being completed wherever the aircraft is located.
On 28 February 1977,
Douglas C-47A C-FIQR crashed near
Salluit (then known as Sugluk),
Quebec. The aircraft was not repairable and was used for parts.[19]
On 21 December 1977, DHC-6 C-FABW crashed near
Nanisivik Airport,
Nunavut. Damaged beyond repair. Two crew and six passengers were killed. Probable cause was a flap rod failure.[20][21]
On 18 September 1978, Douglas C-47A C-FCRW was damaged beyond economic repair in a landing accident at
Komakuk Beach,
Yukon.[22]
On 7 May 1982, Douglas C-47A C-FQHF overran the runway at
Calgary International Airport following an aborted take-off.[23] The aircraft was damaged beyond economic repair.[24]
On 10 November 1987, DHC-4A Caribou aircraft C-GVYX, crashed near
Ross River, Yukon, two crew were killed.[25][26]
On 20 December 2007,
Basler BT-67 C-FMKB was substantially damaged in a take-off accident at
Mount Paterson,
Antarctica when the take-off was attempted with insufficient speed for flight. Of the twelve people on board, only the co-pilot suffered minor injuries. Although both sets of undercarriage collapsed and the port wing was damaged, the aircraft was later repaired and returned to service.[11][27][28]