N.W.T.'s Discovery Air declares $130M loss

Northwest Territories-based Discovery Air has declared a $130-million loss over the last year, but company officials cite it as an accounting loss, including writedowns on the values of some of its properties.

Officials told CBC News Monday that it wrote down the values of Great Slave Helicopters and Air Tindi. Those companies are no longer worth what Discovery Air had paid for them three years ago.

Without the writedowns, Discovery Air would have made a $3-million profit, which would have been down from $7.5 million the year before.

Discovery Air's long-term debt is up to $146 million, about five times the company's current value on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

About $34 million of that debt is owed to the Northwest Territories government's Opportunities Fund, which provided the company with a loan earlier this year.