Calm Air ATR fleet resumes flying following fire in Thompson, Man.

Calm Air's fleet of ATR aircraft resumed flying Tuesday afternoon after the airline voluntarily shut down the planes, cancelling flights across Manitoba and Nunavut following an incident on a runway in Thompson, Man., Monday afternoon.

"We just decided in the abundance of caution that we were going to voluntarily ground our entire fleet of ATR aircraft while we completed several due diligence checks just to make sure that everything was exactly the way we thought it was and that we could rule out as many different scenarios as possible," said Gary Bell, the CEO of Calm Air.

Bell said the airline conducted fuel tests, went over its flight data systems, spoke with the ATR engine and aircraft manufacturers along with Transport Canada and the Transport Safety Board of Canada before resuming operations.

Flights cancelled

"We had a number of cancellations this morning in Manitoba," Bell said, who estimated about ten flights in total were cancelled, including a number in Nunavut's Kivalliq Region Monday and Tuesday morning.

A return flight between Rankin Inlet and Arviat was cancelled along with a return flight between Rankin Inlet and Baker Lake on Monday afternoon.

A flight from Winnipeg to Sanikiluaq was also cancelled Tuesday morning.

A return flight from Rankin Inlet with stops in Chesterfield Inlet and Baker Lake was also cancelled Tuesday, however, Bell said the flight would have been cancelled anyway do to inclement weather.

A makeup flight between Rankin Inlet and Baker Lake was scheduled Tuesday.

Black smoke reported in Thompson, Man.

Shortly after 1 p.m. CT Monday, a Calm Air-owned ATR plane was taxiing down the runway at Thompson Airport when black smoke began billowing from the engines on both sides of the plane.

Soon after, Calm Air grounded all of its ATR aircraft.

"What we wanted to do was to ensure that all aircraft of that similar type remanded grounded until we could isolate the one issue with the one aircraft," Bell said.