The Black Wolf Bistro opened in July, 2024, returning food services to the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport after six years. The bistro is managed by Chef Michael Bock and his highly experienced team, who also prepare the meals served by Air North, Yukon’s Airline on their flights and the tasty delights sold by The Flight Kitchen in Whitehorse grocery stores and retailers.
Coming later this year, we’ll be excited to offer some options in the departures lounge at Gate 1 in the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport.
Our grab-and-go fridge, The Cache, will be regularly stocked throughout the day—including for early morning departures. So if you’re flying out before we open, never fear—you’ll have an opportunity to purchase something tasty to take with you.
The Black Wolf Bistro respectfully acknowledges that it is based on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council.
Air North, Yukon’s Airline, is 49% owned by the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation.
As you venture through these lands, we invite you to listen, learn, and experience the culture of the Indigenous peoples who call Yukon home. Learn more at Indigenous Yukon.
The Black Wolf Bistro takes its name from the Black Wolf Squadron, a U.S. Army Service initiative that showcased the viability of long-distance air travel. In July 1920, four two-seater DH-4 De Havilland biplanes left Mineola, New York, en route to Nome, Alaska, stopping on the way in Whitehorse and Dawson City. It was a milestone in the Yukon’s aviation history: the first time an airplane touched down in the territory.
When word made it to Whitehorse that one of the planes had passed Skagway, “there was a great stampede to the landing ground,” the Weekly Star reported on its front page on Aug. 20, 1920. The crowd waited, staring the sky, until “a tiny speck like a little bird” appeared in the distance, rapidly approaching. The awed onlookers took in the machine’s deep hum, which sounded like “the rich sonorous fundamental sound emitted by a great organ pipe.”
“The great dragonfly as if in joyous exaltation of having caused so much excitement among the earth-bound mortals, gracefully circled about as if to show its wonderful capabilities and mastery of the air,” the paper reported. Then it lowered to the ground, kicking up clouds of dust. Two of the other planes promptly landed as well, with the fourth arriving the next day.
It was a monumental day for the Yukon, where seeing an airplane in flight was a novel experience. The sky was no longer solely the domain of birds—or dragonflies. The biplanes landed atop the Whitehorse clay cliffs, where the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport sits today. The De Havillands, with their eight crew members, continued on to Dawson City and eventually landed in Nome that August. Then they flew back to New York, arriving on Oct. 20. The journey marked the beginning of civil aviation in North America.
To learn more about the aviation history of the Yukon, we encourage you to explore the Yukon Transportation Museum (goytm.ca) and MacBride Museum (macbridemuseum.ca) in Whitehorse.
Photo: Black Wolf Squadron in Whitehorse, Yukon. Pictured on Aug. 16, 1920. Yukon Archives, E.J. Hamacher fonds (Margaret and Rolf Hougen Collection), 2002/118 #204.