After a prolonged approval course of with the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, Aleutian Airways now could be providing its 50-passenger Saab 2000 plane for constitution flights.
Working constitution flights is the following step within the effort to supply scheduled service between Anchorage and Dutch Harbor, Sand Level, King Salmon and Chilly Bay, in keeping with airline spokesperson Ashley Roy.
Aleutian Airways’ certification is the newest transfer which will shake up Alaska’s aviation ecosystem, which consists of Alaska Airways jets and a set of smaller planes to get vacationers to their closing vacation spot.
Vacationers usually have sticker shock once they begin pricing out a visit to a distant Alaska vacation spot. For instance, a ticket with Grant Aviation from Dutch Harbor to Akutan is a 20-minute flight. The associated fee is $145 one-way. However then vacationers should buy a one-way helicopter journey from the airport to city. That’s an additional $100.
Between Kotzebue and Buckland on Bering Air, the fee is $210 one-way for a 30-minute flight.
Flights to those Bush places usually are not essentially for sightseers. Slightly, they’re designed for employees or medical sufferers.
“Medical journey, together with Medicare sufferers, is essential to all Alaska air carriers,” mentioned Matt Atkinson of Wright Air in Fairbanks. Atkinson is also president of the Alaska Air Carriers Affiliation, a commerce group.
Aleutian Airways’ potential routes to Southwest Alaska will place it in direct competitors with two different carriers: Alaska Airways and Ravn Alaska.
Alaska Airways flies extra passengers round Alaska than all the opposite air carriers within the state mixed. From Anchorage, they fly nonstop to Adak, Nome, Utqiagvik, Juneau and different locations in between. However the smaller carriers present that “final mile” service to dozens of smaller cities and villages.
As not too long ago as 2019, Ravn Alaska flew to greater than 100 locations all through Alaska. At this time, although, Ravn flies its fleet of de Havilland Sprint-8s to 10 locations, together with Dutch Harbor, St. Paul Island, Kenai, Homer and Valdez. The service not too long ago pulled out of King Salmon, Dillingham and Kodiak, leaving Alaska Airways as the one service to these communities.
Ravn’s service is exclusive, because it flies bigger planes with as much as 37 passengers. Different smaller carriers can take a most of 9 passengers. From Anchorage to St. Paul Island within the Bering Sea, Ravn costs $749 one-way.
Ravn is also growing a brand new worldwide airline, Northern Pacific Airways. Whereas the airline is transforming an area at Ted Stevens Anchorage Worldwide Airport within the underused north terminal, it’s working into delays in launching its 757 plane to Japan and Seoul.
“It makes extra sense to launch the service in February or March of 2023, which supplies us time to pre-sell tickets,” mentioned Tom Hsieh, president of Northern Pacific.
Within the interim, Northern Pacific has filed with the U.S. Division of Transportation, or DOT, to fly between Ontario, California and Mexico utilizing the 757.
Vacationers to Western Alaska usually fly Alaska Airways from Anchorage to Bethel. From there, air carriers like Grant Aviation and Yute Commuter Service fly to dozens of villages with a number of departures all through the day. Whereas there are no less than 54 villages that use Bethel as a hub, each air carriers attain out to communities north and east of city.
Grant Aviation additionally serves vacationers within the Aleutians after they fly Ravn from Anchorage to Dutch Harbor or Chilly Bay. Grant flies a set of small planes, together with the Cessna 207 and 208, Beechcraft King Air 200 and Piper Navajo.
In Northwest Alaska, Bering Air flies from Nome, Kotzebue and Unalakleet to 32 communities within the area. Along with the service’s fleet of Cessna 208B Grand Caravans, Bering Air has a few Beech 1900 plane that seat as much as 19 passengers. The air service additionally has a number of helicopters. Locations embrace Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island, St. Michael, Shaktoolik and Shishmaref.
From Fairbanks, Warbelow’s Air flies to communities up and down the Yukon River, together with Beaver, Circle and Rampart. Warbelow’s flies twin-engine Piper Navajo Chieftains.
Warbelow’s sister airline, Wright Air Service, flies north from Fairbanks to Alaska’s North Slope. However most flights begin and finish in Utqiagvik, to Kaktovik, Prudhoe Bay, Wainwright, Level Hope and Level Lay. Along with passengers delivered by Alaska Air to both Prudhoe Bay or Utqiagvik, Wright takes freight and mail to the smaller communities.
From its hub in Juneau, Alaska Seaplanes flies to 14 communities in Southeast Alaska, together with Angoon, Hoonah, Pelican, Tenakee Springs, Skagway and Haines.
Alaska Seaplanes flies as far south as Klawock on Prince of Wales Island. Service to most of Prince of Wales Island communities is thru Ketchikan on Taquan Air.
This isn’t a whole record of passenger air carriers. Different carriers embrace Ryan Air out of Unalakleet and Island Air Specific in Ketchikan. Alaska Air Transit and Iliamna Air each fly to distant villages from Anchorage’s Merrill Subject.
There are also cargo carriers that provide passenger charters, together with Alaska Central Specific. Based mostly in Anchorage, “ACE” has a fleet of Beech 1900 freighters. However one among them is configured for 18 passengers. Everts Air, a cargo service, additionally gives passenger service from Fairbanks to 12 communities.
Operating an air service is a fancy enterprise that takes a variety of time to arrange, together with obligatory allowing, security, upkeep and coaching protocols from the FAA and the U.S. DOT.
Each huge and small air carriers are essential to serve Alaska’s far-flung locations.