What was once a major regional airline in Alaska quietly ceased operations earlier this month and hasn’t been too talkative about the move since. Ravn Alaska apparently stopped flying on Aug. 5 but didn’t say anything about it until a notice appeared on its website on Aug. 14. “We appreciate the years of service we were able to provide to Alaska communities,” the statement read. “While we are no longer operating flights in Alaska, we’re grateful for the trust you placed in us during our time serving the region.” Like many other small carriers in the state, Ravn provided a critical transportation link for people and cargo, especially for communities that don’t have roads to them. At its peak it flew to 100 communities with a fleet of Dash-8s, but before the closure was only serving six. The last flight was from Valdez to Anchorage, the airline’s base. It had also attempted to start an Anchorage-based international airline called New Pacific Airlines using Boeing 757s and operated a scheduled service between Ontario, California, and Las Vegas briefly in 2023. It’s now strictly a charter operation
The airline did not say why it closed up shop but it’s struggled financially in the past year, laying off 130 employees, about a third of its workforce, last spring. According to Alaska’sNewsSource, the airline said in a federal filing last December that rising costs were forcing adjustments in its operations, including the cancellation of service to several communities. “Despite Ravn’s best efforts, the significant increase in operational costs over the past several years has made it economically untenable for Ravn to continue to operate service between ANC and KSM at levels reasonably aligned with the Department’s determination of EAS levels for the community,” Ravn wrote in the December filing.
I understand Alaska is all about the rugged individualism and all, but if there are communities that are only accessible by plane, should there not not be a state response to ensure these communities are serviced? Either that or they die out because they cannot survive without modern supplies.
It’s like Alaska need a public air service like other states have public bus/transit services.
All of us who own aircraft know exactly why this happened. Parts pricing is going through the roof. Hartzell prices have tripled (3) since they were bought by a private equity group. A buddy who flies Citations told me hot section inspections have gone up by a similar multiplier. This is an industry wide problem and I believe it will finally finish off what we know as general aviation.
It’s all about cash flow. Not enough travellers, not enough money. The State needs to ensure funding for outllying communities for basics like healthcare and education to support these local and regional carriers. Telehealth is a great moneysaving tool but it doesn’t replace qualified doctor’s diagnosis in critical situations where the only good outcome is highly trained, competent medical specialists to save people’s lives. However its fixed, it needs to be fixed and small, regional carriers are part of the picture.