17-05-2025
Ravn Alaska tells federal government it intends to end scheduled service to more rural communities
May 16—Ravn Alaska, once a prominent rural Alaska airline, provided the federal government with notice this week that it intends to terminate subsidized scheduled air service to two of the last rural communities it serves.
The actions come on the heels of the airline's decisions over the last couple of years to suspend service in most of the rural Alaska communities that it served.
In the filings to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Ravn Alaska said it intends to terminate service to Valdez as well as St. Paul in Western Alaska at the end of September.
The separate filings say the airline is giving notice of "its intention to terminate subsidized scheduled air service between Anchorage" and the rural communities.
The filings occurred due to a "significant and unanticipated" reduction in Ravn Alaska's fleet of Dash 8 airplanes, they say.
Tom Hsieh, the chief executive of Ravn Alaska, said in an interview that Canadian-based Avmax has leased some of the Dash 8 planes to Ravn, but has decided not to extend the lease on those planes.
In response, Ravn will not be able to provide sufficient levels of service under the Essential Air Service program, the filings say. The Essential Air Service program provides federal subsidies when necessary to allow regular air service in communities where it otherwise wouldn't be economically viable.
Ravn urged the department in the filings to move quickly to select new carriers for the communities.
Asked if the filings mean Ravn no longer expects to provide scheduled service in Alaska, Hsieh said they alert the "department and the communities that there's a risk that we will not have aircraft for those communities."
The filings are part of a 140-day notice requirement.
Also, early this week, Ravn ended its scheduled service to Unalakleet in Northwest Alaska.
"The route is now serviced by Kenai Aviation," Ravn's website says.
The airline, which last year laid off many of its employees, is currently making scheduled flights to only three rural locations, St. Mary's in Southwest Alaska as well as Valdez and St. Paul, according to its reservations website.
Late last year, Ravn Alaska filed notice that it intended to cancel unsubsidized scheduled air service in St. Mary's.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has ordered that Ravn continue flying to that community through May 29 as it seeks proposals from other air carriers that might provide the service.
In its notice about St. Mary's, Ravn said a "significant increase in operational costs over the past several years has made it economically untenable for Ravn to continue to operate service" at levels determined by the agency.
Jacob Caldwell, the chief executive of Kenai Aviation, said another airline, Aleutian Airways, has picked up service in many of the rural Alaska communities after Ravn left those locations.
The Kenai airline has picked up scheduled service in Kenai and recently Unalakleet as Ravn Alaska has backed out.
"Some communities may look at it as an upgrade or downgrade, depending on the perspective," Caldwell said. "But everywhere has has comparable service at this point."
Ravn Alaska's parent company, New Pacific Airlines, has also faced turbulence.
It had planned to begin scheduled flights to destinations such as Tokyo and Seoul, with stops in Anchorage, starting in 2022.
But it appears to provide only charter flights, according to its website.
