Kenai Aviation owner Joel Caldwell said in a Facebook post on Monday that all flights would cease that afternoon due to the company being “financially insolvent.”
Six months ago, Kenai Aviation was one of four airlines servicing the Kenai Municipal Airport. Ravn Alaska, Grant Aviation and Aleutian Airways also offered flights to Anchorage, Fairbanks and communities in the Kenai Peninsula. Ravn Alaska closed in August, and before Kenai Alaska flies again, “we need capital, we need partners, we need a lifeline,” Joel Caldwell wrote on Facebook.
After Ravn Alaska’s closure, Kenai Aviation stepped in to continue servicing Unalakleet. Kenai Aviation’s closure once again leaves the community without regularly scheduled air service, necessitating a costly first stop in Nome.
According to the company’s website, Kenai Aviation was founded in 1959 by Bob Bielefeld to support the energy industry in the Cook Inlet. The Caldwell brothers purchased Kenai Aviation in 2018 after hearing about Bielefeld’s plans to cease operations. Within a year, the fleet grew to seven planes and served eight communities in Alaska.
“Then the COVID happened,” Caldwell’s Facebook post reads. “The pandemic response affected all of us, but for most people it’s just a painful memory. For me, and for Kenai Aviation, the COVID gave us a debt load that we haven’t been able to get back on top of.”
After obtaining its commuter air carrier authorization in 2022, Kenai Aviation began offering over a dozen daily flights between the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage. In August, the airline suspended flights while the company’s only King Air plane was down for maintenance. According to the post, the debt accrued during that time was the company’s final blow, and “today, the bank is calling that debt.”
“Where some see passengers, I see connecting Alaskans,” Caldwell wrote. “I see people I care about. I see a vibrant airline, full flights, growth, and the best crew of mechanics, ground staff, and pilots that I have ever had the pleasure of working with.”
Grant Aviation and Aleutian Airlines are still conducting scheduled airline service out of Kenai Municipal Airport.
“We are analyzing our fleet availability and schedule in ENA to see how we might be able to assist the community with airlift after Kenai Aviation’s abrupt closure,” Aleutian Airways Director of Marketing & Corporate Communications Katie Loughlin wrote in an email Wednesday.
Because the government shutdown impacts airline contracts, Loughlin said it’s unclear when they’ll have more definitive information.
