Kenai Aviation and Reeve Air Alaska have submitted proposals to bring scheduled air service back to Seward, the city announced on Facebook on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
According to a call for proposals from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation Director Todd Homan, dated Oct. 17, the department from 1985 to 2002 provided subsidized essential air service between Seward and Anchorage. That service included one round trip each weekday and one round trip per weekend in peak seasons, two round trips per week during the off season. That service was cut on May 21, 2002, after the State Department of Transportation and Public Facilities wrote that there was “not sufficient passenger traffic to justify” continuing the service, but that it might request the service be reinstituted in the future, “should circumstances warrant.”
Seward City Manager Kat Sorensen, in a March 18 letter, requested Seward be restored to the essential air service program.
“Seward is a vital community on the Kenai Peninsula,” she writes. “It’s lack of scheduled air service presents challenges for residents, businesses, and visitors.”
A “Essential Air Service Determination for Alaska Communities,” cited by Sorensen, calls for six departures from Seward in the peak season, two in the off season. “Due to the demand I’ve heard,” she writes, she asks instead for three departures in the off season.
Her request was supported by the state department on Aug. 14. The federal department on Oct. 17 issued the request for proposals, calling for a description of possible service, “with subsidy if necessary,” that addresses the preferences of potential users and provide “sufficient capacity to accommodate historical levels of traffic.”
Kenai Aviation CEO Jacob Caldwell during an Oct. 28 meeting of the Seward City Council said he’d collaborated with Sorensen in pursuit of bringing air service back to Seward since she entered the city manager role in late 2023.
The subsidy, he said, comes from taxes on airline tickets, and will bring weekly flights to Seward. Neither the City of Seward or State of Alaska will be made to pay for the service.
“Very excited to see it get to this point, where we have the opportunity finally to go bid for this,” he said.
A proposal dated Nov. 13, by Michael Reeve of Reeve Air Alaska, describes their plan to create a permanent presence in Seward and three weekly round-trip flights between Anchorage and Seward, upped to six from “late May through early September.”
“Average one-way Seward fare” would be “around $175,” they write.
Kenai Aviation, in a proposal submitted Nov. 14, call Seward to Anchorage travel “one of Alaska’s most picturesque yet demanding routes.”
Their location at Gate A11 in the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport “allows for easy connection,” and they could provide year-round coverage of three flights per week — Monday, Wednesday and Friday — upped to six flights per week — Monday through Saturday — from May 1 to Sept. 30. Flights would leave Anchorage at 11 a.m. and depart Seward at noon.
“Kenai Aviation will be very open to discussion with the community on any changes to this proposed schedule,” they write.
Both proposals describe the use of twin-engine, nine-passenger craft. Reeve uses Beechcraft King Airs, while Kenai Aviation says they’ll use their Tecnam Travellers. Both proposals also describe plans to market their routes in and around Seward.
Reeve’s proposal describes a requested annual subsidy of $694,800 from the department for the first year, increased to $729,540 for the second year. That’s with 201 round-trip flights per year and total operating cost of $876,000.
Kenai Aviation calls for subsidy of $529,050 for the first year and $508,037 for the second year, with an annual operating cost of $665,732.
Per the call for proposals, “the department expects service to begin no later than 90 days after a final award is issued,” though the call doesn’t say by when that award is set to be announced. The two proposals were received by a Nov. 14 deadline, and the City of Seward wrote on Facebook that comment would be accepted through Dec. 9.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
