Regional Alaskan air carrier Kenai Aviation has ceased all operations effective immediately, citing financial insolvency. The Alaska-based airline, which provided scheduled and charter flights across Southcentral and Western Alaska, announced the shutdown Monday through a statement on social media.
Owner Joel Caldwell wrote that while Kenai Aviation had seen strong operations and full flights, the Alaskan air carrier was “financially insolvent.” The shutdown leaves customers with canceled flights and some communities without commercial service.
Long History, Recent Struggles
Founded in 1959 to support the Cook Inlet energy industry, Kenai Aviation was purchased in 2018 by Caldwell, an Alaska Airlines captain. The airline operated routes connecting Anchorage with Kenai, Homer, Valdez, Fairbanks, Glennallen, Seward and Unalakleet.
Caldwell said the company’s financial troubles stemmed from pandemic-era debt that it had not been able to overcome.
“Carrying that burden increased the effects of every obstacle that we’ve had to navigate,” he wrote in a Facebook post Monday.
Impact on Communities
Earlier this year, the maintenance grounding of an aircraft serving the Anchorage–Unalakleet route left the Western Alaska community without direct service for months. While flights later resumed, the interruption took a financial toll on the company.
In Unalakleet, the loss of Kenai Aviation means the community again has no regular air service.
“Flights had been running and were full, after the summer and fall of cancellations. Now Unalakleet is back to square one,” resident Kelsi Ivanoff told the Anchorage Daily News.
Calls for Support
Despite the shutdown, Caldwell said he is not giving up on the airline’s future.
“Our operations may stop, but this vision continues,” he wrote. “We need capital, we need partners, we need a lifeline. That investor is out there, we just need to find them.”
Caldwell also asked supporters to keep hope for the Alaskan air carrier’s revival.
“If you are a praying person, I need your prayers. If you aren’t, I need your hope,” he wrote. “This can’t be the end of the story.”
A Difficult Season for Alaskan Air Carriers
Kenai Aviation’s closure comes less than three months after Ravn Alaska, once a major regional Alaskan air carrier, also shut down abruptly. The loss of these two carriers has drawn skepticism about the stability of air service to rural Alaska communities that depend on small regional airlines for essential travel and supplies. Alaska presents a unique challenge for aircraft owners, operators and airlines, given the state’s high reliance on aviation yet quite unique aviation infrastructure, resources and needs.
For now, Kenai Aviation’s hangars are quiet, but Caldwell maintains that the company’s mission is not finished.
“It’s hard to ground a vision,” he wrote.
