Regional Airline Moves into New Markets

By Rob Stapleton, Alaska Journal of Commerce, Anchorage

Jun. 10–The announcement by Era Aviation that it is offering flights from Anchorage to two new destinations this fall also served by Alaska Airlines has those in the aviation industry officials wondering just how Alaska Air will respond.

Era Aviation announced June 4 the addition of scheduled service to Bethel and Fairbanks from Anchorage.

The scheduled service will begin on Sept. 4 with three flights daily to Fairbanks utilizing the 37-passenger de Havilland Dash 8 aircraft. Bethel will be served with up to two flights daily with the 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D stand-up, cabin-class airliner.

Era Aviation and Alaska Airlines are code-share partners for service to Kodiak, Homer, Kenai, Valdez and Cordova. The partnership means some flights purchased through Alaska that include these destinations are actually served by Era. Passengers still receive Alaska Airlines mileage points. Whether this agreement will be extended to the Fairbanks and Bethel routes has yet to be seen.

“It’s too early to tell, we are waiting to hear from Alaska Airlines about code-sharing. We would like to partner with them, and we feel it would be beneficial for both of our airlines,” said Mike LeNorman, director of marketing for Era Aviation, based at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

LeNorman said Era had informed Alaska Airlines officials June 4 when they announced the new destinations.

“We saw the news about Era’s plans for Bethel and Fairbanks service yesterday,” said Alaska Airlines spokesperson Caroline Boren June 5.

Other airlines in the market don’t think that the Seattle-based airline will jump on board with Era in its new markets.

“We can’t imagine that Alaska Airlines will support these flights,” said Craig Kenmonth, general manager of Frontier Flying Service that also offers flights with a Beechcraft 1900 from Anchorage to Bethel and Fairbanks.

Era is confident that the service will successfully fill seats from Western Alaska at a time when villagers travel most.

LeNorman said Era had already set its summer schedule, opting to start the service in the fall when village residents are not busy with commercial fishing or out at their camps.

“The addition of these two markets will strengthen Era’s intrastate route system and provide convenient service to our valued customers that have been asking Era to serve these markets for some time now,” said Era’s president and chief executive officer Steve Jackson in a press release. “We believe these communities are a good fit for Era based on the aircraft we operate and, most importantly, based on input from our customers.”

Era Aviation took delivery of its third Beechcraft 1900 D model aircraft June 2, replacing its de Havilland Twin Otters for service to Southcentral Alaska locations.

“We have had people asking for this for a long time. Our customers want this and we are responding to their needs,” LeNorman said.

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ALK,