Essential Air Service at Akutan, Alaska

Order 2007-1-13
OST-2000-7068

Issued and Served January 24, 2007

Order Requesting Proposals

Essential air service for Akutan requires a minimum of two round trips per week with small aircraft (10 or fewer seats) to either Dutch Harbor or Cold Bay. Service to Dutch Harbor must be operated on a nonstop basis, while service to Cold Bay may have up to two intermediate stops. Because of the need to accommodate historical traffic and the directional imbalance of freight and mail, for the last several two‑year contracts we have authorized subsidy for significantly more service than required by the EAS determination. Proposals should match capacity with demand in a reasonable manner. We note that the current contract is for eleven nonstop round trips per week to Dutch Harbor with a Grumman Goose. Because Akutan has no landing strip, seaplane service is required.

Akutan is unusual in that its level of traffic would normally support subsidy‑free essential air service. However, PenAir's Grumman Goose that serves Akutan has very high operating expenses because of its advanced age. In addition, Akutan's extreme isolation increases the cost of serving it because it is very distant from any carrier's maintenance and pilot bases and headquarters.

By: Todd Homan