by Greg Lincoln
Alaska Airlines is planning on sending their morning flight at an earlier time to Bethel every Tuesday starting September 12th, 2023 to accommodate passengers that want to make a day trip into town and avoid having to stay overnight in a pricey hotel. The flight would leave Anchorage at 6:45am.
Alaska Airlines has been engaging with the community of Bethel to better understand the region’s service needs, says the U.S. Department of Transportation in a letter from the U.S. Department of Transportation dated August 17, 2023 to the Honorable Mayor of Bethel, Rose Henderson.
“It is Alaska Airlines’ understanding that the community’s root concerns about service between Bethel and Anchorage is the inability to make a day trip to Anchorage, without having to stay overnight, which would avoid rising hotel prices in Anchorage. To accommodate these concerns, Alaska Airlines has rescheduled the first flight on the “Fall A” schedule to Bethel on Tuesdays to a 6:45am departure from Anchorage allowing an earlier arrival for a day trip on Tuesdays. This service will begin on September 12, 2023.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation letter was a response to the request from the City of Bethel to complete a service needs assessment to determine if the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta Region has adequate passenger flight service to meet the needs of travelers to and from the region.
On March 14th, 2023, the City of Bethel council passed a Resolution 23-05 to make the request and noting that the last service needs assessment study was conducted in 1980 through the Vici Aeronautics Board (Order No. 80-1-167), which determined that Bethel should have 16 large aircraft flights per week during peak season and 14 large aircraft (60 seats) flights per week during the off-season. Peak season and off-seasons were not defined.
Bethel’s population was 3,576 in 1980. Today it is approximately 6,300 – a 55% increase, says the resolution. And the rest of the Yukon Kuskokwim delta villages are also growing in population and Bethel is the hub.
Alaska Airlines, which is the only commercial carrier that provides passenger services between Bethel and Anchorage, reported to the US DOT that there has been a significant increase in available seats since they transitioned to a larger capacity aircraft in 2007.
“Currently, Alaska Airlines, as the only air carrier serving Bethel, provides more seats per year to Bethel than in 2010, operating approximately 20 weekly nonstop roundtrips from Bethel, including two daily passenger flights and almost daily dedicated freighter service,” said the letter. “Additionally, Alaska Airlines uses the larger Boeing 737-800 aircraft more frequently in the summer to accommodate increased seasonal passenger demand.”
The earlier morning flight would also work for folks who want to make day trips to Bethel from Anchorage.
