Bering Air seeks Nome and Unalakleet lease updates — at the same airports the NTSB is investigating

Bering Air is moving to keep its operations going at two western Alaska airports — the same two airports the National Transportation Safety Board is looking at as part of its investigation into the deadly February 2025 crash of Flight 445.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities posted notices Thursday for a five-year lease extension at Nome Airport, where Bering Air runs its main hub, and an amended lease at Unalakleet Airport that would broaden what Bering Air is allowed to do there. Annual rent at Nome is about $13,000 for roughly 60,000 square feet of terminal and storage space. The Unalakleet site is much smaller — about 10,500 square feet, at around $2,300 a year. Bering Air flies scheduled service to 18 communities from Nome.

The lease actions land 16 months after Bering Air Flight 445, a Cessna Caravan flying from Unalakleet to Nome, went down on sea ice about 34 miles short of Nome. All 10 people aboard were killed. The crash happened in freezing-drizzle icing conditions while the plane was descending to land.

Investigators found weight was a major problem.

According to the NTSB's factual report released in February 2026, the plane took off at about 9,865 pounds — more than 1,000 pounds over the maximum allowed weight for the icing conditions it was flying in, and about 800 pounds over the standard weight limit even in normal conditions. Then the agency looked at Bering Air's recent flight history: out of 35 flight legs reviewed across the week before the crash, seven were overweight. Every one of them took off from Nome or Unalakleet — the same two airports now seeking lease decisions from the state.

The NTSB has not yet issued a final ruling on what caused the crash.

Bering Air is operating as an Alaska air taxi carrier serving western communities from its Nome hub. The lease notices the state posted Thursday are routine real estate paperwork — DOT&PF's job is processing airport land leases, not deciding whether airlines are safe. Those are different conversations happening in different places.