Feds seek bids for subsidized jet service to Cordova, Gustavus, 3 other towns

The U.S. Department of Transportation opened bidding Tuesday for the federally subsidized jet service to Cordova, Gustavus, Petersburg, Wrangell and Yakutat, a contract Alaska Airlines now holds for about $17.8 million a year.

The last time the routes were up for bid, in 2024, Alaska Airlines was the only airline to apply, and the government's payment went up 20.8%. Proposals for the next contract are due Nov. 23, the department's order says, for a term that starts May 1, 2027.

The flights run through the federal Essential Air Service program, which pays airlines to keep scheduled service going to small communities that couldn't support it otherwise. Alaska Airlines flies Boeing 737s on the routes.

The order asks bidders to match today's service. Cordova gets seven nonstop round trips a week to Anchorage and seven one-stop round trips to Juneau, and Yakutat the reverse. Petersburg flies daily to Juneau with one-stop service to Ketchikan, and Wrangell flies nonstop to Ketchikan with one-stop service to Juneau. Gustavus gets daily nonstops to Juneau, subsidized only in peak summer season. Other airlines fly small planes there the rest of the year without subsidy. The order also expects 52 freighter operations a year to and from Anchorage and Juneau for Cordova, Yakutat, Petersburg and Wrangell.

Airlines may propose something different, such as other hubs or longer contracts, but must include at least one two-year option that matches those levels.

Petersburg had 24,570 passenger boardings last year, Cordova 18,050, Wrangell 14,569, Yakutat 11,400 and Gustavus 9,841, according to federal traffic figures in the order. Planes carried about 1,040 tons of freight in and out of Yakutat and about 807 tons at Cordova.

Much of the traffic to and from the five towns is travel within Alaska, particularly in the off-season, Alaska Airlines told the department in February 2025.

The department set the current payments in March 2025 at about $17.1 million a year for passenger service and $700,000 for freighters, up from about $14.8 million a year in the 2023 to 2025 term. Cordova's passenger subsidy rose about 32% to $5.7 million and Yakutat's about 34% to $5.8 million. Gustavus's rose about 25% to $507,000 and Wrangell's about 3% to $2.7 million. Petersburg's fell about 3% to $2.4 million.

Alaska Airlines said it needed the increase because of higher labor, maintenance and other costs of serving remote places, according to that order. No airline offered to fly the routes without subsidy.

Alaska Airlines' parent company, Alaska Air Group, said Tuesday that it now expects to lose money this year after jet fuel ran $1.8 billion over plan, Alaska News reported.

Six of seven other Alaska communities whose subsidized flights went out to bid this year drew one proposal each, all from the carrier already flying there, Alaska News reported Tuesday.

Every community comment the department received in 2024 backed Alaska Airlines, citing its connections through Anchorage, Juneau, Ketchikan and Seattle and its planes' Required Navigation Performance technology, which helps them reach Southeast Alaska airports in bad weather, the March 2025 order says.

"Since we are not connected to a road system, having safe, scheduled air service is vital to keeping our communities connected," Alaska Federation of Natives President Benjamin Mallott wrote in December 2024.

After the Nov. 23 deadline, the department will post the proposals and ask the five communities for final comments. Federal law directs it to weigh reliability, community preference and Alaska experience, among other factors, along with how much subsidy each airline wants.