Seaplanes objects as Juneau airport moves to rework cost split with airlines

Alaska Seaplanes President Jodi Garza asked the Juneau International Airport Board last month to defer authorizing up to $100,000 in consulting work that could change how the airport splits costs between major airlines and smaller carriers. The board approved the spending unanimously Sept. 10. Garza's letter appears as correspondence on the agenda for the board's Thursday, Oct. 8, meeting, with no separate discussion or action item.

Airport Manager Andres Delgado told the board in September that Alaska Airlines approached him in late August with term sheets to renegotiate its lease. The consultant would help negotiate new agreements with Alaska Airlines and Delta and rebuild the airport's financial model, which assigns 85% of costs to large carriers and 15% to smaller operators and general aviation. Delgado said the split seems arbitrary, since no written agreement sets it. Board member Jerry Godkin warned of heartache if the board deviates from it. Board member Angela Rodell said she expected the airport to get far more than $100,000 in return.

Garza wrote that Alaska Seaplanes provides year-round passenger, freight, mail and medical connectivity through JNU to communities with no road access, and that changing the 85/15 split could affect rates and air service affordability across Southeast Alaska. She asked for stakeholder input before the scope was finalized.

She also questioned whether the September meeting was properly noticed. Garza wrote that she received notice of the August meeting but not September's. "The lack of notice raises a serious question about whether the September meeting was properly noticed and whether any action taken at that meeting is valid," she wrote, sending the letter at 5:08 pm Sept. 10, less than an hour before the board met. The City and Borough of Juneau centralized its public notices online effective Aug. 3.

The board's Finance Committee reviewed the consultant's scope Sept. 25, and the airport issued a request for proposals Sept. 30, with proposals due Oct. 26, according to the October Airport Board agenda packet. Staff aim to put new airline agreements in place by July 1, 2027.