State proposes 55-year Adak Airport lease, competing bids due Oct. 8

Alaska is proposing to lease part of the airport at Adak — a remote, nearly empty island at the far end of the Aleutians that has suddenly drawn military and space-industry interest — to a private company for 55 years, one of the longest terms the state allows.

The state Department of Transportation would lease about 6.6 acres of airport land to Adak Development Group for roughly $62,600 a year, on a term running to about 2081. The company would use it for a commercial air-freight hangar, aircraft maintenance and offices, the sale of aviation fuel, and cold storage for live seafood awaiting shipment. Competing applications and objections are due by Oct. 8.

Fifty-five years is the state's own ceiling for airport leases, meant to match long-term investment in permanent improvements — and it runs up against a federal rule. The state's leasing guidance itself cites an FAA order telling federal offices that leases beyond 50 years "may be considered a disposal of the property," and that they "should not consent to proposed lease terms that exceed 50 years." Whether Adak's airport carries the federal grant obligations that would trigger that rule isn't clear from the state's notice.

Adak's location is why the timing matters. Once home to a Cold War naval air station that closed in the 1990s, the island sits roughly halfway between mainland Alaska and Russia, near the great-circle shipping and flight paths across the Pacific — and it's again drawing attention as one of the most strategically placed spots in the country. In the past year, the top U.S. commander in the Pacific has publicly urged reopening a base there, and the Aleut Corporation — the Unangax̂ landowner on the island — signed a 100-year lease with a California company, SpinLaunch, to build a satellite launch site using its existing infrastructure.

That renewed interest is already drawing federal money. In the spring, the Denali Commission awarded $5.7 million to the state for improvements at the Adak airport and $5.8 million to the Aleut Corporation for work including hangar and fuel upgrades. The state's notice doesn't establish any connection between those awards and Adak Development Group, which has no federal award history under that name.

For now, Adak remains tiny. The state put the island's population at 77 in mid-2025, down from 171 in the 2020 census and thousands when the Navy was there. Its airport has a single 7,790-foot runway, no control tower, and is closed to unscheduled aircraft through the winter without advance permission.