Traveling to St. Paul Island has never been easy, but this summer was particularly tough. The Bering Sea community lost its main air carrier in August, and they’ve struggled to find a replacement.
Danielle Lestenkof works for the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, the community’s tribal government. Normally she’s a manager in the business and economic development department. But since August, she’s been pressed into airline duty.
Lestenkof and a coworker in Anchorage have been chartering flights for the community through Security Aviation – and reselling individual seats aboard its 8-passenger Learjet.
“We purchase the charters,” Lestenkof explained. “They tell us which dates they have available. We're stuck paying the bill on that if they're not full.”
Olga Zacharof manages the Anchorage side of the operation.
“She's literally driven and found people who were lost and couldn't make their way there, just to make sure they made it on the plane,” Lestenkof said.
A one-way ticket to Anchorage on one of these charters costs passengers $1,300 – about $500 more than before the community’s federally subsidized airline folded.
‘It just affects everything top to bottom’
Until August, Ravn Alaska was the only airline with regularly scheduled flights between St. Paul and Anchorage. The company announced earlier this year that it would stop flying in October, but it pulled out sooner than expected and then went out of business.
“Air service to St. Paul is very important to us out here,” said Tribal Council President John Wayne Melovidov. “It just affects everything top to bottom. Everything from quality of life to having stocked shelves in the store, being able to leave for medical appointments, for work.”
In small markets that can’t sustain regular scheduled air service, the U.S. Department of Transportation offers exclusive contracts to air carriers through its Essential Air Service program. The carriers earn a modest profit selling tickets at federally subsidized prices.
After Ravn Alaska announced it was pulling out, only one airline originally bid on St. Paul’s Essential Air Service contract: Kenai Aviation. Local leaders asked the company to improve its offer – like by putting a bathroom onboard the 9-seat Beechcraft Super King Air it proposed for the three-hour trip.
The four community leadership groups — the city and tribal governments, the Native village corporation and the Central Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association — told DOT they were revoking their support for Kenai Aviation. The groups noted that the community had been served by de Havilland Dash-8 that carried about three times as many passengers and asked for a “more sustainable and acceptable solution.”
Federal law requires the department to give “substantial weight” to the local community’s views when it picks a contractor. The department agreed that Kenai’s proposal was inconsistent with St. Paul’s prior service and put out an expedited request for new proposals.
Kenai Aviation did not respond to several requests for comment. The company recently faced backlash for failing to meet its obligations to another Bering Sea community this summer. The company won the EAS contract for Unalakleet earlier this year but was only able to fly about half of its scheduled flights. CEO Jacob Caldwell later apologized in a Facebook post.
By the Sept. 8 deadline, Security Aviation and regional carrier Aleutian Airways submitted bids to serve St. Paul. Aleutian is offering larger Saab 2000 planes. Its proposal says tickets would only cost $399 one way — about half of what Ravn charged.
Community leaders are unanimous in their support. Dozens of St. Paul residents have also submitted public comments in favor of Aleutian.
No timeline for a solution
Exorbitant airfare was the main conversation topic at a Labor Day cookout out at St. Paul’s old reindeer corral. Community members lamented their inability to leave the island for anything other than medical care.
Longtime tribal council member Richard Zacharof looked up as a plane flew overhead.
“Transportation has been very tough for our community,” he said. “Ravn has bellied up and created a lot of havoc for our community, for people, and traveling for business and just getting in and out for medical.”
Aleutian Airways has also submitted a bid for Unalakleet’s Essential Air Service contract. Tribal President Melovidov said St. Paul has discussed combining service on a joint contract with Aleutian for both communities, along with St. Mary’s in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area.
DOT’s Aug. 19 request for proposals indicated that airlines could submit to cover “St. Paul and/or Unalakleet.” The department did not answer whether or not Aleutian Airways would be selected for both contracts.
The department also has not responded to questions about when it will pick a carrier or when island residents can expect regular service to come back.
