Larger, faster Saab 2000 will accommodate 45 passengers and cut 45 minutes off the Anchorage-Unalaska route.
KUCB, Unalaska: Passenger air service to Unalaska is scheduled for an upgrade.
Starting this fall, Peninsula Airways is planning to fly bigger planes to the island. President Scott Bloomquist has been trying to acquire the Saab 2000 for "six years, six months."
"That was when I first went back east and talked to the Saab leasing company about the aircraft itself and its capabilities," Bloomquist says.
The plane is a twin-engine turboprop -- similar to what PenAir has been using to serve Unalaska since 2003.
The difference is in size: Bloomquist says this Saab should be able to carry 45 passengers compared to the 23 that PenAir can accommodate now. There's also more room for luggage and fuel, which eliminates the need to top up at small airports along the way.
"There’s really not an airplane that was built to fly 700 nautical miles and land on a 3900-foot strip," Bloomquist says. "I mean, people just don’t do that anyplace else. But the Saab 2000 was built exactly for that."
Bloomquist says even larger planes -- like the Bombardier Q400 -- wouldn't have been economical on the route.
The new aircraft should be make the trip between Unalaska and Anchorage about 45 minutes faster. But Bloomquist says they'll still have the same weather limitations they do now.
And it's also possible that PenAir could offer fewer flights overall. With larger planes, the airline could cut back by 700 trips each year and still move the same number of passengers. According to Bloomquist, demand on the route has been relatively stable.
PenAir operates its flights under a contract with Alaska Airlines. Bloomquist says the airlines will work together to hammer out new schedules for after the planes arrive.
They’re coming from North Carolina, where they’ve been used as corporate aircraft. The planes will have to be overhauled and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration before they can enter into commercial service.
Bloomquist says they could start flying to Unalaska on Sept. 1.
