Alaska's air carriers shape future at conference

Published on March 11th, 2010

By ROB STAPLETON

A gathering of aviation industry officials spent five days meeting on aviation safety, business practices, airports and technology improvements that will shape the future of Alaska's air transportation in the year to come.

The meetings were part of the 44th Annual Alaska Air Carriers Convention & Trade Show held March 1-5 at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage. Over 300 participants and 32 vendors attended the 2010 annual meeting that was stretched from three days in previous years to five this year.

To start the convention, a commitment to much-needed state airport maintenance was made by Gov. Sean Parnell during the opening speaker's remarks on March 2.

"I will do everything in my power as governor to fund deferred maintenance on our airports that comes to nearly $100 million," said Parnell.

The state of Alaska is responsible for maintaining 256 airports statewide that include both the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and the Fairbanks International Airport, which are part of the Alaska International Airport System. The governor announced in November that his state capital budget would include $98.9 million for addressing statewide deferred maintenance needs in each of the next five years.

Christine Klein, former deputy commissioner of aviation for the State of Alaska, who was also awarded the AACA Community Service Award during a ceremony on March 3, explained the importance of filing their passenger enplanements and air cargo activity so that the state can continue to receive entitlement funding from the Federal Aviation Administration.

"This is extremely important to the Department of Transportation to receive more funding, but more importantly it is extremely vital for the communities where these airports are located as it is the only link to medical services outside of their village but the link to their survival," said Klein. "There are 52 airports alone in Southwest Alaska where airports are the essential access to the rest of Alaska."

Airports that report more than 10,000 passengers boarding flights or arriving at an airport receive $1 million in federal funding for safety improvements, master plans, equipment and maintenance, called "airport entitlements."

One of the workshops specifically addressed this topic called "Airport Activity Survey Benefits" held by Roger Maggard, an airport development manager for Alaska Department of Transportation. Maggard explained that Alaska airports are seeing a decline in passenger activity.

"With the decline in passengers on scheduled passenger service, air carriers this could have a rather drastic effect on our entitlements, so we need all carriers no matter how small to remember to file their activity," said Maggard.

There are only 22 airports in Alaska that exceed the 10,000 enplanement threshold and many of the airports are now in double-digit decline in passenger activity.

Total airport activity for passengers is only published once a year and is not published until April 15 the following year. Because air carriers who publish their schedules and fly into the communities are required to file two different forms, one is filed once a month, the others based on frequency file once a year.

Wilfred "Boyuck" Ryan and son Lee Ryan attended this workshop leading some to surmise that Ryan Air, an all freight carrier, may be exploring the possibility of adding passenger service to its operations. Neither Ryan would comment directly about their plans.

"If we do add passenger service, we won't be using Beechcraft 1900s,"said Lee Ryan. "They don't make economic sense for the legs we could fly."

Where passengers are fewer

Communities in the top 22 airports with drastic double-digit loss in passenger traffic were led by Dillingham with 24.41 percent fewer passengers and Aniak with 22.17 percent fewer during 2008.

"Every year we are faced with new challenges and this year is no different," said Joy Journeay, executive director of the AACA. "It's how you face them that counts."

Participants heard from a field of 30 speakers how to face upcoming challenges that include fewer passengers, increasing energy costs and changes by the Federal Aviation Administration that include the new Denali Certificate Management Office, (CMO).

"This is a change that specifically affects air carriers by taking their FAA (airline) inspectors from the Anchorage and Fairbanks Flight Standards District Offices (FSDO) and moves them under the direction of the CMO manager Bob Christensen," said Angela Elgee, manager of the FSDOs in the Alaska Region.

While the convention typically holds a board of directors meeting, a general meeting and elections, this year also offered more specific presentations and workshops.

"We had requests from our members about the types of workshops and their topics, so we added more to the schedule by, really knowledgeable industry leaders," said Jerry Rock, president of the AACA.

On the opening day a full-day session by the Medallion Foundation, a nonprofit aviation safety organization affiliated with the AACA, was held by Kent Adams, called "TapRoot Refresher."

TapRoot is a root cause method of accident investigation that looks at all factors leading up to an accident including management, business culture , maintenance and pilot compliance to determine and solve safety issues. Additional all-day workshops by the Alaska Occupational Safety & Health Division and FAA recertification training for inspection authorization mechanics were held on March 5.

One of the big changes that came about as a result of the elections is the loss of icon Dick Harding, formerly the chairman of the Medallion Foundation's board of directors, who was voted off the board. Harding, former director of operations for Peninsula Airways, was instrumental in starting and crafting the Medallion Foundation's vision of changing aviation industry culture in Alaska to a safer level.

The Alaska Air Carriers Association board votes to decide the Medallion Foundation's board. Re-elected to the board were Leonard Kirk, Jerry Rock, Aaron Merritt, and Art Warbelow. Dave Prewitt, formerly with Alaska Airlines and currently with FedEx, was added to the Medallion Board. Board positions will not be voted on until July 1.

Achievement awards

AACA awarded 56 safety awards to carriers statewide who had no accidents in 2009 and also awarded individuals with recognition.

The AACA Community Service Award was given to Christine Klein, who was nominated for her open-door policy to the public, aviation users and the aviation industry while acting as deputy commissioner of aviation for DOT.

The Pilot of the Year Award went to Sandy Hamilton of Fairbanks for his 35-years of dedication to aviation and flying over wildlife refuges in Alaska.

The Arlo Livingston Award was given to Ron Klemm for individual achievement in the betterment of Alaska aviation. He has been flying since 1959 in Alaska and received an FAA approval to fly fuel drums in a Cessna 206. Klemm flew over 700,000 gallons of fuel during the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline in the 1970s among other achievements that include the FAA's Wilbur and Orville Wright Award for 50-years of accident free flying.

Todd Peterson was awarded the AACA Tony Cestnik Maintenance Award for his work at Evert's Air.

Danny Davidson was awarded the AACA Iditarod Humanitarian Service Award to honor an individual pilot or aviation company who best demonstrates the value of aviation in transporting and caring for the dogs or people participating in the Last Great Race for 30-years of flying support before and during the race.

The Mechanic of the Year Award was earned by Cary Foster of One Sky Aviation for exemplary long-term service or an outstanding specific action which personifies an outstanding awareness of the contribution of maintenance to aviation safety.

AACA also awarded Forrest Jones Memorial Scholarships to Travis Machida, who grew up in Nome and is attending the University of Alaska Anchorage's aviation maintenance program, and Mark Jackson, a senior at Delta Junction High School who plans to receive a degree in aeronautical engineering.