Bering Air

Bering Air is an American airline headquartered in Nome, Alaska, USA. It operates domestic scheduled passenger and charter airline services, as well as air ambulance and helicopter services. Its main base is Nome Airport, with hubs at Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (Kotzebue) and Unalakleet Airport^[3]

History

In early 1975, Jim Rowe and three college friends embarked on a journey from northern Michigan, and traveled across America in a Cessna 195, landing in Mexico's Baja California peninsula, and eventually setting on the beaches of Nome, Alaska. A few months later, in September 1979, Bering Air was established. It commenced operations on October 3, 1979 with a single De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter. Later, in 1983, with instigation of the increasingly popular bypass mail system, the airline added other small aircraft, including the Piper Navajo, Beech 18, and Piper Seneca. Bering Air, in favor of modern, turbine powered aircraft, later phased out aircraft equipped with radial engines. Thus, the Beechcraft King Air 200, Beechcraft 1900D, Cessna Caravan, and CASA C-212 were introduced. Furthermore, off airport duties were transferred to helicopters, instead of older piston powered aircraft. In 2015, the airline upgraded its fleet with eight Cessna 208EX Grand Caravan aircraft replacing its older Cessna 208B aircraft.^[4] Today, the airline is wholly owned by Jim Rowe (President) and Christine Rowe.

Bering Air Beech 1900D at Nome, Alaska.

Fleet

As of January 2016, the Bering Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[1]

Retired fleet

Bering Air has previously operated the following aircraft:

Community services

Bering Air, along with Grant Aviation, Frontier Flying Service, Northern Air Cargo, PenAir, and Ryan Air Services, participates in the Flying Can service, which allows rural Alaskan communities to recycle aluminum cans and now number 1 PET bottles in cooperation with Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling.^[6]

Bering Air provides free delivery on scheduled flights for Airport Pizza, a pizzeria at Nome Airport that takes orders from remote locations served by Bering Air.^[7]

Destinations

Passenger and cargo charter services are flown from Kotzebue and Nome to destinations throughout the United States, Canada and Russia.^[3]

Domestic

Bering Air offers scheduled passenger service to 29 cities in Western Alaska from hubs in Nome, Kotzebue and Unalakleet.^{[2][8][9][10]}

1. Ambler (ABL) – Ambler Airport
2. Brevig Mission (KTS) – Brevig Mission Airport
3. Buckland (BKC) – Buckland Airport
4. Cape Lisburne (LUR) – Cape Lisburne LRRS Airport
5. Deering (DRG) – Deering Airport
6. Elim (ELI) – Elim Airport
7. Gambell (GAM) – Gambell Airport
8. Golovin (GLV) – Golovin Airport
9. Kiana (IAN) – Bob Baker Memorial Airport
10. Kivalina (KVL) – Kivalina Airport
11. Kobuk (OBU) – Kobuk Airport
12. Kotzebue (OTZ) – Ralph Wien Memorial Airport
13. Koyuk (KKA) – Koyuk Alfred Adams Airport
14. Noatak (WTK) – Noatak Airport
15. Nome (OME) – Nome Airport
16. Noorvik (ORV) – Robert (Bob) Curtis Memorial Airport
17. Point Hope (PHO) – Point Hope Airport
18. St. Michael (SMK) – St. Michael Airport
19. Savoonga (SVA) – Savoonga Airport
20. Selawik (WLK) – Selawik Airport
21. Shaktoolik (SKK) – Shaktoolik Airport
22. Shishmaref (SHH) – Shishmaref Airport
23. Shungnak (SHG) – Shungnak Airport
24. Stebbins (WBB) – Stebbins Airport
25. Teller (TLA) – Teller Airport
26. Tin City (TNC) – Tin City LRRS Airport
27. Unalakleet (UNK) – Unalakleet Airport
28. Wales (WAA) – Wales Airport
29. White Mountain (WMO) – White Mountain Airport

Former destinations

1. Council (CIL) – Council Airport
2. Diomede (DIO) – Diomede Island Airport (ice runway, winter only)
3. Port Clarence (KPC) – Port Clarence Coast Guard Station

International

Bering Air offers charter service from Nome and Anchorage to Anadyr and Provideniya in the Russian Far East.^[11]

References

1. 1 2
2. 1 2 "Reservations". Bering Air. Retrieved June 11, 2014. 
3. 1 2 "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. March 27, 2007. p. 85. 
4. ↑ "Bering Air Updates Fleet". Airliner World: 15. October 2015. 
5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 12, 2011. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 
6. ↑ Tuttle, Logan (June 16, 2010). "Rural recycling finds a PET project". The Arctic Sounder. Alaska Newspapers, Inc. Retrieved October 16, 2010. 
7. ↑ http://www.fodors.com/world/north-america/usa/alaska/kodiak-nome-and-the-bush/review-471134.html
8. ↑ "Nome Flight Schedule" (PDF). Bering Air. October 7, 2013. Retrieved June 11, 2014. 
9. ↑ "Kotzebue Flight Schedule]" (PDF). Bering Air. October 7, 2013. Retrieved June 11, 2014. 
10. ↑ "Unalakleet Flight Schedule" (PDF). Bering Air. October 7, 2013. Retrieved June 11, 2014. 
11. ↑ "Russian Travel". Bering Air. Retrieved June 11, 2014. 

External links

• Official website