early 82 percent of Alaska communities are inaccessible by road and rely on Alaska’s aviation system for transportation and the shipment of materials and goods.

This dependence on aviation means there is a consistent need to maintain and upgrade rural airports.

Not all airports are the same. A general division between international and rural airports affects funding and operations; however, there are other differences when it comes to ownership and management. For instance, the Juneau International Airport is a municipally owned facility, while Ted Stevens Anchorage Airport, Lake Hood, and Fairbanks International Airport are each operated as a state-owned enterprises under the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, or DOT&PF, via the Alaska International Airport System, or AIAS.

Similarly, rural airports are owned and operated by various entities; however, the network is much more extensive.

Of the 700 rural airports registered in the State of Alaska, 235 are owned and operated by DOT&PF, with support from the Division of Statewide Aviation. This division assists the department’s mission to provide safe and efficient movement of people and goods across the state by implementing the Alaska Aviation System Plan and managing the airport capital improvement program for the department.

This plan recognizes Alaska’s dependence on aviation, its unique operating environment, lack of basic infrastructure, financial constraints, and the belief that regional diversity is important. The systemwide plan sets the vision for Alaska’s aviation network by identifying airport improvement needs, setting priorities for funding, proposing aviation policy, documenting the existing system using various forms of data and media, and continuously supporting the system through special studies, updates, and reviews.

“Rural airports are lifelines for rural communities not connected by roads or the Alaska Marine Highway,” says Troy LaRue, operations manager for the Division of Statewide Aviation. “They are also major economic contributors to the overall Alaskan economy. Many goods make multiple stops before reaching their final destination, and every community benefits from it.”

Funding is also different between rural and international airports to a certain degree. Both AIAS and the rural system rely on federal funding through the FAA to fund and construct large projects; however, AIAS has an enterprise agreement and process steps that occur with the air carriers that fly into their airports that aren’t reliant on state general funds. The rural airport system operates at a deficit, with operational expenses far outreaching annual revenue, which the state general fund supports. Construction projects are reliant on Airport Improvement Program, or AIP, funding each year for both systems. The projects go through processes approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, to obtain federal or AIP grants. AIP grants are limited, and funded projects must generally meet national priorities and objectives.

DOT&PF’s rural airport system has a multi-step process that identifies and prioritizes projects potentially suitable for AIP grants. In the first two steps of this process, airport needs are identified and projects are defined by an airport planner and stakeholders.

From there, the Aviation Project Evaluation Board receives project nominations from the airport planner. The board scores nominated projects based on specific criteria, including whether a community is solely dependent on their airport for year-round access to other parts of the state. From there, scored projects are sorted within DOT&PF’s Airport Capital Improvement Plan depending on anticipated federal funding available. Board-scored projects are placed in the spending plan queue to await funding. Lower-scoring projects may sit in the queue until funding becomes available.

While in the queue, projects are designed, environmental considerations are addressed, and DOT&PF determines if it has all the easements and property ownership pieces in place to meet funding and construction requirements. The project scope, schedule, and estimate are also updated. Once all those steps are completed, then DOT&PF seeks funding through AIP grants and requests necessary state legislative authority authorizing the acceptance of federal grant funds and required state matching funds. In this stage, project bids are developed, advertised, and a contractor is selected. The final phase of this multi-step process is construction and completion. Once a project is completed, DOT&PF’s responsibility for the operations and maintenance continues for another twenty years, depending on the project type and on FAA grant assurances.

Between FY2022 and FY2024, DOT&PF awarded $437 million for eighteen rural airport projects managed by six different contractors. Of the contractors on that list, Cruz Construction, Inc. was awarded two projects from that time period: the Chevak Airport Rehabilitation Project and the Kongiganak Airport Improvements.

The Chevak Airport Rehabilitation Project, scheduled to start later this year, will rehabilitate the runway, taxiway, apron, and airport access road. The goal is to expand the runway safety area and correct runway grades to meet line-of-sight requirements. Additional improvements include rehabilitating and re-leveling the snow removal equipment buildings; replacing airfield lighting, FAA navigational aids, wind cones, segmented circle, and culverts; building a supplemental wind cone access; and the application of dust palliative. The project was awarded at $17.3 million. Total cost will be determined once the project is complete.

While Cruz works to ramp up the Chevak project, its work on the Kongiganak Airport Improvement Project is winding down. Awarded in August 2022, this project rehabilitates the runway, taxiway, and apron and expands the apron and runway safety areas. Other work includes installing a new snow removal equipment building and relocating the existing building, installing tie-downs and a rotating beacon on a tip-down pole, and replacing the airfield lighting. Cruz Project Manager Aden Murphy says once completed, the airport will be able to safely accept slightly larger aircraft and issues with settlement of the existing embankment will be corrected.

“The Kongiganak Airport is their highway for supplies, groceries, and medical transport for getting to Bethel for appointments and treatment,” says Murphy.

The $55 million Kongiganak Airport Improvement Project is slated for completion in September.

Tumet Industries recently pulled off an early completion of its $14 million Brevig Mission Airport Lighting and Resurfacing Project. Initially scheduled as a three-year project, Tumet substantially completed the project in October of 2023. The project included rebuilding the runway base and surface material, widening the shoulders, stabilizing slopes, and applying a dust palliative, as well as installing new runway electrical and lighting. Like Kongiganak, Brevig Mission relies heavily on its airport for goods, materials, and transportation.

“The completion of reliable airport infrastructure that allows for regularly scheduled air transportation in and out is paramount,” says Tumet General Manager Aaron Burmeister.

Associated General Contractors of Alaska member company Edge Survey and Design worked as a subcontractor on both the Kongiganak and Brevig Mission airport projects.

DOT&PF Statewide Aviation Planning Chief Rebecca Douglas says at least ten projects are on the roster for 2025. Several projects, like Kongiganak, are continuations of multi-year projects; however, a number of new projects will be advertised later this year. Douglas says she feels DOT&PF has done a good job delivering airport projects despite a larger-than-normal vacancy rate in the department.

Aside from construction projects, Douglas says there is another part to rural airports that often goes unseen. She says few people realize that only a handful of employees are responsible for all aspects of operations and safety in these facilities. In addition to assisting planes as they land and take off, rural airport employees also manage homeland security, firefighting and medical services, and runway plowing. Rural airport employees go through extensive training, and Douglas estimates that it usually takes about a year to bring a new employee completely up to speed with all aspects of operations.

“We like to highlight them,” says Douglas. “We are blessed to have such dedicated individuals in DOT&PF who are making a difference and keep Alaska moving.”