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 settling on the beaches of Nome, Alaska. A few years 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.[5] Today, the airline is wholly owned by Jim Rowe (President) and Christine Rowe.
In July 2020 Bering Air bought at Ravn Alaska's bankruptcy auction the facilities in Aniak, Kotzebue, Nome and Unalakleet.[6]
Fleet
As of November 2023, the Bering Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:[2]
Bering Air Beech 1900D at Nome, AlaskaA Bering Air Cessna 208B Grand Caravan in Nome, Alaska
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.[9]
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.[10]
Destinations
Passenger and cargo charter services are flown from Kotzebue and Nome to destinations throughout the United States, and Russia.[4]
Domestic
Bering Air offers scheduled passenger service to 29 cities in Western Alaska from hubs in Nome, Kotzebue and Unalakleet.[3][11][12][13]
^"Federal Aviation Administration - Airline Certificate Information - Detail View". av-info.faa.gov. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
^ a b"Plane Charters for Western Alaska". Bering Air. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
^ a b"Reservations". Bering Air. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
^ a b c"Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. March 27, 2007. p. 85.
^"Bering Air Updates Fleet". Airliner World: 15. October 2015.
^"Southern California company will take over some RavnAir service after bankruptcy auction". adn.com. July 9, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
^"Bering Air Fleet Details and History". Planespotters.net. August 11, 2023. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
^"Helicopters - Twin Peaks Adventures". Archived from the original on January 12, 2011. Retrieved 2011-02-10.
^Tuttle, Logan (June 16, 2010). "Rural recycling finds a PET project". The Arctic Sounder. Alaska Newspapers, Inc. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved October 16, 2010.
^"Airport Pizza Review | Kodiak, Nome, and the Bush | Fodor's Restaurant Reviews". June 27, 2013. Archived from the original on June 27, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
^"Nome Flight Schedule" (PDF). Bering Air. October 7, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 27, 2007. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
^"Kotzebue Flight Schedule]" (PDF). Bering Air. October 7, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 6, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
^"Unalakleet Flight Schedule" (PDF). Bering Air. October 7, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 22, 2012. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
^"Russian Travel". Bering Air. Archived from the original on April 28, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bering Air.