Northern Pacific Airways gears up for first commercial flight next week

By
Suzanne Downing
-
19

Northern Pacific Airways, America’s newest carrier that is based in Anchorage, is gearing up for its inaugural commercial flight on July 14. The airline will take passengers from easy-to-use Ontario, California’s international airport to Las Vegas.

In preparation for the inaugural flight, Northern Pacific Airways has been conducting multiple proving runs around the West with representatives from the Federal Aviation Authority on board to ensure federal requirements are met. It’s flown its Boeing 757-200s from Anchorage to Moses Lake, Wash., and Ontario, Calif., where the company has its maintenance hangar.

FLOAT Alaska LLC, which bought some of Ravn’s assets during bankruptcy, is the parent company of Northern Pacific Airways, launched last month and has been flying proving runs with its Boeing 757-200 from Anchorage to Moses Lake, Wash.’s Grant County Airport and Ontario Airport.

The 757-200, which is a narrow-body aircraft can operate with a lower cost per mile, has a flight range of 4,000 miles, and can accommodate up to 200 passengers. The airline will be based in Anchorage, with Anchorage eventually serving as the one-stop fueling stopover to Asia.

As part of its launch, the airline has leased an area of the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport’s North Terminal to serve as a passenger lounge, and has invested $6 million into the lounge project.

“As a new long-haul airline, Northern Pacific Airways plans to offer flights between a range of points in the United States and select cities in East Asia through Anchorage, Alaska. The airline plans to serve cities in the states of New York, Florida, California, and Nevada, with direct flights to cities in Japan and Korea through Anchorage over the Northern route,” the company says on its corporate website.

The inaugural flight still has a handful of seats available for those who want to be part of Northern Pacific Airways history. Check availability at this link.

Although the longer term goal is to fly to Asia through Anchorage, the airline will start with the Ontario-Las Vegas route due to the complications of international travel in an era of geopolitical instability.

The delay has been largely because of the Russia war on Ukraine and regulatory requirements that have been tangled due to the closure of Russia air space. As a result, the company is branching into charter flights in partnership with Air Planning, a large group air charter brokerage.

CEO Rob McKinney explains the problem with getting the Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards (ETOPS) authority needed in this YouTube interview:

The Ontario-Las Vegas flight starting next week will begin with one flight to Las Vegas every Friday. The return flights are on Sundays. Other low-cost carriers on that route are Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines, which operate multiple flights daily.

Alaska Airlines, which is one of the oldest airlines in the country, is based in Seattle. The owners of Northern Pacific Airways are based in California.

CEO McKinney has said that eventually 250 jobs will be located in Anchorage, and he expects tax revenues will bring millions of dollars to the State of Alaska.

19 COMMENTS

  5. Sounds like they will have more percentage of their assets in Alaska than Seattle Airlines. A nonstop to a lower 48 hub would solve a lot of problems for people who don’t support woke. No ETOPS necessary. Detroit is wide open since being abandoned by Delta. And anywhere on the West coast other than Seattle. I wish them luck.

  6. One year ago I received a large, fancy postcard in the mail about investment opportunities with Northern Pacific, so I made a few inquiries. There was no returned call. Then I happened to meet one of the corporate employees and asked for some basic background information, but she did not respond as she said she would.

    Now I wonder whether this is nothing more than a “pie in the sky” idea. Seems so …

    • An airline has always been a good way to make a little money out of a large amount. If properly managed, it can pay off. Until new equipment is purchased if maintenance costs don’t kill you. Better to stick to craps, the odds are better. Unless you are sentimental. Many of us are.

  7. I love this plan. An alternative to Seattle airlines with the dancing queers teaching the kids gay songs at the gate area where they are trapped! Sounds like a direct flight to Ontario or Vegas so we can avoid Freattle and Portland…YES!!! I’ll take Moses Lake any day over the cesspool.
    Thank god my dream has been answered with a no nonsense airline without the woke crap that serves bud lite!

  8. Anything but Seattle Air (aka Alaska Airlines) where heels, make-up and gender identity preclude safety of flight.

    • Except they don’t…Alaska Air is still one of the safest in the industry. Their tech and training is exceptional. Even though hey are stupid about work stuff.

      Rod McKinney, NPA’s CEO, however, has a long history of cutting corners, saving necessary costs, and running companies (and planes) into the ground. Ask any SE pilot how they feel about the erstwhile Wings Airways (RIP) management. They had dispatching and weather decisions for Juneau run remotely out of PORTLAND.

      You couldn’t pay me to fly on this airline or put any of my family on there.

  9. Curious to start up a new airline when the industry is contracting and qualified pilots are becoming more and more scarce.

    Either way, good luck.

  10. Must have some deep pockets . Hard to believe that the Ontario – Vegas run would make a nickel . Must be a hotel in Vegas involved with funding the airline would be my guess . Non of it makes sense to me . I wish them all the luck in the world . MarkAir could not compete with AKAirlines because of the mileage program and loyalty from the Seafirst credit card .

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