ravn alaska

The regional airline announced Tuesday they were suspending air service to Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, Cold Bay and Sand Point in the Aleutians, effective Aug. 16.

Alaska Airlines has suspended its mileage-sharing agreement with Ravn after what an Alaska Airlines representative called the result of Ravn’s recent “transition in leadership.”

A spokesperson for Aleutian Airways, which is operated by Sterling Airways, said this is the first step in their partnership with Alaska Airlines. While passengers can earn miles with Alaska, they can’t use those miles to book Aleutian Airways flights yet.

Between Friday and Monday, Alaska’s biggest regional airline laid off 130 of its 400-plus employees. At this point, the nine communities served by Ravn Alaska can expect fewer flights, though none of its destinations will be eliminated, a company spokesperson said.

The National Weather Service has ended an aviation warning for the Aleutian Islands issued after a massive eruption at Russia’s Shiveluch Volcano this week produced an ash cloud that drifted over the region.

Aleutian Airways will start regular flights from Anchorage to King Salmon this summer.The new regional airline announced Wednesday that it will offer two roundtrip flights per day starting in June.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, fuel costs spiked across the nation, inciting a rise in air travel costs. Then a slew of factors compounded the problem: inflation, bad weather, pilot shortages and loads of people traveling sent those prices even higher. And in Unalaska, 800 air miles from Anchorage, nestled between the Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, those costs are landing a hard blow.

Travelers can now purchase Ravn Alaska flights using Alaska Airlines miles. That’s according to a Thursday statement from the regional airline. Ravn said passengers with the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan can redeem miles on flights to and from any of Ravn’s 12 destinations. Ravn and Alaska Air reached a mileage sharing agreement in 2021, but at the time customers could only earn Alaska miles on Ravn flights. They couldn’t use them to purchase Ravn flights.

Over the summer, Ravn Alaska started an incentive program where customers could earn credits to purchase things like airline tickets or pay baggage fees. They coined the credits “FlyCoin.”Now, the regional airline is working to make FlyCoin redeemable for hard currency.

Ravn Alaska has partnered with the Food Bank of Alaska to help provide meals to Elders on St. Paul Island.Andronik Hanson is the food bank coordinator for the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island — the local tribal government. He said shipping costs for food can get expensive on an island in the middle of the Bering Sea.“The big thing they’re doing is donating freight to get the boxes,” Hanson said.