TRANSPORTATION

The M/V Tustumena will not be making stops in False Pass, Akutan or Unalaska in May. An Alaska Marine Highway System spokesperson said the state ferry is undergoing a leak repair before its seasonal launch this year.

The Alaska Marine Highway System released a draft of the 2024 summer ferry schedule on Tuesday, proposing the same number of Aleutian Chain runs as the last two years.

The Alaska Marine Highway System released its summer sailing schedule Tuesday, and Unalaska will receive similar service as last year. The M/V Tustumena is the only state ferry serving the Aleutian chain, and it will make six calls in Unalaska this summer — roughly once per month from May through September.

A Saab 2000 aircraft landed in Unalaska Wednesday morning for the first time in three years. It was a test flight for Aleutian Airways, a new regional carrier operated by Sterling Airways, to demonstrate to the Federal Aviation Administration they are qualified to land the Saab 2000 aircraft at Tom Madsen International Airport.

In a recently released report, the FAA recommended safety measures to address Alaska’s high share of aircraft accidents. The report, which contains few new initiatives or calls for funding, falls short of what’s needed, according to experts.

The M/V Tustumena is now scheduled to arrive in Unalaska at 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 9, and to depart in the late afternoon. It is the last ferry scheduled to visit the island this year.

Our investigation revealed that Alaska has a growing share of the country’s deadly crashes from small commercial flights. Here’s what experts say could be done to improve aviation safety in the state.

A sightseeing flight near Ketchikan, Alaska, crashed last week, killing the pilot and five passengers. So far this year, 13 people have died in three crashes of small commercial planes.

In the past five years, Alaska had five fatal midair collisions involving commercial operators. The rest of the U.S. hasn’t had any since 2009.

Although Alaska has seen a spate of midair collisions in recent years, detailed analyses of crash patterns involving small commercial aircraft have been limited. Our investigation bridges some of these gaps.