Ryan Air, Inc. is an American

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

that serves over 70 villages in Bush Alaska out of hubs in

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...

, Aniak,

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanc ...

, Emmonak, Kotzebue, Nome, St. Mary's, and

Unalakleet Unalakleet ( ; ik, Uŋalaqłiq, ; russian: Уналаклит) is a city in Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States, in the western part of the state. At the 2010 census the population was 688, down from 747 in 2000. Unalakleet is known in the ...

. Offering primarily cargo services, Ryan Air also operates scheduled passenger service out of Aniak, and passenger or cargo charters throughout Alaska.

History

Ryan Air was established in 1953 as Unalakleet Air Taxi by Wilfred Ryan Sr. as a charter airline. In the 1960s, the company began handling

USPS The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...

mail delivery and transportation of schoolteachers for the Bureau of Indian Affairs between communities along the lower

Yukon River The Yukon River ( Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän: ''Tth'echù'' or ''Chuu k'onn'', Southern Tutchone: Chu Nìikwän, russian: Юкон, Yukon) is a major watercour ...

. In 1977, Wilfred P. Ryan Jr. took over the company after his father died of cancer. In 1979, the company expanded service beyond the

Norton Sound Norton Sound (russian: Нортон-Саунд) is an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, south of the Seward Peninsula. It is about 240 km (150 mi) long and 200 km (125 mi) wide. The Yukon ...

and changed their name to Ryan Air. With a new fleet of

Beech 1900 The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With c ...

s and

Beech 99 The Beechcraft Model 99 is a civilian aircraft produced by Beechcraft. It is also known as the Beech 99 Airliner and the Commuter 99. The 99 is a twin-engine, unpressurized, 15 to 17 passenger seat turboprop aircraft, derived from the earlier Be ...

s, Ryan Air grew to the largest commuter carrier in Alaska by 1987, serving 85 cities and villages with a fleet of 28 planes. However, a series of 12 accidents, culminating in a fatal crash of flight 103 on 23 November 1987 that killed 18 of the 21 people on board, led the FAA to shut down the airline in January 1988. In the 1990s, Ryan Air converted to a cargo-only airline and changed their name to Arctic Transportation Services (ATS), adding

CASA 212 The CASA C-212 Aviocar is a turboprop-powered STOL medium cargo aircraft designed and built by the Spanish aircraft manufacturer Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA). It is designed for use by both civil and military operators. The C-212 ...

cargo planes to their fleet. They changed their name back to Ryan Air in 2010. In 2011, Ryan Air began passenger charters out of Anchorage, using a newly acquired

Pilatus PC-12 The Pilatus PC-12 is a pressurized, single-engined, turboprop aircraft, manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Stans, Switzerland, since 1991. It was designed as a high-performance utility aircraft that incorporates a large aft cargo door in ...

. In 2014, Ryan Air resumed regularly scheduled passenger services out of Aniak, AK using their Cessna 207 aircraft. In 2015 Ryan Air acquired a fifth

. In 2017 Ryan Air adds 2 SAAB 340s, based in Anchorage, to their fleet. In 2019 Lee Ryan is appointed as President of Ryan Air, Inc.

Destinations

Ryan Air Services maintains the following scheduled passenger routes (as of January 2021): ''From/To Aniak'' * Aniak - Holy Cross - Anvik - Grayling - Shageluk - Aniak * Aniak - Kalskag - Russian Mission - Aniak * Aniak - Chuathbaluk - Crooked Creek - Sleetmute - Stony River - Aniak * Aniak - Bethel - Aniak (non-stop) * Aniak - Anchorage - Aniak (non-stop) ''From/To Bethel'' * Bethel - Chevak - Hooper Bay - Scammon Bay - Bethel * Bethel - Mekoryuk - Toksook Bay - Tununak - Bethel * Bethel - Atmautluak - Marhsall - St. Mary's * Bethel - Aniak (non-stop) * Aniak - Bethel (non-stop) ''From/To Anchorage'' * Anchorage - Aniak - Anchorage (non-stop)

Fleet

, the Ryan Air Services fleet consists of 20 aircraft, including:

References

External links

*
NTSB Aircraft Accident Report for Flight 103
1953 establishments in Alaska Airlines established in 1953 Cargo airlines of the United States Charter airlines of the United States Companies based in Anchorage, Alaska Airlines based in Alaska {{US-airline-stub