Alpine Air Express is an American

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

based in

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Utah County, Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front, and lies between the cities of Orem, Utah, Orem to the north and Springville, Utah, Springville to the south ...

. It operates scheduled and chartered air cargo services on over 100 routes throughout

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, western

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Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

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Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

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, and

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

History

The airline was established in 1971 and received its Air Carrier Certificate in 1979. It originally operated scheduled passenger and cargo services, aircraft maintenance and a flight school with passenger services being discontinued in 1999. While Alpine Air was performing scheduled passenger operations in the 1980s and 1990s, it served the following cities in Utah, Colorado, and Nevada: * Blanding, UT * Cedar City, UT * Delta, UT * Duchesne, UT * Ely, NV * Grand Junction, CO * Green River, UT * Manti, UT * Moab, UT * Monroe, UT * Monticello, UT * Mt. Pleasant, UT * Nephi, UT * Price, UT * Provo, UT * Richfield, UT * Roosevelt, UT * Salina, UT * Salt Lake City, UT * St. George, UT * Vernal, UT Some cities were served by Scenic Aviation and Castle Valley Aviation, on-demand charter services operating on behalf of Alpine Air. In 2001, the company began a shift towards a larger cargo presence with their first public trade of stock and their first Beech 1900 being placed into service. It was this same year which they commenced operations out of their new Provo facility. The airline tried to establish Alpine Air Chile, in an attempt to enter

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

's air freight market. The project was not successful and was discontinued in 2005, with three Beechcraft 1900C being re-integrated into the US fleet. Alpine Air Express now currently only operates CFR Part 135 scheduled and chartered cargo operations.

Fleet

The Alpine Air Express fleet includes the following aircraft.

Acquisition and expansion

As of May 2019, AE Industrial Partners acquired majority interest in Alpine Air Express. In April 2020, Alpine Air Express purchased assets of the defunct Great Lakes Airlines which included 27 aircraft and various parts, engines, propellers and ground support equipment. Included are 25 Beech 1900D aircraft that are to be converted to cargo use through their "Super Freighter" Supplemental Type Certificate. In December 2022, Alpine Air Express acquired Suburban Air Freight, another CFR Part-135 cargo airline based in Omaha, NE . Suburban Air, like Alpine, has a majority Beech 1900 fleet allowing for easy integration of maintenance and operations.

Incidents

In October 1992, an Alpine Air PA-42 deviated off course and crashed into a mesa in Grand Junction, Colorado, while operating as an airtaxi flight. There were three fatalities: the pilot and two passengers. August 2004 – While operating a Billings to Kalispell, Montana, flight for the US Postal Service, the Beech 99 crashed into Big Baldy mountain, located near Great Falls. Two crewmembers died. January 2008—An Alpine Air Raytheon Beech 1900 crashed into the Pacific Ocean on a cargo flight between Honolulu International Airport and Lihue Intl in Hawaii. This crash claimed one life: the pilot of the aircraft. May 2008—Upon departure from Billings, ATC instructed the Beech 1900C to turn left. The Part 135 cargo plane slowly turned right and crashed into a warehouse nearby. Witnesses say the plane was inverted prior to the crash which claimed the life of the single pilot on board. In February 2010, a cargo door came unlatched on an airborne Alpine Air Express Beech 99 carrying mail from Billings, to

Kalispell, Montana Kalispell (, Salish-Spokane-Kalispel language, Montana Salish: Ql̓ispé, Kutenai language: Kqayaqawakⱡuʔnam) is a city in Montana and the county seat of Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at ...

, at about 1:30 a.m. The plane was about north of

Lewistown, Montana Lewistown is a city in and the county seat of Fergus County, Montana, United States. The population was 5,952 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Lewistown is located in the geographic center of the state, southeast of Great Falls, Mo ...

, when the pilot noted a light on the instrument panel had come on, indicating the door was unlatched. Because there was about of mail cargo between the pilot and the door, he couldn't close it. Because the door is located below the plane's airstream, even when open it wouldn't compromise the ability to fly and land the plane.

References

External links

* {{Provo, Utah Cargo airlines of the United States Airlines established in 1972 Companies based in Provo, Utah 1972 establishments in Utah Airlines based in Utah