Frontier Flying Service (

d/b/a A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

Ravn Connect) was 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 ...

headquartered in

Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a Municipal home rule, home rule city and the county seat, borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior Alaska, interior region of Alaska and the second la ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It operated an extensive network of year-round scheduled commuter services and

postal services The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sy ...

to Alaska bush

communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place (geography), place, set of Norm (social), norms, culture, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Ide ...

, primarily north of Fairbanks, as well as

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

services to the lower 48 and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Its main base was in Fairbanks ( Fairbanks International Airport), with hubs in Utqiagvik ( Wiley Post–Will Rogers Memorial Airport),

Anchorage Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolita ...

(

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is a major airport in the U.S. state of Alaska, located southwest of downtown Anchorage. The airport is named for Ted Stevens, who served as a senator of Alaska from 1968 to 2009. It is included in ...

), Kotzebue ( Ralph Wien Memorial Airport) and

Bethel Bethel (, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; ; ) was an ancient Israelite city and sacred space that is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Bet ...

( Bethel Airport).

History

Frontier Flying Service was established in 1950 by retired

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

Colonel Richard McIntyre, catering to Alaska bush communities as a scheduled mail carrier for Wien Air Alaska, as well as providing charters throughout Alaska. In 1974, Frontier was purchased by John Hajdukovich. In 2005 the airline merged with Cape Smythe Air Services, taking on their routes and retaining the Frontier Flying Service name. During the spring of 2008 Frontier Flying Service began the process of merging with Hageland Aviation Services, the companies continue to operate separate certificates with Frontier Flying Service providing service between major hubs and focus communities with the Beech 1900C aircraft while Hagleand Air Service provides point to point service out of the hubs and focus communities to smaller villages, both companies do business under the name "Frontier Alaska" and have begun merging resources and operations at all their shared airports. This merger makes Frontier Alaska the largest commuter passenger carrier in the state of Alaska (by fleet size and number of routes). On July 8, 2008, Seattle-based Alaska Airlines announced Frontier Flying Service (d.b.a Frontier Alaska) as a new code share partner beginning in the fall of 2008. On February 27, 2009, Frontier Flying Service's holding company, Frontier Alaska, acquired rival Era Aviation of Anchorage, Alaska. By 2014, with the fleet rationalization and post acquisition of Era Aviation almost complete by the HoTH Airline group, Frontier Flying Service performed the mission of flying cargo and passenger charters for the other Ravn branded companies, Corvus Airlines and Hageland Aviation, but also utilizing the branding of Ravn Connect. After the bankruptcy of Ravn Alaska the assets were sold "in pieces" to other airlines of Alaska in July 2020.

Fleet

The Frontier Flying Service fleet consisted of the following aircraft ():

Destinations

Frontier Flying Service operated scheduled service to the following destinations in Alaska as of 2007:Frontier Flying Service: 2007 Timetable
(

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

). Retrieved on 2007-08-29. *

(ANC) -

* Aniak (ANI) - Aniak Airport * Anvik (ANV) - Anvik Airport * Atqasuk (ATK) - Atqasuk Edward Burnell Sr. Memorial Airport * Barrow (BRW) - Wiley Post–Will Rogers Memorial Airport * Barter Island / Kaktovik (BTI) - Barter Island LRRS Airport *

(BET) - Bethel Airport * Brevig Mission (KTS) - Brevig Mission Airport * Buckland (BKC) - Buckland Airport * Deadhorse (SCC) - Deadhorse Airport * Deering (DRG) - Deering Airport * Elim (ELI) - Elim Airport * Fairbanks (FAI) - Fairbanks International Airport * Fort Yukon (FYU) - Fort Yukon Airport *

Galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crysta ...

(GAL) - Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport * Gambell (GAM) - Gambell Airport * Golovin (GLV) - Golovin Airport * Grayling (KGX) - Grayling Airport * Holy Cross (HCR) - Holy Cross Airport * Huslia (HSL) - Huslia Airport * Kalskag (KLG) - Kalskag Airport * Kaltag (KAL) - Kaltag Airport * Kiana (IAN) - Bob Baker Memorial Airport * Kivalina (KVL) - Kivalina Airport * Kotzebue (OTZ) - Ralph Wien Memorial Airport * Koyuk (KKA) - Koyuk Alfred Adams Airport * Koyukuk (KYU) - Koyukuk Airport * Noatak (WTK) -

Noatak Airport Noatak Airport ( Iñupiaq: ''Nuataam Mirvia'') is a state-owned public-use airport located one nautical mile (1.85 km) southwest of the central business district of Noatak, in the Northwest Arctic Borough of the U.S. state in Alaska. Fac ...

* Nome (OME) - Nome Airport * Noorvik (ORV) - Robert (Bob) Curtis Memorial Airport * Nuiqsut (AQT/NUI) - Nuiqsut Airport * Nulato (NUL) - Nulato Airport * Point Hope (PHO) - Point Hope Airport * Point Lay (PIZ) -

Point Lay LRRS Airport Point Lay LRRS Airport is a public and military use airport owned by the United States Government and located in Point Lay, in the North Slope Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is also known as Point Lay Airport. The acronym LRRS stands ...

Ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

(RBY) - Ruby Airport * Russian Mission (RSH) - Russian Mission Airport * Savoonga (SVA) - Savoonga Airport * Selawik (WLK) - Selawik Airport * Shageluk (SHX) - Shageluk Airport * Shishmaref (SHH) - Shishmaref Airport * St. Mary's (KSM) - St. Mary's Airport * Tanana (TAL) - Ralph M. Calhoun Memorial Airport * Teller (TLA) -

Teller Airport Teller Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located two nautical miles (4 km) south of the central business district of Teller, a city in the Nome Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska. Facilities and aircraft Teller Airport ...

* Wainwright (AIN) - Wainwright Airport *

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

(WAA) - Wales Airport * White Mountain (WMO) - White Mountain Airport

Community awareness

Frontier Flying Service, along with Bering Air, Grant Aviation, Northern Air Cargo, PenAir, and Ryan Air, participated in the Flying Can service, which allows rural Alaskan communities to recycle aluminum cans and

PET A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive/ cute appearances, inte ...

bottles in cooperation with Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling.

Accidents and incidents

*On October 30, 1979, Douglas C-47B N99663 was written off in a landing accident at Bettles Airport,

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. The aircraft struck three parked aircraft. It was on a cargo flight from Fairbanks International Airport, Alaska, to Ambler Airport, Alaska via Bettles. All four aircraft were substantially damaged.

References

{{Airlines of the United States 1950 establishments in Alaska 2009 disestablishments in Alaska Airlines established in 1950 Airlines based in Alaska Defunct airlines of the United States Companies based in Fairbanks, Alaska American companies established in 1950