Copyright MassLive
Alaskan regional airline Kenai Aviation is shutting down, according to its official website. In the statement posted to the site’s main page, owner Joel Caldwell explained that the airline is “financially insolvent” and will cease operations immediately. “I am devastated,” Caldwell wrote. “Our operations may stop, but this vision continues.” The statement cites legacy debt accrued during the COVID-19 pandemic and a sudden demand from its bank for repayment as reasons for the shutdown. “For me, and for Kenai Aviation, the COVID [pandemic] gave us a debt load that we haven’t been able to get back on top of,” Caldwell said in the statement. “Carrying that burden increased the effects of every obstacle that we’ve had to navigate.” The airline’s shutdown is expected to disrupt travel itineraries to regional hubs such as Anchorage, Kenai, Homer, Seward and Unalakleet, according to Travel and Tour World. Kenai Aviation was founded in 1961 by Bob Bielefeld, serving the Kenai Peninsula and other remote regions across Alaska, western Canada and eastern Russia. Caldwell purchased the line in 2018 just as its previous owner was about to finalize its shutdown, according to their website. “I refuse to give up. I don’t know how. I can’t make promises,” Caldwell concluded. “... We need capital, we need partners, we need a lifeline. That investor is out there; we just need to find them. One promise that you can hold me to, is that, if at all possible, I will find that lifeline.”
