Alaska Airlines would like to improve passenger flow at its Wrangell and Petersburg airport terminals. The idea of making any changes to the buildings was put on hold during the pandemic.
“We’ve got to find a way to improve the passenger flow in both those terminals,” Scott Habberstad, the airline’s managing director for Alaska, said last week.
The tight space for people waiting to board after they clear TSA security screening creates a logjam on heavy traveler days that can slow down the boarding process.
But the terminal buildings are hemmed in by parking and the limits of the airline’s state lease for airport property, making it challenging to expand the waiting area, said Habberstad, who attended the Southeast Conference annual convention last week in Sitka.
Regardless of whatever solution the airline finds for the tight space, the Wrangell and Petersburg buildings also need some paint and maintenance, which he said are in the plans.
In addition to resuming plans for facility improvements that were sidetracked by the airline industry’s economic downturn during the pandemic, Alaska is moving to expand its cargo hauling operations, particularly for Southeast.
That includes expanding its cargo-handling facility in Juneau, which is a transfer point for freight containers — the 400-cubic-foot metal boxes that fit neatly into place aboard the airline’s all-cargo aircraft — coming to Wrangell.
The company operates three all-cargo Boeing 737-700s and is converting two of its larger 737-800 series passenger aircraft into freight haulers, Marilyn Romano, regional vice president for Alaska Airlines, said during a presentation at the Southeast Conference on Sept. 19.
The larger planes will be able to carry 10 freight containers — each with a maximum weight of 7,350 pounds — two more than the smaller aircraft. The first of the two new freighters will enter service before the end of the year, with the second coming online early in 2024, Romano said.
One cargo flight a week is scheduled into Wrangell from Juneau (Thursdays), and one a week is scheduled into Petersburg from Seattle after a stop in Juneau (Wednesdays).
The airline’s cargo aircraft schedule shows 15 flights into Juneau and a dozen into Ketchikan each week. “Freighting service in Southeast Alaska is critical,” Romano told the conference.
The airline also plans to bring back for next summer a convenient Wrangell-to-Seattle passenger connection that was dropped from the schedule this year, Habberstad said.
In past years, travelers could take the morning northbound flight from Wrangell to Juneau and then catch a nonstop flight to Seattle, arriving there several hours earlier than taking the afternoon southbound jet out of Wrangell.
Romano acknowledged during her presentation that on some days this summer, the airline fell short of providing enough capacity to carry everyone who wanted to fly in or out of Southeast. “We’ve got a handle on it to get it right next summer,” she said.
Part of the answer is restoring the connection in Juneau to Seattle, relieving some of the pressure on the afternoon southbound Fight 64, Habberstad said.
The company also is committed to running a larger 737-800 on southbound Flight 64 out of Petersburg and Wrangell next summer, he said. The bigger plane can carry 35 more passengers than the 700-series aircraft.
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