Flying everything anywhere: intrastate airlines transport people and goods near and far.

• Author: Colby, Nicole A. Bonham
• Position: TRANSPORTATION

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From corporate organizational changes to the addition of new partner airlines and creative philanthropy over the holiday season, companies moving people and cargo within Alaska took opportunity this winter to strengthen service models.

While winter weather serves up its own brand of challenge for those who make their living transiting people and goods within the Great Land, winter is also a time when companies rethink their brand, service model and make logistical adjustments. This year, the decision to go for greater efficiency, effective marketing and streamlined processes was likely made even more important given the economic realities of 2009 compared to prior decades. Small and large business were hit by limited commercial paper (mechanism used to distribute credit between companies), increased scrutiny of traditional line of credit and lending, fluctuating worldwide oil and fuel prices, and clients tightening spending.

In the Lower 48, cargo-related headlines this winter were dour, such as the following report from the December issue of Cargo World. "Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Dr. Geraldine Knatz has told the Los Angeles Harbor Commission that the port's terminal operators are now facing a 20 to 30 percent drop in volume in the first quarter of 2009, and some terminals may have trouble meeting their minimum rent obligations.... Latest Port Tracker figures from the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight show that import volumes over the U.S.'s main container ports fell for the 16th straight month in November. 2008 is on course to be the lowest year since 2004. Volume is forecast to be 15.3M TEU (20-foot equivalent unit, a measure used in intermodal transport) for the year, or 7.1 percent off last year (16.5M TEU)."

It was against those realities that companies providing intrastate cargo and people moving in Alaska sought to kick off the new year with renewed effectiveness. The following roundup updates news and happenings of familiar names serving the skies, seas and highways of Alaska.

EXPANDED SERVICE

In December, in the freight-forwarding arena, Pacific Alaska Freightways began serving these locations daily: Anchorage Bowl, North Pole, Eagle River, Palmer, Fairbanks, Seward, Homer, Soldotna, Kenai and Wasilla--and points in between. The expansion is the latest move by Pacific Alaska Freightways to serve its intrastate freight customers. A year earlier, the company underwent a name and...