Panhandle pilots see clear skies ahead.

• Author: Kleeschulte, Cluck
• Position: Alaskan commuter airlines - Company profile

Panhandle Pilots See Clear Skies Ahead

FOR SOUTHEAST ALASKA air carriers, 1989 would have been a year of cloudless skies fueled by modestly rising passenger counts, if not for the turbulence caused by regulatory storms with the Federal Aviation Administration. Most Panhandle carriers expect 1990 to prove equally free of economy-caused storm clouds and possibly be less bumpy on the regulatory front.

Peggy Ormasen, vice president of marketing and sales for LAB Flying Service of Haines, the region's oldest and largest air taxi operator with about 25 planes, says, "For us it was a comfortable, smooth year. The weather was great, passenger loads were up, both the regular economy and tourism were good. We just had a good summer and a pleasant year."

Bobby Jacobsen, owner of Wings of Alaska, Juneau's fastest-growing commuter airline with 16 planes, saw passenger loads increase by nearly 30 percent in 1989. But he says 20 to 25 percent of the growth was the result of upheaval in different markets caused by the FAA's decision to close three of the region's carriers because of alleged safety violations.

"Without the closures, which no one in the industry liked, our business would have been up a steady 5 to 10 percent. It wouldn't have been spectacular, but it would have been a nice, safe year," adds Jacobsen.

Arnie Johnson, owner of Mountain Aviation in Sitka, says his business, while not at record levels last year, was up over 1988. He explains that because his three-plane, three-helicopter operation caters to mining, timber and fishing interests rather than tourists, it is a good barometer of the health of the region's resource economy.

"Mining exploration in the Sitka area was a bit down; logging was just as hot as in recent years; and fishing was good. It was a good year for the region's economy and thus a good year for us. And I expect 1990 to be exactly the same: Not greatly better, but steady," says Johnson.

The story was the same for the major jet carriers. While Delta Airlines reported slightly smaller passenger loads for the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 1988, the region's main carrier, Alaska Airlines, reported a slight increase in passengers and a sharp jump in mail and air freight shipments to the Panhandle for the first half of 1989 over the first half of 1988.

According to a Civil Aeronautics Board report, Alaska Airlines indicated a 33.5 percent rise in air freight deliveries to Juneau during the second...