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New Grant Aviation flight offerings are departing out of Kenai Peninsula airports, giving local consumers another option to take to the skies.

The Alaska owned and operated commuter airline recently began offering direct flights from Homer and to Kodiak, and a thoroughfare from Kenai to Valdez, in addition to its daily flights from these towns to Anchorage.

"There's a bunch of people that live on the Kenai Peninsula and work in Valdez," said Jason Nunn, Grant Aviation's director of stations based in Kenai. He said that like many Peninsula residents who commute to the North Slope, there's a contingent of those who work two-week shifts at the Valdez Oil Terminal.

Nunn said Homer and Kodiak are related historically, with many families sharing roots in both communities, as well as industrially, with commercial fishing processors and fleets.

"If you live in Homer and need to get to Kodiak you have to fly all the way to Anchorage and then to Kodiak and it's expensive," he said. The current price for Grant Aviation's one-way Homer-Kodiak flights are $189 and take about 40 minutes, he said. The airline is currently offering two flights a week on Friday and Sunday from Homer to Kodiak.

The flights from Kenai to Valdez began on Monday.

"We're moving passengers back and forth," he said.

The going rate for these flights are $219 one-way, and Grant Aviation currently offers multiple flights throughout the day on its King Air 200 Twin Turbine aircraft.

The airline also plans on offering flights from Homer to Valdez staring June 1.