The Kenai Municipal Airport is seen on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

The Kenai Municipal Airport is seen on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai misses out on grant for proposed Seattle air service

City officials look to reapply next year

The City of Kenai was not among this year’s recipients of a grant that was intended to be used to court direct airline service to Seattle, but city officials are already looking to the possibility of reapplying next year.

City Manager Terry Eubank said, in an administrative report delivered during the Nov. 6 meeting of the Kenai City Council, that the city had been notified “very late last week” of the recipients of this year’s Small Community Air Service Development Grant.

“The city wasn’t one of them,” he said. “It’s disappointing but I don’t know that it should have been completely unexpected.”

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Looking at the proposals that did receive grants, Eubank said that all but one included letters of interest from airlines for the project. Based on the timing of Kenai’s effort to make the grant deadline, such a letter wasn’t obtained — “I think that’s our next step.”

This week the city will meet with consultants Volaire Aviation to discuss the path forward, though Eubank said during the meeting on Nov. 6 that the city could work to strengthen its application for next year’s grants.

He said that they discussed the proposal with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Nov. 1, and hope for her support in the future.

“One thing we don’t do at the City of Kenai is give up,” Eubank said. “We will continue working towards this.”

Volaire Managing Partner Jack Penning in June told the Kenai City Council that a study of the Kenai Municipal Airport led to the conclusion that service to Seattle could coexist with existing service at the airport, recapturing people who are choosing instead to drive between the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage.

Kenai’s effort to apply for the grant, which would have been used to provide a revenue guarantee to an airline to convince them to add Kenai to Seattle service and for marketing of that service, was supported in July by a joint resolution of each of the Kenai Peninsula’s city councils and the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly.

Eubank in August said that if the city couldn’t secure the grant this year it would fall to the city council to decide whether to continue pursuit of the effort — but that the study findings and business case are “strong.”

A full recording of the council’s Nov. 6 meeting, and the June 19 presentation by Volaire to the council, can be found at “City of Kenai – Public Meetings” on YouTube.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Logo for the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection. (Image via Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection)
Peninsula fire departments receive grant funding

Thirty-three rural fire departments within the state were awarded funds in a total amount of $306,292.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski speaks at the ribbon-cutting for the Kenai River Bluff Stabilization Project on the bluff above the Kenai River in Kenai, Alaska, on Monday, June 10, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Local students nominated to military academies

The students will compete with other candidates for a spot at the school they have been nominated for.

Mersha Tamrat gives free haircuts during the 14th Annual Project Homeless Connect at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Serving a ‘big need’

Project Homeless Connect offers services to people experiencing housing insecurity for 14th year.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy delivers his State of the State speech at the Alaska State Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, with Senate President Gary Stevens, at left, and House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, at right, in the background. (Klas Stolpe/Juneau Empire)
Gov. Dunleavy takes victory lap with selective portrayal of Alaska in second-to-last State of the State

Some legislators criticize “mixed messages” about cooperation, omission of problems needing work.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks during a press conference Dec. 12, 2024, at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Updated: Move to pause federal funding leaves local groups reeling

Questions remain after a Monday night order pausing disbursement of federal grants and loans was rescinded Wednesday.

State Rep. Maxine Dibert (right), a Fairbanks Democrat, confers with Rep. Calvin Schrage (I-Anchorage) about a resolution opposing the change of Denali back to Mount McKinley during the House floor session at the Alaska State Capitol on Monday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Alaska House majority rejects GOP effort to turn protest of Denali name change into Trump tribute

Resolution opposing restoration of Mt. McKinley name is first legislation to pass House this session.

A table used by parties to a case sits empty in Courtroom 4 of the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Barnes sentenced to 6 months for felony cruelty to animals

He has motioned to have previous time spent under house arrest credited as time served.

Alexis Alamillo, of Anchorage, carries a sockeye salmon caught in a dipnet from the mouth of the Kenai River in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Fish and Game projects 7 million sockeye for Upper Cook Inlet

This year’s forecast is greater than the department’s projections from last year.

Most Read