Alaska is a fascinating state for lovers of aviation, with the region's airports and airlines having something for everyone.
While its main air hub is Ted Stevens International (ANC) in Anchorage, Alaska is also served by several smaller facilities that play a vital role in keeping the rural communities of the 'last frontier' connected to the wider world.
One of these is the rather unique Ketchikan International (KTN).
The airport itself is relatively new (at least in terms of the long history of aviation), having only opened 51 years ago, in 1973.
According to Ketchikan Museums, planning for the facility dated as far back as 1967, when local authorities began examining three sites for an airport to serve the city.
In August of that year, a site on the neighboring Gravina Island, situated across the water, was chosen.
Following formal endorsement from the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA), work began on the compact site in April of 1969, although major excavations didn't commence until 1971.
A year later, the construction of a terminal for the new airport was approved, and from there, the project really, if you'll excuse the pun, took off. Indeed, it was barely more than a year after that that the airport's operations began.
When all was said and done, the airport was finally ready to serve scheduled commercial flights on June 30th, 1973, handling six Alaska Airlines flights that day.
Interestingly enough, despite having been operational for more than a month by then, the airport's official opening and dedication ceremonies didn't occur until early August, and it was only later that year that the terminal was finally completed.
Since then, the airport has established itself as a key air hub for southeastern Alaska, and it is located approximately equidistant between Seattle and Anchorage.
According to the Bureau of Transporation Statistics, the airport handled around 302,000 passengers in the 12-month period ending in August 2024, representing a slight year-on-year increase compared to the 295,000 served a year prior.
Around the world, many passengers choose to drive their cars to their departure airports and pay for parking, or pay for a taxi to do the driving for them.
Alternatively, public transport via rail and bus links can be a handy way of accessing many of the planet's major air hubs, with most having dedicated train and bus stations. However, Ketchikan's geography leaves it in a rather interesting predicament.
Specifically, the island on which the airport was built does not have any direct road links to the city of Ketchikan itself (and, in fact, very few roads in general).
As such, those using the facility have to cross the small body of water that sits between the airport and the city with a ferry. While other airports, such as Venice (VCE) and London City (LCY), also have boat links, the concept as a whole remains novel.
According to the Ketchikan Marine Industry Council, the ferries run between the hours of 06:15 and 21:30, leaving the airport on the hour and the half-hour and the city at 15 and 45 minutes past.
It costs passengers aged 12 and over $6 each way to use the ferry, while children between six and 11 years old only have to pay $3 each. Meanwhile, those aged five years old and below do not have to pay to use it.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough website notes that, while the 2013-built M.V. Ken Eichner 2 ferry operates year-round, a second boat known as the M.V. Oral Freeman (built in 2001) provides extra capacity during the summer months.
This vessel operates from late May to late August between 10:00 and 17:30 on weekdays. Both ships are approximately 116 feet (35.4 m) long and 48 feet (14.6 m) wide.
For the foreseeable future, it looks as though users of Ketchikan International Airport will remain reliant on the short ferry crossing to and from the city.
While a structure linking the two, known as the Gravina Island Bridge, has been proposed in the past, it received criticism from outside Alaska as a 'bridge to nowhere.' As such, the plans for the $398 million bridge were scrapped in 2007, as reported by NBC.
Nonetheless, the airport appears to be thriving perfectly well without a direct road connection, as evidenced by its aforementioned recent growth in passenger numbers.
According to current scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, 11,732 flights were scheduled to and from Ketchikan in 2024, offering grand totals of 778,540 seats and 335,995,028 available seat miles (ASMs).
Of these, Alaska Airlines accounted for 41.3% of the flights (4,842), but, on account of its use of larger jets from the Boeing 737NG and MAX families, 91.7% of the seats (713,960).
The carrier's top aircraft for flights to and from Ketchikan is the Boeing 737-700, with 2,158 flights, 267,592 seats, and 111,513,448 ASMs in 2024. As for the destinations served by Alaska Airlines, Ketchikan sees flights to:
- Juneau International (JNU).
- Seattle Tacoma International (SEA).
- Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport (SIT).
- Wrangell Airport (WRG).
Delta Air Lines also has a limited presence on the Seattle-Ketchikan route, albeit only in the summer months with Delta Connection flights operated by SkyWest Airlines' Embraer E175 regional jets.
Closer to home, Island Air Express flies Cessnas to Klawock, and Taquan Air's DHC-2 Beavers serve various regional routes. Still, regardless of the route flown, the ferry across the water awaits every passenger.
