Ravn to end all service and lay off all staff

In Anchorage, passengers board a RavnAir Group flight bound for Unalaska. (Photo by Laura Kraegel/KUCB)

After announcing a drastic cut to service last week, RavnAir Group said Sunday it would park all 72 of its planes and lay off its remaining staff.

The company, which operates Ravn Alaska, Ravn Connect, and PenAir, was the largest rural carrier in Alaska, serving over 100 communities with over 1300 employees. In a statement, the company said that the decision to end service was due to a 90% drop in revenue due to coronavirus restrictions around the state.

The company said that it would be pausing the operations until it receives word about the status of the grant application it submitted to the federal government, as well as any other financial assistance it could receive from the federal government. The recently-passed $2.2 trillion CARES Act set aside over $50 billion for the airline industry.

Ravn also said that it had been in contact with other air service providers to make up for the cuts in service since it announced that it was cutting back last week.

The statement says that the company will “hit pause” until it has enough money to rehire staff and begin operating again.

Alaska Public Media

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