Wings of Alaska has folded.
The Juneau-headquartered regional airline hasn’t flown for several weeks and has now officially shuttered, managing partner Aldwin Harder said by phone Saturday.
“Mostly I want to say thank you to the people and employees,” Harder said. “This is a tough decision.”
The company made the call to close up shop after a little over year under new owners Fjord Flying Services, based out of Gustavus. Harder said Wings of Alaska was formed “just to bring some competition to the aviation market,” but the company has struggled since its formation on Jan. 1, 2016.
“The decision is primarily an economic one. This is a difficult business to make money in. A difficult business to be in,” Harder said.
Wings of Alaska, not to be confused with offshoot company Wings Airways, doesn’t yet have plans for its business assets, including three planes. Those decisions will be made over the next month or so, Harder said.
Customers will be refunded for unused tickets, but refund plans are still in the works. In meetings all week, Harder said that further details on the company’s closing aren’t yet set in stone.
“Right now we’ve decided that we’re going to close the doors, but we haven’t made all the final decisions as to what we’re going to do,” Harder said. “We just haven’t done it yet. It’s a fairly complicated deal and there’s a lot of moving pieces in this business.”
• Contact reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com.
The Wings of Alaska ticket counter at the Juneau International Airport on Wednesday. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
