Alaska is set to receive around $120 million from the federal government for improving aviation safety through new weather stations and updates to telecommunication systems.
That's according to U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, who spoke at an aviation roundtable at Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage this week. Rep. Nick Begich and officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration attended the event as well.
"These are historic investments that our state needs," Sullivan said. "We have the highest by far of any state in the country – 2.3 times higher – crash rates."
The funding comes from the federal budget reconciliation bill, or the Big Beautiful Bill, which was signed by President Trump last month. The bill includes more than $12 billion for aviation improvements across the country. In Alaska, some of the improvements will also be paid for by an investment from the Federal Aviation Administration that was announced back in April.
The funding is only one step toward addressing the state's longstanding challenges, but people in Alaska's aviation industry say they're encouraged.
"We've been fighting for years and advocating for weather reporting stations," said Dan Knesek, the vice president of commercial operations at Anchorage-based Grant Aviation
More reliable flights for villages off-the-road system
Grant provides air service to communities across the state, delivers cargo and sends medevac planes. But Knesek said it is hard to make those flights between October and April.
Accurate weather information is crucial for pilots. When visibility is low, it helps them to decide whether they should fly. And carriers that fly relying on their instruments are required to have certified weather reports to take off.
But a lot of places in Alaska don't have reliable – or any – weather reporting, which means that fewer planes make it in.
Knesek said there are times when flights can't reach communities for a week.
"These communities are very dependent on our services," he said. "They need to go to the doctor, or any of the basic services they need to fly to get."
Alaska has about 160 aviation-specific weather stations. Adam White, with the Alaska Airmen's Association, said that's far from the density of weather stations in the lower 48. The Federal Aviation Administration is set to install an additional 174 weather observer systems for Alaska.
White said that still might not be enough, but any addition will help pilots and forecasters.
"We've got some parts of Alaska that there's more than 100 miles to the nearest weather station in any direction. And that's kind of crazy to think about," White said. "So anything we can get is a huge increase in the information that we've got available to us."
The FAA is now working with carriers and experts to prioritize places that need new stations most.
"We're looking primarily at off-road system locations that (are) completely reliant on air service for the life and health and safety and well being of the community, and the typical weather patterns and the success rate of flights making it in and out of that community," said White with the Airmen's Association, one of the organizations advising on that process.
Questions remain about staffing and maintenance
Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, agrees that installing more weather stations is important for public safety and for weather and climate reporting. But he said it's only one step.
"More stations are great, but they've got to work, and they got to report to the whole world reliably," Thoman said.
Thoman said that on any given day, 10-15% of the aviation weather stations across Alaska are down or not fully reporting, He said the biggest issue is telecommunication infrastructure, which helps get information from the weather station out to the people who need it. Many Alaska villages still rely on copper wires for transmitting signals, and Thoman said sometimes people can't even get parts to repair the antiquated systems.
The bill does include funding for improving telecommunications infrastructure.
At Tuesday's conference, FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency is still mapping out the details, but they are leaning toward updating stations to satellite technology and are now testing Starlink units.
Staffing to maintain the stations is another requirement for them to operate successfully – and to get certified, Thoman said.
"People have to go there to do the maintenance. Even if the FAA is contracting with local people, a human being has to go and do stuff," Thoman said. "If money to support that is not included in that bill, then this is a big problem."
Bedford said maintenance and staffing are not included in the bill. He said the agency still needs significantly more funding to improve aviation facilities and to look for workforce solutions, for example, through scholarships for technicians.
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