Grant Aviation (GV, Bethel) management has embarked on an image-revitalization campaign aimed at improving the carrier's poor reputation among Alaska's more remote and inaccessible communities.
The forty-four year old carrier's woes began in 2012 when it assumed twenty scheduled routes to settlements along the Aleutian chain and in the Bristol Bay region which PenAir (Anchorage Ted Stevens) had given up in order to focus on larger services. The sudden increase in workload coupled with the financial demands of leased hangars and a lack of suitable aircraft overwhelmed Grant Aviation its president and chief operating officer Bob Lowrance told the Alaska Dispatch News.
“Grant was not ready,” he said. “We didn’t have the leadership in place. We didn’t have the financial resources. We didn’t have the equipment, the number of planes to basically fill the shoes of PenAir leaving.”
However, following a period of court cases involving boardroom and ownership disputes and creditors who had begun claiming for unpaid rentals, Grant Aviation was, in 2014, able to craft a turnaround plan with new management at the helm.
With fresh capital invested, the airline is spending USD2-3 million in its fleet expansion drive increasing the number of aircraft based at its Bethel hub from four in October last year to eight as of last month. In all, Grant is growing from a fleet of twenty-two aircraft including Beech (twin turboprop) King Airs, Cessna (single turboprop) 208B Grand Caravans, Cessna (single piston) 207s, Piper (twin piston) Navajos, and GippsAero GA8 Airvans, to thirty-two by the end of the year.
At present, Grant offers scheduled services to 33 remote Alaskan towns alongside charter and cargo flights.
